Tiroyamodimo Mogotlhwane

I did not have the time to attend the events, which were taking place at the Geneva Palexpo as I had gone there only for the 2 days for the IRFD conference. However I had the privilege of attending the welcome ceremony and reception on Tuesday 9th December 2003 in the evening.

Among the dignitaries who spoke at the welcome ceremony were the Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union, Yoshio Utsumi, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and many others. The Secretary General of UN emphasised the need for the eradication of digital divide where ever it might exists in the world.

It was a colourful event with performance and drama by youths from different parts of the world. In between the speeches there was inserts of clips of success stories on the use of ICT around the world. It is encouraging to see that there are success stories on the use of IC T around the globe, some of the success stories were coming from areas where the ICT infrastructure is not well developed. This showed that ICT has the potential to be used to improve human lives irrespective of their geographical location in the world. If more of this can come it will show that indeed the world is a global village. It is also an indication that if human beings are willing to work to improve the lives of others, ICT can be a supporting tool for that.

In Africa the success stories came from Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa. I felt challenged as to why there were no success stories from Botswana especially that our ICT infrastructure is better than that of other countries with success stories, with exceptions of South Africa.

It is my wish that more resources can be spent in developing the ICT infrastructure and the society can disregard any difference that creates spirits feelings of animosity so that the role of ICT can be to support human development. I must also point out that if social ills continue to find their ways into our modern society, ICT also has the potential to be used to support such acts. This is because ICT is a tool and the results of using it depends on what the user wants to arrive. Developments of regulatory controls can help in the fight against cyber crime.

Finally the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva 2003 showed that the international community is willing to come together and work towards helping one another in improving human lives. I am sure that the momentum that has been generated in Geneva 2003 if maintained, can lead to a successful Tunisia 2005, where results will be presented and less resolutions passed on the use of ICT.

Tiroyamodimo Mogotlhwane
University of Botswana
mogotlhw@mopipi.ub.bw
3555368 (office) 71602924