Ministry of ICT presents the achievements of the ICT sector over the last 5 years

The Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, represented by Amos Mpungu; Principle IT Officer, Shirley Gladys Nakyejwe; Senior IT Officer and Michael Ocero; Asst. Commissioner E-Services, was on Monday evening a guest on the NBS Monday Special talk show to highlight the achievements of the ICT sector in the last five (5) years. The show discussed among others the Digital Transformation Plan, NBI, Cybersecurity, Startups and Innovations and e-Government Services to name a few.

The Ministry has had three Ministers in the last five years; Frank Tumwebaze (2016/19), Judith Nabakooba (2019/21) and then (currently in office) Chris Baryomunsi (2021/26). During their tenure, they have worked on several projects including NBI/EGI and Last Mile Projects to provide connectivity to government MDAs/LGs in the country, pushed for the signing of the Data Protection and Privacy Act, supported startups and innovations through NIISP, used MyUG and developed plans to build innovation hubs across the country, to name a few.

The ICT sector is one of the key sectors that will help modernize the economy. Right now, the sector contributes about 10% to the country’s GDP. “We know that the ICT sector is growing at a rate of about 14.8 percent, contributing 10 percent to our GDP,” said Michael Ocero; Assistant Commissioner for Electronic Services in the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance.

Achievements of the ICT sector (2020–2024) highlighted by panelists;

13,000 unregistered businesses have been registered through the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) Online Business Registration System (OBRS). The target is to register 873,546 businesses in the system by the 2026/27 financial year.
The e-visa system has contributed to the development of tourism.
Ninety percent of the country has internet access — “Of course, using fiber and wireless connections,” says Amos Mpungu, chief information officer at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance.
The cost of the Internet has fallen by 50% for mobile devices and by about 28% for stationary Internet.
More than 4,000 km of fiber optic cables have been laid across the country — with connections at every border (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan). “Right now we can receive internet from Kenya and Tanzania because we have access to sea cables. We have good connections,” Mpungu.
The Minister of ICT and National Counseling is working to ensure that young people come up with solutions to the country’s problems. He has also set up platforms, including Intellectual Property (IP) Management, to provide innovators with the knowledge and awareness they need to protect their intellectual property while innovating.
We have helped innovators showcase their work at international events such as GITEX Africa and develop collaborations with international partners.
The Ministry has conducted training and awareness programmes at the regional level. Various programmes have been implemented to ensure that citizens make full use of the available ICT services.
Investment was made in technical expertise and infrastructure – two computer incident response teams were created to monitor the country’s critical infrastructure.
Establishment of a national Tier 3 data center and disaster recovery facility where all government applications, systems and data will be stored.
Collaborations have been established with various governments, development partners and agencies such as JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to facilitate business acceleration programmes.
Four innovation hubs have been set up to equip youth with innovation space, digital skills and connectivity. The hubs include the National ICT Innovation Hub in Nakawa and three others linked to universities; Kabale, Soroti and Muni. “These hubs are always open for young people to use,” said Shirley Gladys Nakyejwe; Senior IT Officer at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance.
The government has invested in 25 passive sites across the country so that telecom companies can provide internet at minimal cost.
The Parish Development Management (PDM) IT system has proven to be a breakthrough in terms of tracking and monitoring capabilities compared to many initiatives undertaken in the past.
UG-Hub, an infrastructure that integrates government systems, was created to enable seamless data sharing in a rational, secure, efficient and sustainable manner across government.

In parting, Nakyejwe and Mpungu touched on the progress of the digital transformation roadmap. Nakyejwe noted that the government has achieved a quarter of what it set out to achieve by 2027, and the roadmap includes infrastructure, digital skills, ready-made e-services, and cybersecurity awareness and training. “So believe that by 2027, we would have achieved what we committed to,” Nakyejwe concluded. On the other hand, Mpungu said that the roadmap targets 60% of services to be online.

Michael Ocero; Assistant Commissioner for Electronic Services in the Ministry of ICT and National Guidelines on further reducing the cost of the Internet to make it affordable and accessible to citizens, said that the availability of the necessary infrastructure will affect the cost of the Internet. “The government is expanding the necessary infrastructure, they have expanded the NBI, which covers all the borders of the country, and the Internet will go through optical fiber (4,000 km long),” Ocero said. He added, “Passive sites will also reduce the cost of the Internet.”

Watch the full interview on NBS