Tanzania chosen as Council Member of The African Communication Unity
Tanzania has been voted unanimously to the African Telecommunications Union's (ATU) Council for a four-year term from 2023 through 2026.
Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology, Nape Nnauye (spearheaded the Tanzanian effort to secure the position at the sixth General Meeting of the Union, which was held in Algiers, Algeria this July.
Within the African Telecommunications Union's 49 member nations, Tanzania was one of the 25 nations to achieve that status. Additionally, Mr. John Omo, a Kenyan, was elected to serve another four years as ATU's general secretary vying for the seat with Mauritanian Mohamed Ahmed Ould Abderrahmane who lost the seat.
Election to the Council at this time is advantageous because Tanzania is also seeking election to the Executive Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 13 Council seats from ITU’s Group "D," which includes African nations, are projected for Africa at the ITU meeting in September, which is anticipated to take place in Bucharest, Romania. Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda are some of the current Group "D" members of Africa in the ITU Council from which Tanzania is seeking support to be included when ITU members will elect new councillors in the ITU-PP-22.
The General Meeting, which meets every four years in a regular session, is the ATU's principal body and is composed of formally authorised representatives including sectoral Ministers of the Member States responsible for communications. In order to achieve the ATU's objectives,the general meeting establishes, among other things, broad policies that the Union or its members should adopt and implement. In addition, the Executive Council elects the General Secretary and Executive Council members after examining and approving the strategic plan, activity programme, and budget for the following four years of operations.
The African Telecommunications Union (ATU-UAT) was founded in 1977 as one of the institutions of the Union of Independent African States (OAU), which is now the African Union (AU), and focuses on the communication industry within the African continent.
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) represents Tanzania in all ICT-based international organisations. At this meeting, the TCRA was represented by Ms. Connie Francis, Director of ICTs, and Mr. John Daffa, Director of Licenses and Compliance. Speaking on the side-lines of the meeting, Connie emphasised the significance of the gathering in achieving Tanzania's goal of being the regional leader in ICT management.
"This meeting, among other things, ensures that cooperation between public and private stakeholders is maintained in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, and it is through it that Tanzania is assured of maintaining its position as a champion of effective regulation of the ICT sector in our region. She insisted.
