President Lazarus Chakwera has stressed on the importance of Malawi joining the Smart Africa Alliance (SAA) saying it would help Malawi in its digitalization agenda.
The President said that by joining the Smart Africa Alliance, it would help Malawi to link up with other countries that have similar agendas in terms of development.
He made the remarks on Wednesday at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe where he attended a three day summit on Transforming Africa.
Chakwera emphasized the need to go digital saying it was the only way to attain most of the social and economic developments both locally and globally.
“Digitalization and development are like twins, they may not have born on the same day but they go together, it is in this light that we joined the Smart Africa Alliance to learn from some African countries that are using digitalization to enforce good developments in their respective countries,” the President said.
He expressed hope that by Malawi going digital, it would help government Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to cut the red tape in fighting bureaucracy and corruption which would move Malawi to a better place.
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame who is also the Chairperson of the Smart Africa Alliance said that union was very crucial to the promotion of social and economic development of the African continent in the years to come.
He said it time for all African countries to join the SAA as part of promoting trade and economic growth of the continent.
President of Zimbabwe, Emerson Mnangwagwa emphasized on the importance of the Smart Africa Alliance saying by making Africa Digital, it would help in integration of services across the African continent.
Director General of Smart Africa, Lucina Kone said the Alliance has grown so much since its inception in 2003 where it only had seven member states in 2013, to a 36 member state representing a population of more 1.1 billion people across Africa.
He said in the 10 years of its existence the union has achieved continental strategic toolkits and policies that cut across affordable and safe internet for all, digital identification for socio-economic growth, digital literacy for job creation and gender equity.
The Sixth edition of Transform Africa summit was held under the theme connect-innovate-transform.
The summit was attended by five Heads of State and Government from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Eswatini, Rwanda and Malawi.
By Lydia Maganga in Victoria Falls
