Remarks by Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwachi, Minister of Telecommunications & Postal Services
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Remarks by Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwachi, Minister of Telecommunications & Postal Services
Dear all,
Greetings from Juba, Republic of South Sudan,
Here below are the Remarks by Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwachi, Minister of Telecommunications & Postal Services, Republic of South Sudan, on the occasion of the official opening of The Gateway Complex Building for the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services.
Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwachi, Minister of Telecommunications & Postal Services, is delivering her remarks on the official opening of The Gateway Complex Building for the Ministry of Telecommunications and
Postal Services in Juba, Republic of South Sudan
Pictures by Comrade Larco Lomayat
REMARKS BY HON. REBECCA JOSHUA OKWACI
MINISTER OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS & POSTAL SERVICES (RSS) ON THE OCCASSION OF THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF
THE GATEWAY COMPLEX BUILDING
BY
H.E. GEN. SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN
AND
HANDING OVER REPORT FOR SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF
NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (NCA)
THE REGULATORY BODY
WEDNESDAY, 4TH JUNE, 2014
H.E. General Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces/SPLA
H.E. James Wani Igga, Vice President of the Republic
Rt. Hon. Manasseh Magok Rundial, Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly
Rt. Hon. Joseph Bol Chan, Speaker of the Council of States,
Hon. Presidential Advisors in attendance
H.E. Governor, Central Equatoria State, Clement Wani Konga
My Colleague Ministers present
Hon Chairperson, Parliamentary Committee on Information, Communication & Culture, Hon. Joe Kwaje , and Hon. chairpersons of various parliamentary committees
Hon. Members of the National Assembly
Hon. Commissioner, Juba County
His Worship, Mayor of the City of Juba
HM Reth, King of the Shilluk
Hon. Officials of State & County Governments
Excellency Ambassadors & Heads of Delegations
Religious Leaders,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen
Allow me, Your Excellency, to most sincerely thank the government through you for the unequivocal support to see this building complex to completion. For us, it is a remarkable achievement, looking at where we are coming from, with some of the state ministers in charge of our sector only about 5 years ago operating from grass-thatched houses – what we call “Guthia or Tukul”! That the government was prepared, despite the plethora of challenges, to allocate US$ 12 million for the project is a clear testimony of the importance it attaches to the communications sector.
The Ministry also wishes, Your Excellency, to take this opportunity to compliment you for restructuring government by establishing a leaner, more pro-people administration. Permit me, to record my humbling gratitude for reappointing me to serve in your government, and for the confidence bestowed by assigning me to this critical and strategic sector. Indeed, ICT/Telecom Sector today is leasing catalyst in development. The leadership, management and staff of the ministry reiterate their commitment to continue to relentlessly work with other arms of government to ensure that our people receive deserved affordable, high quality services, as the government strives to meet its commitments and pledges to the citizenry. In our various interactions with the larger global community, this has become a rallying call as the world races towards the knowledge-driven economy.
Permit me also to take this opportunity to compliment those who started this project five years ago as well as those who continued tirelessly to date. The vitality of this sector, Your Excellency, for our socio-economic development as a people needs not to be over-emphasized. The Ministry will recast and rededicate to speedy implementation of recently passed laws, among them theCommunications Law (2012), the Communications Policy, the 5-year Strategic Plan (2013-2018), as well as the approved workplans for individual directorates and staff.
Your Excellency, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, even though on appointment I was initially nervous and inundated with jargon: Gateway, Fiber Optic, Spectrum, Digital Migration, Bandwidth, BSCs, LTE etc…, technical terminology of this very dynamic sector, I am pleased to inform you that with the support of our internal staff as well as regional and global partners, notably the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Universal Postal Union (UPU), Commonwealth Telecom Organization (CTO), EAC (the Northern Corridor Project), to mention just a few, we have fast leap-frogged the information society band-wagon. In fact, we soon realized as a Ministry that ‘leap-frogging’ wasn’t good enough; we had to sprint and ‘cheetah-jump’ to catch up with the rest of the community of nations. I need not over-emphasize, Excellencies, that one simply needed to be in Bangkok, Thailand, in November last year, to see South Sudan’s Pavilion standing confidently among great giants like Japan, China, Uganda, etc! We show-cased our humble technology and felt proud to be South Sudanese! Thanks to partners – the operator, ISPs and vendors.
I am further pleased to report, Excellency, that we have made some additional modest achievements, despite the common challenges. To secure our airwaves, we have procured a Spectrum Monitoring Equipment that you have seen – thanks to the Ministry of Finance. We trained personnel on its use and operation, and are in the process of installing and commissioning the same to start ensuring compliance in terms of frequency usage. This equipment, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, is going to be one of the most essential tools for the soon to be established regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA). I note with pride, that through an open competitive bidding, with the assistance of ITU and other concerned government agencies, we have short-listed three qualified candidates to start and head the NCA to greater heights. In few minutes, I will be handing over the report of the selection for further consideration and appointment of the Director General, which sets in motion the operationalization of the NCA. For this is a second achievement today.
Also among our humble achievements, is the procurement of a bandwidth provider; once the installations are complete, all our government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) – from national to state levels – will have reliable Internet communications. In the postal sector, we have also made strides with 7 additional postal offices refurbished and all, except two, operationalized. The ones at the National Assembly and Juba University are just awaiting allocations to be equipped to commence business. So, we will soon celebrate with the National Legislative Assembly. You deserve it because we have done a lot to us.
Excellency, now that this huge project is also completed, we shall work closely with your office to hasten operationalization and commissioning of theGateway itself, and require that all licensed operators work with us to expeditiously connect to it to facilitate traffic aggregation for accounting and also security purposes. Besides, and with the recognition that the Republic of South Sudan is today one of only two African countries that have not yet joined the ‘global super-highway’ through a sub-marine cable system, we shall explore means and ways to connect to the coastline either through Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and/or Uganda within the next 12 months, at the latest.
Besides, in order to ‘take towns to villages’, we shall seek acceleration and conclusion of the award of the national optical fiber backbone project so the benefits of broadband connectivity do not stop in Juba, but traverse the entire landscape of South Sudan. Being aware that ‘highways without cars’ are of little benefit, we shall also strive to work with local and global partners in the postal, telecom and IT sub-sectors to introduce e-government, e-content and m-commerce across board.
As a beginning step, we shall seek to reactivate the ‘Quick-wins’ identified at a national workshop in 2012 attended by all the 10 state ministers of information and communications, and facilitated by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and NEPAD. We want the states strengthened. To achieve the onerous tasks ahead of us, we shall also deepen and expand partnerships with other stakeholders including government agencies, telecom and courier companies, academia, media, as well as development partners. We believe, Your Excellency that our rural population in their Bomas, Payams and Counties, through the ICT sector, deserve health and education services as well as economic growth. Women must benefit from technology for their own development.
Internally, we shall strive to pursue human capacity and institutional development to spearhead the various projects underway. Apart from the NCA, we shall work closely with sister ministries to fast-track the establishment of the proposed national telecom operator, as per resolutions of the Council of Ministers. We shall also complete the internal restructuring as per approved plans so that the ministry can fully deliver on its mandate.
The day is not mine, Excellency. Before inviting you to address the audience, allow me to thank some of the various people and institutions, especially the Bari Community without whose cooperation this beautiful building could not have been completed. I would also like to thank the religious leaders for dedicating this new building and assurance of God’s grace on this ministry and nation. For now, please allow me simply to compliment the contractor, consultant and indeed our concerned staff who ensured successful completion of the building, despite the occasional hiccups.
I would also request, Your Excellency to allow me to call on members of the Panel present here to join me in handing over the report of the Panel that worked diligently in the selection of three candidates one of whom will be selected and appointed by Your Excellency as the Director General of National Communications Authority – the Regulatory Body.
I thank you all for your kind attention and thanks to Your Excellency
the President
May God bless you.
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