I am afraid that the DOT Force report is clearly a work of committee,
and a committee of government, UN and World Bank types at that. It
claims to be proposing innovative processes; however, the emphasis is
nothing but a repeat of the past, with government taking the lead role.
The idea of a master ICT national strategy contradicts everything ICT's
stand for; the ability for new initiatives and actions to come up, for
decentralisation of power, for local innovation. I believe that making a
national ICT strategy essentially a requirement is a dangerous move. It
will dominate everything that is done, set up new bureaucracies with
lots of red tape. Do we not have too much bureaucracy already?
Please, I appeal to the DOT Force, do not set such a precedent. It will
set back real innovative activities at all levels. It will mire us in
the developing countries in red tape. I do not see such a centralised
ICT national strategy in the United States or Britain and I do not think
it is the case in the other G8 as well. For countries that want a
national ICT strategy, like South Africa, it is well. But many countries
do not, and if they try to develop one it will take all their time and
human resources, and by the time it is done it will be outdated.
Instead, there should be a way for small businesses and local NGOs to
try out new things and share their experience (as we do with this GKD
list) with support from the G8, and let each other know what is
successful, and serve as models for each other.
Sarita Pantel
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