ICT Authority to Become Operational by Next Financial Year

The Government is working to get the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Authority up and running by the next financial year.

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, provided the update at the GOJ Technology Showcase on November 23. The event was hosted by e-Gov Jamaica Limited, at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters, under the theme ‘Sustainable Development in a Digital Economy’.

e-Gov Jamaica will morph into the ICT Authority to improve the use of technology by developing a sustainable digital agenda, which will be observed across Government.

Currently, the organisation is responsible for implementing ICT projects across government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Minister Green also noted that the Government is looking at developing a comprehensive digital strategy, to act as a guide for the ICT Authority, Government, and other stakeholders in the transformation process.

“We have been talking to persons in government about the critical areas that we need to develop a strategy around and bringing some of the best experts outside of government and Jamaica to [assist]. Hopefully, the document will be ready by the middle of next year,” he said.

Through its efforts to digitise government operations, e-Gov Jamaica has become a critical component in the country’s digital transformation.

For his part, Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Hon. Daryl Vaz, said the necessary mechanisms to shape Jamaica into a technology-based and enabling society are being instituted.

Among other things, these will safeguard citizens’ rights as is evidenced by the passage of the Data Protection Act, 2020.