Omuthiya
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) aspires to provide internet facilities countrywide, including in remote areas which barely have access to information.
It aims to attain this through enhancing the existing 26 multipurpose community centres (MPCCs) established in remote areas of all 14 regions, thus providing a gateway to government information for all.
Revealing the plans on Friday was the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Tjekero Tweya, when he officially inaugurated the ministry’s regional office in Omuthiya, Oshikoto Region, where he emphasised his dream is to continue installing internet infrastructure countrywide, thus laying the foundation in rural areas for e-governance. An MPCC was each established at Eengodi and Omuntele in Oshikoto.
“The country will soon migrate paper-based documents and records into digital formats – so let’s not forget that sharing of knowledge and information cannot function without communication. The migration makes government more responsive and makes it easier for citizens to access public records, information and government services through the internet,” stressed Tweya, adding that this will save time for citizens to access information by not having to travel long distances to government offices.
The regional office can be used by the community as it has a recording studio where underprivileged artists can record their music, and will provide internet facilities to the community in addition to the video production and sound services.
Tweya encouraged the youth to optimally utilize these services, reminding them that we live in a society in which quality of life and prospects of change and economic development increasingly depend on information and its exploitation.
“Our living standards, patterns of work and leisure, education system and markets are influenced by the advances in information, thus this office has the responsibility to promote a society that makes the best possible use of ICT,” he noted.