SOFT SPOKEN TANZANIA AND THE REALITY

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which is coming to an end today has been broadly highlighted in the world media. The Summit's ultimate ambition is to foster reduction of the technology divide and to promote the economies of developing nations through Information Communication Technology (ICT). There were important and interesting issues discussed that try to create a picture on the position of developing countries in the sphere of information and communication technology. There were in particular success stories on ICT in African continent. An International Information Specialist from IAALD notified us of great news about Tanzania profile to be presented at WSIS. Addressing the conference in Tunis, Tunisia yesterday, Prof. Mark J Mwandosya, Tanzania's minister for communications and transport, said that there are notable achievements in ICT application in the country. With an ICT policy in place, the country has seen the growth of community telecentres, rural mobile phones, open source content and nationwide e-government. According to Professor Mark Mwandosya, the country has established an ICT infrastructure that has become the foundation for e-government and other applications. The government is also mainstreaming ICTs into the country's educational system, through training teachers and localising software into Kiswahili. The remarks came forth while the current capital city, Dar es salaam including the country boss’s office “Ikulu” is in power rationing owing to some technical problems with the wazungu run power company, TANESCO. This is so for Dar which is a reference point of the whole country. The situation in the remote areas where accessibility is a dream of lifetime is catastrophy. Think of rural areas like Kasuga in Kibondo, Titye in Kasulu, Isangati in Mbeya rural, Azimio in Uyui and others. Simon Hancock of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)Click Online made a country study in Tanzania. His story singled out Tanzania as having the fastest expanding mobile services of all African countries. This story is supplemented by the similar one on ICT for rural people presented by Joseph Sekiku of FADECO. Despite the fact that only 10% of Tanzanian are served with electric power, mobile phone services are booming. The story, however, does not provide cocreate answers to account for personal or at least household gain derived from owning a mobile phone especially in the rural areas. There are many questions to answer with regard to such observations. Do we really owning mobile phones for economic benefit or just for prestige? How many people own mobiles but don’t know how to operate them? How many people own mobiles but would not afford their operation costs? How many people own mobiles but live in areas where power in not for rationing but a new terminology? How many...? How many..?