Vice President Saulos Chilima says senior government officials must stop transacting government business on private emails.
Chilima made the remarks after meeting Minister of Information Gospel Kazako on Tuesday.
During the meeting, the ministry presented progress on the reforms which are taking place in the department of E-Government and Chilima suggested the need to upgrade the government’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure.
“We all agreed that this upgrade must be achieved as soon as possible because ICT will be an enabler for implementation of various reforms from other ministries ranging from e-agriculture to e-wallet.
“In the same vein, I also suggested to the Minister to work on a cut-off point where senior government officials must stop transacting government business on private emails. I am very passionate about this. This tendency can’t go on,” said Chilima.
On the rolling out of ICT services in all government ministries and departments, Chilima said he was impressed with the reform to review the mandate and structure of the department of E-Government.
He suggested suggested that the department must be elevated and become a stand-alone Agency with exclusive mandate driving the ICT agenda of the government.
“In this digital era, the E-Government department should not be a by-the-way kind of department. It must be restructured,” he said.
Kazako during the meeting also presented a number of game changing reform areas that will improve the communications industry.
Chilima and the ministry will meet again after 90 days to track progress of the reforms.
