GOVT GEARED TO ENSURE UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO ICT SERVICES

Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nankhumwa has said the Government is committed to ensuring that universal access to ICT products and services be enhanced in order to improve service delivery in both public and private sectors.

Nankhumwa said this on Wednesday during the official opening of the 3rd Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF) held in Lilongwe under the theme ‘ Internet Governance as a Building Block of SADC Regional Integration’.

“It is my hope that this Forum will explore and come up with strategies that will ensure that our people have access to timely and relevant information, as well as increasing popular participation of citizens in development, governance and democratic processes in the region.

“Above all, the Forum is expected to agree on issues that will contribute to the regional objective of having a coordinated and coherent platform for dealing with Internet Governance issues in the SADC region, which will among other things include the creation of an Internet governance and policy dialogue space at the national and regional levels”, he said.

Nankhumwa added : “As a nation, Malawi will strive to and implement all our resolutions that will be made at this Forum for the benefit of our people and the SADC region as a whole.

He however, urged member to guard against abuse and misuse of these resources.