Malawi promoting adoption of digitization in all sectors—MACRA

* Government has developed the National Digital Economy Strategy and the Digital Government Strategy

* The two instruments are key to digital transformation in line with both regional and global trends

* We cannot be talking of digitization without putting in place instruments to assist digitization crusade being propagated worldwide

By Edson Mwamvani, MANA in Kinshasa, DRC

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) says government is putting mechanisms in place to promote adoption of digitization in all sectors of the country’s economy, including the postal services sector.

MACRA’s acting director for postal services, Burnet Namacha said this on Sunday at a panel discussion during the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) Administrative Council meeting in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Malawi is a member of PAPU Administrative Council following her elevation last year in Zimbabwe alongside 24 other member countries, drawn from all African Union states.

Namacha said currently Malawi government has developed the National Digital Economy Strategy and the Digital Government Strategy, saying the two instruments are key to digital transformation in line with both regional and global trends.

“We cannot be talking of digitization without putting in place instruments to assist digitization crusade being propagated worldwide,” he said, adding that the enactment of the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act in 2016 was one among several interventions being put in place as part of the drive.

He further explained to the gathering which comprised almost all AU members, that processes are underway in Malawi to have Data Protection Law, which is set to compliment the necessary instruments for digitization whose adoption is on the increase.

He also said MACRA, in partnership with other stakeholders, will be developing regulations as framework to help in the adoption of other digital processes such as e-commerce to ensure that Malawi remains relevant in terms of trade with many other countries which are also moving in the same direction.

Namacha also disclosed that MACRA is implementing a project to connect rural post offices in the country as part of last mile internet connectivity of the centres.

“The process of digitization of postal activities must go alongside power and internet connectivity which are vital in any such drive,” Namacha said.

PAPU, whose headquarters are in Arusha, Tanzania, is an affiliate of the Africa Union.