Government working to make Zambia economic hub – Mutati

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MTN Africa vice chairperson Ebenezer Asante (left) Felix Mutati Center
IN trying to make Zambia a regional hub for Science, technology and innovation, Government has announced it’s intention of connecting with neighboring countries and the erection of more towers to connect every district.
 
Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati disclosed that one of the requirements of a country to become a regional technology hub is to have multiple neighbouring countries of which Zambia has eight.
 
Speaking to journalists during a media engagement breakfast, Mutati said so far, the country is connected to five countries and Intends to connect to the reaming three in a period of six months.
 
The minister disclosed that there will be a delegation of Egyptians who want to invest in Zambia’s technology sector. However, the only requirement needed is for the country to be connected to all of its neighbours.
 
Mutati further mentioned that the Ministry intends on extending connectivity to the people of Zambia by erecting 106 towers so that the whole country can be connected.
 
“Out of 116 districts only 83 are connected to fiber [but] within six months every district will be connected to fiber and on top of that we are connecting 65 schools to internet,” he added.
 
He further said Zambia is no longer in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and out of the golden circle of defrauding hence “We can walk tall without any embarrassment.”
 
Mutati said this was because through the US$ 1.3 billion IMF package the new dawn Government fixed the agenda, priorities and a clear direction towards Zambia’s future.
 
“We have fixed and created a suitable implementation path with measurable benchmarks and fixed broken partnerships with international relations putting Zambia back in business,” Mutati stated.
 
He said the new dawn Government is not competent to invest in malingering (to avoid work by pretending to be inadequate or weak) but to delivering to the people of Zambia.
 
And on our journey to deliver at the next sitting of Parliament we are going to introduce the start-up bill [because we want to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship amongst our youths because they are the ones who can create the jobs and creat the difference
 
He added that the bill help start ups to thrive in Zambia, “and moving towards the big league, playing with the big boys because that is where we belong and that where we shall remain.”
 
He further disclosed that the ministry will also introduce the cyber security bill in order to curb cyber threats and crimes so that people should not fear to engage in technology.
 
“Nothing will stand in our way in the digital transformation journey of this country,”
 
And to set the course for that journey, the Ministry of Technology and Science has out together a technical team comprising of the public and private sector to come up with an innovative and sustainable solution towards the challenges that Zamtel is facing.
 
“The technical team has been given up to October to come up with an innovative idea that resolves the future of Zamtel,” he said.
 
Meanwhile Mutati said Zambia is set to host AFRILAb an innovation get-together which will see 340 innovators from different parts of the continent convene here.
 
And also a Presidents Summit on Technology in Africa to be held in November.
 
By Moses Makwaya
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3 COMMENTS

  1. Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in Ie.

    I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought
    I’d post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed
    soon. Kudos

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