By Aji Fatou Jammeh
The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economic on Friday, January 27th organised a maiden press conference presided over by the Minister, Hon Minister Ousman A. Bah, who while highlighting successes registered since the inception of the new ministry and his appointment as minister in May 2022, informed that the Ministry is working to lay the second sub-marine cable. This cable is believed to provide a reliable back up for the existing one, and enhance the country’s digital connectivity.
Minister Bah said communication and digital economy are the drivers of any successful nation in the world and that it is the ministry’s responsibility to lead and drive the digital transformation of The Gambia.
For his accomplishment, the minister mentioned the LTE which is established to provide wireless broadband connection to government institutions and officials.
He informed that they have deployed four LTE stations in the country; with Banjul, Serrekunda, Kotu and Abuko having one each, while towers are built in these stations for connecting to internet through dongles wireless routers. The LTE he said was meant to provide internet access for all the 22 ministries.
On the digital addressing project, the minister said is a pilot project that was successfully implemented in Banjul in partnership with Banjul City Council, whereby 2464 addresses have been digitalised covering all properties. The second phase was also implemented in KM covering a total of 32, 000 addresses and properties.
The third phase he went on is currently being implemented in WRC starting with Kombo North and 48, 770 addresses were generated from the properties.
On the revival of the government email system (.gov.gm), the minister said a new collaborative email platform was launched for the government officials to have official email addresses. He informed that about 2,500 emails have been created so far for public servants from different ministries.
Minister Bah went on to mention as achievements, The Gambia’s signing and ratification of the AU Malabo Convention on Cyber security and personal data protection, which gives the country the opportunity to be part of the global community in the enforcement of cyber security-related matters; cabinet’s adoption of the National Cyber Security Policy and Strategy, which seeks to build a robust national capability at strategic and operational levels with programmes to identify, prevent, protect, detect, respond and manage threats to critical information infrastructure, the Cyber Crime Bill, expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and adoption; the ECOWAS Free Roaming Regulation, tabled in cabinet early this month; feasibility study of the establishment of tech hubs and Regional Innovation Hubs across the country, conducted by the University of The Gambia (UTG) and the signing of Agreement with Digital Co-operation (DCO) in Riyadh, which seeks to enable digital prosperity for all by accelerating the inclusive growth of the digital economy. Through this, Mr Bah said The Gambia will benefit tremendously from series of cooperation in capacity building programmes, knowledge sharing in feasibility studies, and implementation of key digital projects.
Other priority programmes for implementation, according to the minister are: the payment gateway switch for the country, tier 4 Data centre, E-Governance and Digital Identify.
