By Mercy Wambui, 3 May 2006

The East African Community (EAC) convened two consultative workshops on Cyber laws and e-Justice and on Information Security from 25 - 28 April 2006 in Kampala, Uganda. The workshops were organized as a follow-up to the recommendation of the second e-Government stakeholders meeting held in June 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya, where cyber laws and e-Justice were identified as key cross-cutting issues that need to be in place for the successful implementation of e-Government applications in East Africa. The workshops aimed at creating awareness, sensitization and advocacy on the significance of cyber laws and e-Justice, and the impact of their continuing absence in the East African region; and also to promote the development of an appropriate legal and policy framework for e-government promotion in the region. The workshop was organised by the EAC and supported by ECA and the Government of Canada through the Canadian e-Policy Resource Centre (CePRC).

The workshop made a number of recommendations that include, the need to harmonize regional and national legal frameworks as well as the creation of an enabling environment for the successful implementation of e-Government and e-Commerce programmes. It was also agreed that the EAC, in collaboration with Partner States, should strengthen the institutional collaboration with multilateral and bilateral agencies, including ECA and CePRC to support the national and regional e-Government and e-Commerce initiatives.

Click here for more information or visit the EAC CyberLaws and e-Justice and the EAC Security pages on the AISI website.