By Alpha Abu
Members of the West Africa Telecommunications Regulatory Assembly (WATRA) are meeting at Fabulous resort, York Village outside Freetown to discuss their revised constitution to match the emerging trends of the telecom space.
Hosted by Sierra Leone’s National Telecommunications Authority (NaTCA), the 5 day event has attracted some 32 participants from mostly Anglophone and Francophone countries.
In his keynote statement, Sierra Leone’s Deputy Information and Communications Minister Solomon Jamiru told the gathering that the event was taking place at a time the country’s telecom regulatory commission has been transformed into an authority hence the name NaTCA which he said is to reflect the evolution taking place in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and to strengthen its hand as regulator.
He also mentioned Sierra Leone’s access to a $50M World Bank grant that would help the government embark on the digital transformation of the country.
He said communication should not be a luxury but a human right, asserting that ‘’all should have access to this critical device’’. To this end he said, it is expected that by the year 2030 each person in Africa should be able to access 6 megabytes per second on their phone and that the continent would be able to manufacture its own mobile phones .
Jamiru recognized the efforts of those that he said were part of the evolution of WATRA from the start and entreated the participants at the validation exercise to work on what was espoused many years ago and ensure they respond to current and emerging issues on telecoms.
He encouraged WATRA to take a critical look at the current, imaginary and real issues confronting telecoms and be able to address them in the revised constitution.
NatCA Board Chairman, Joe Blell said it was imperative on WATRA to embark on collective efforts to ensure telecom services are available to the people. He said in this 4th industrial revolution there was every need to close the digital gap and not be left behind.’’ The race is on’’, he said.
WATRA’s President and chair of the Constitutional Review Committee, Lamine Mahamadou Diallo spoke of how revising the constitution would help fit into the telecom innovations that he noted were coming thick and fast.
NaTCA Director-General, Daniel Kaitibie later told journalists that the constitution being reviewed will reflect on the present and future, saying the old constitution was prepared some 20 years ago and ought to be looked at.
The meeting ends on Friday 17th February.
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