The plan sponsored by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to establish IT courts in member countries is meeting resistance, with some countries not ready to harmonize ICT policies.
The IT courts, or tribunals, would have powers to hear and settle matters relating to communication disputes and services, and arbitrate among service operators in the telecom sector. However, Comesa member countries, including Zambia and Uganda, are not yet ready for such a step.
The need for ICT policy harmonization is based on the emergence of various players in the IT sector, including telecom companies, ISPs and digital broadcasters, and convergence of these technology areas, Comesa says.
Ugandan ICT Minister Hams Mulira announced Monday that Uganda was suspending the establishment of its IT court, while the Zambian government is refusing to harmonize Internet, broadcasting and mobile-communications laws.
Comesa, which has promoted the IT court plan, is a regional economic bloc headquartered in Lusaka, Zambia, chartered to accelerate the region’s economic development. The Comesa region has 21 countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya. So far only Kenya and Tanzania have IT tribunals.
In Zambia, registration of mobile-phone service providers and ISPs, and settlement of their disputes, is done by the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) and the Ministry of Communications and Transport. The registration of broadcasting stations and settling of their disputes is done by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services. However, some stations are broadcasting via the Internet and satellite, and they are being controlled by both the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services and CAZ. This, according to Comesa, is a duplication of work and responsibilities and a waste of money — hence the need to recognize the convergence of IT, telecommunications and broadcast media, and set up a single court to arbitrate any ICT dispute.
Mulira, however, said that even if Uganda was to establish such a court, the country does not have qualified judges to handle IT matters.
“We don’t have a judge knowledgeable in IT matters. So we would rather maintain our present dispute-resolution system through the Uganda Communications Commission,” Mulira said.
Meanwhile, Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) Vice President Amos Chanda told a parliamentary committee on information and broadcasting this week that Zambia should make adjustments that would address issues of IT convergence. PAZA is an association for media industry in Zambia.
Chanda said that broadcast signals from Zambia can be accessed on the Internet and via satellite in Europe and other parts of the world.
“This means in effect that the regulations of IT, telecoms and media have become inoperative and must be changed,” Chanda said.
Zambia, Chanda said, is still lagging in redefining media in view of the developments such as Internet, satellite transmission, mobile telephony and other related technologies.
Like Uganda, however, Zambia does not have judges knowledgeable in IT issues, observers say.
