By Clara Kafumba
Blantyre, Mana: Ministry of Information Principal Secretary for E-Government, Francis Bisika Friday said 10 government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had registered and were utilizing the National Data Centre.
He lauded Ministries of Education, Health, Gender, Trade, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Malawi Parliament and National Council for Higher Education for responding positively to the establishment of the facility.
He said players in the private sector have not come through to start utilizing the new facility.
“So far 10 MDAs have registered whilst we are yet to get the private sector to utilize the National Data Centre,” Bisika added.
He said among others, the NDC would improve the country’s data utilization in the form of analytic, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and machine Learning and the Internet of Things.
The NDC, according to Bisika, was a significant facility to the country’s development because of its crosscutting characteristic where it targets all sectors of the economy for both private and public.
“We want to ensure that data is kept in a secure. The facility will assist in embracing technology in delivering services such as agriculture, health and education sectors just mentioning a few, through such implementation of Artificial Intelligence machine learning, block chain, internet of things and not forgetting big date,” he said.
The PS said government realizes that information was a critical resource for any country such that with National Data Centre in place, critical information would be kept within the country’s borders as opposed to keeping it outside the country.
He was optimistic that the numbers of MDAs registering at National Data Centre would grow as most government departments were embracing digitization.
“This is an ongoing process as most MDAs are embracing digitalization through implementation of e-service which has to always be up and accessible to the public,” Bisika said.
Human Resource Officer of Blantyre District Education Office, Hebert Chanza said their office has utilized the centre to the fullest.
He said work as been easy in accessing vital information for our work on human resource.
President Lazarus Chakwera inaugurated the facility in Blantyre on July 21, 2022.
 had registered and were utilizing the National Data Centre.He lauded Ministries of Education, Health, Gender, Trade, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of National Parks and Wildlife, Malawi Parliament and National Council for Higher Education for responding positively to the establishment of the facility.He said players in the private sector have not come through to start utilizing the new facility.){kind=link}