The public sector is always blamed for bureaucracy and lengthy procedures in access to information.
But with the launch of the National Data Transmission Infrastructure, also known as the e-government, that is about to change.
Vice President Edward Sekkandi on Friday morning launched phase II of the e-government on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni.
It is an information technology tool that the government intends to use to improve collection of data of public importance, interconnecting government departments and easing access to information in government departments by the public.
Phase I of the project involved interconnecting all the 27 government ministry headquarters and public offices in Kampala, Entebbe, Bombo and Jinja, according to James Saaka, the Executive Director of the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U)
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Phase two, which has just been launched, will cost over 60 million dollars and it will cover the interconnection of all upcountry government departments. The last phase will interconnect Kampala to all the major border points. This will include district administration offices and the immigration departments as priority.
When URN visited the data centre based at the NITA-U offices at Statistics House in Kampala, Peter Kahiigi, the Director for Technical Services carried out a teleconferencing demonstration with the officers at the centre and the Nakasongola District Chairperson.
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Kahiigi says that the challenge however is turning government records and information into digital copies which can be accessed online.
A Chinese ICT firm Huawei was contracted to establish the e-government infrastructure. The plan of interconnecting the entire country is a US$107 million contract that was meant to be done over 27 months back in 2006 when it was first commissioned.
According to Sekandi, the interconnection is to go beyond Uganda and across East Africa.
