ICT remains non-priority for Govt – Becker
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) parliamentarian Celeste Becker has said the current government has demonstrated little political will to invest in the ICT industry over the years.
In fact, Becker said, by the end of the 2022/23 fiscal year, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology will have received only N$1.4 billion in total funding over the three years, indicating severe, gross underfunding of a sector that the government claims is critical to overall national development.
“Government has over the years shown no political will to do this and has continued to underfund the ICT sector. The underfunding of the ICT sector is not only confined to the line ministry, but it traverses across the entire government.
“There remains a very weak emphasis on streamlining ICT into the operations of critical ministries, such as the education and health ministries for the inculcation of e-health,” said Becker while contributing to the budget debate last week.
She said finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi’s budget is themed as one that will ‘reimagine a better future for the youth, and that in the modern economy, a better future for young people cannot be “reimagined” without the radical integration of the digital economy into various aspects of the economy.
“It has become evident that millions of jobs in the future will require a great level of advanced digital literacy skills,” she said, adding that neither the budget nor any other government policy speaks to bridging the gap between young people and digital literacy in preparation for the future.
Shesaidresearchadvancedbythe International Telecommunication Unit (ITU) has demonstrated that ICT has a number of fundamental benefits for young people in the 21st century.
“The ITU correctly argues that for the significant majority of young people, access to information means access to capital, markets and training needed to pursue a career or studies.
“Access to ICT instruments further ensures that young people have access to participation in political processes and youth entrepreneurship,” she said.
As a result, Becker said it is critical that the budget and government policy be focused on improving young people’s access to the digital economy and approving programs that dramatically integrate young people into the workforce and economy of the twenty-first century.
“Nowhere in this budget do we see that innovation from the side of the government in this regard. There can be no “reimaging of a better future for youth” without their integration into the 21stcentury digital economy,” said the opposition leader.