ECOWAS Parliament to partner stakeholders in order to optimize the merits of TIT across the subregion
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The delocalized meeting of the joint committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and the African Peer Review Mechanism, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Telecommunications and Information Technology, which held from 27-31 July, 2021 in Winneba, Ghana has ended with strong highlights from the theme of the meeting: “role of telecommunications and information technologies in achieving regional development, of Peace, Security and Human Rights”.
Members of Parliament, experts and Stakeholders extensively examined broad issues and made recommendations that will positively drive Telecommunications and Information Technology in the region. Network roaming took the centre stage of discourse among other issues relating to Telecommunications and Information Technology during the meeting. Parliamentarians and stakeholders held a consensus that, implementation of regulations holds a position of priority if the intended objectives of the phenomenon will be achieved.
Furthermore, to ensure effective implementation of the roaming regulation by all operators and in all Member States, the following recommendations were established by the members of the joint committee: Member States need to step up the inter-sectoral efforts required for the removal of SIIT (Surtaxes on International Incoming Tariff) in compliance with the Regulation; Communication to citizens, civil society and parliaments need to be stepped up to increase awareness of the benefits of the implementation of the regulation and the rights of consumers to this benefit; Administrative process (e.g gazetting) which are delaying the application of the regulation in some Member States need to be speed up; Cross-border TIT infrastructure interconnectivity needs to be promoted; Parliaments should play a role in holding the stakeholders (relevant government ministries and regulators) accountable for the effective implementation in the respective countries for the benefit of the citizens
In his closing remarks, the Honourable Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Rt. Hon. Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis expressed profound gratitude to all the experts and stakeholders for the highly educative and enlightening presentations. According to him, “the experts and resource persons have captured all the concerns and provided measures to ensuring that all issues are resolved. They have also identified the relevant intervention and mechanism, hence enabling Parliament to make an efficient contribution in ensuring that recommendations are made to Plenary at the next session”. He therefore assured that, “ECOWAS Parliament, working with all stakeholders, will endeavor to ensure that the growing threats and risks facing global cyberspace and digital networks, information systems and data in our region, are kept at bay”.
