200810092159 | President presides over UCCs 10th anniversary

President presides over UCCs 10th anniversary

The Uganda Communication Commission has today marked its 10 years of existence at a symposium presided over by President Museveni. The ceremony took place at Serena Hotel in Kampala., according to Uganda Media Center. The President commended the technocrats who are the driving force in the era of Information Communication technology (ICT) for their ingenuity.

He observed that before the Movement government came to power, technology had lagged behind. He, therefore, observed that it was imperative that the government in power should avail resources related to ICT in order to match development in other countries.

The President lauded UCC for working closely with the private sector especially in the telephone industry whereby fixed lines increased to 50,000 in 1998 while the mobile networks clocked 6.8 million. This, he said, made an average of 1 line to 5 people as apposed to 1 line to 400 people in the past.

The President said that the national economy has benefited directly from the communications sector as evidenced by the creation of employment opportunities. He reported that the sector currently employs 350,000.

Mr. Museveni commended the private sector for being a partner in the transformation of the country. He reminded the sector to identify the kinds of Information Communication Technology that have value for money and beneficial to the least developed countries. He disclosed that with the use of the help lines that have been established by the Faculty of ICT at Makerere University, 10,000 students have so far been admitted on both diploma and degree programmes which he noted is a significant shift towards qualitative development.

President Museveni said that there are many jobs in the country but people lack skills to occupy those slots. He, therefore, advised the Ministry of Finance and that of Education and Sports to publicise a career guidance to assist parents and their children choose courses at the tertiary level.

He further commended the Faculty of ICT for establishing the largest computing centre in East and Central Africa capable of accommodating 12,000 students. He described this as an indication of a visionary and focused investment.

He called on universities to get fully involved in multi-disciplinary research to enable people gain patent rights over their innovations. He observed that this will enrich and develop Uganda.

Earlier, the President commissioned the ICT laboratory for schools intended to enrich students with enough skills in ICT.