African human resource managers in Uganda

The managers assembled come from government departments, ministries and body corporates.

Mike Nxele the human resources officer at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said, "We are giving them an opportunity to share experiences and learn new methods of acquiring and retaining competent staff, this is due to the high speed at which the ICT sector is growing as jobs also become competitive."

The theme of the workshop is 'Competencies for Competitiveness' and participants come from Zambia, Lesotho, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Angola, Seychelles and Uganda.

Uganda's minister of Information and Communications Techology (ICT), Dr. Ham Mukasa Mulira told the managers that the era we live in is driven by knowledge and technology. He said many enterprises in Africa have claimed that the benefits of technology have not matched the cost of investment in it.

"The reason for this is that technology has not been used productively or usefully, technology per se is not productive and does not add value unless there are people who can use it productively," Mulira said.

"That is why the Uganda government has developed the e-government policy that would encourage accountability and transform the public sector," he said.

The policy would enable the public to access information, empower them to know where to access services whilst providing a platform for the easy convenient modes of interfacing with government for the services using technology.

He said it is becoming increasingly clear that "information has become central to globalization and to economic development", and that the public service should be staffed by personnel who have the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed in the development process.

The focus of concern is always the quality of services to the public, measured by its accessibility and openness, its speed of delivery and its fairness.

Mulira said that there is a need to convert bureaucratic administrators into managers who lead by inspiration, example and are driven by the targets set to achieve agreed objectives within the expected timeframes and budgeted resources.

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