BY: ‘Moelo Motsiri
MASERU
The Minister of Information, Communication, Science, Technology and Innovation, Honourable Nthati Moorosi, officially launched the National Digital Transformation Strategy and the Ministerial Strategy at last week at Victory Hall in Maseru.
These strategies will guide Lesotho over the next five years towards becoming a modern, digitally advanced nation. They aim to make life easier for all Basotho by improving access to internet, creating jobs, supporting small businesses, and making services like health and education more accessible to everyone.
Minister Moorosi, who also serves as the Chief Digital Officer of Lesotho and Chair of the African Union ICT Committee, shared exciting updates about the digital transformation strategy.
She said new policies are being introduced to improve internet, data safety, and technology, Lesotho will soon test digital ID cards and certificates, making it easier for people to access services and do business.
The strategies focus on supporting youth, women, and innovators to provide them with the tools to succeed in the digital world. Although half the population still lacks internet access and digital skills, this plan is a bold step towards making sure no citizens are left behind.
However, Principal Secretary Kanono Ramashamole described the launch of this digital strategy as an effective act to enhance and improve the lives of Basotho which will allow every Mosotho to participate fully in the digital economy. He later described this strategy as the innovation foster tool.
Looking at how the strategy will help students in higher institutions, Makhabane Lebitsa from the ministry of energy’s ICT department described the strategy as a threshold instrument for effectiveness in allowing the student easy access of information digitally.
He said they are going to do that with the help of technology.
“Each and every ministry has the motive, health, energy, and education. For example, the students would be able to apply for schools, sponsorships and other things, without being asked to physically bring their identity documents with them,” he said.
“The strategy will accommodate the information technology skills so that we work simlessly in a way that one’s information is pulled digitally when they enter their identity. If one wants to apply at a school, their certificates and other useful documents should be there digitally accessible without them being required to bring them,” said Lebitsa.
He showed that students will have access to information easily, stored in one place, unlike when they have to carry their information and documents everywhere when running their school errands.
However, a lecturer at the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT), Tsietsi Matjele, said as a country that is still growing when it comes to technology some challenges remain. There is a challenge on how the government operates, they systems ministries use in terms of technology are not fully integrated.
“For example, the ministry of health has its own systems guiding how they operate and other ministries have theirs, which are separate. There is a challenge when one wants to get the services, one has to provide their identity documents. If they do not have them, they do not get the services and that becomes hard to understand because the ministry is the one that issued the documents. They obviously should have back-up information but if you do not come with the documents they will not provide you with the services,” he shared.
“The digital strategy is going to provide solutions to dilemmas like these. Through it, things are going to be integrated. There will be a digital ID so that one gets services wherever they go without having to present their IDs. Our lives are going to be much easier once information is digitised.”
The national digital strategy is going to make an effective impact by giving acess to information digitally while also improving the state of the country’s technology infrastructure. Through the improved access to services, it is going to be easy to digitally monitor data sharing and storage.