By Josepha Jabo

Twenty-five brand-new HP laptops were handed over by the National Information Technology Authority–Uganda (NITA-U), through the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, to Uganda Media Centre (UMC) during a joint press conference held at UMC on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

At exactly 12:11 pm, Mr. Alan Kasujja, the Executive Director of Uganda Media Centre, took to the podium. “Today is a very important day for us, as the Media Centre, but also for the work that we plan to do. The reason for that is it’s the beginning of a collaboration. Today is significant because we are mobilising resources as the Media Centre. I want to thank Dr. Aminah Zawedde, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, for her leadership in ensuring the resources within the agencies under her remit are mobilised and effectively deployed.”

Kasujja thanked NITA-U for being the first agency to respond to UMC’s cry. “Dr. Hatwib, thank you very much. We look forward to a very effective partnership in our quest to ensure Uganda’s story is told effectively. Not just to Ugandans, but to the rest of the world. Our mission is to ensure that Uganda takes its rightful place in the world. I encourage everybody, let’s remember that we’re building this nation together! We are not involved in a PR exercise but in nation-building!”

Kasujja said he wanted to open young people's eyes to the opportunities available in this country. “We want them to see that their motherland will take care of them and that their future is bright, if they continue to contribute to this country's progress. The ambition of government is very clear; by 2040, this economy has to be worth $500 billion, and we will do that by communicating, by telling Uganda’s story.”

At this juncture, Dr. Hatwib Mugasa, the Executive Director of NITA-U, mounted the podium, where the laptops were already on full display, to make some comments. “We heard the call for support and we heeded it. We’re looking at devices to enable the Centre to collect and disseminate information and monitor government programmes. We’re also looking at the e-Services we can deliver to the Media Centre: web hosting services, connectivity and much more. We want to digitize Uganda. We have delivered 150 laptops to communication officers under the Ministry of ICT. We have also delivered about 2,000 laptops to government offices.”

Hatwib added that the biggest challenge is the adoption of ICT services and the cost of acquiring these devices. However, under the leadership of the Ministry of ICT and the Ministry of Finance, NITA-U was discussing ways to bring the cost down, to make a smart devices more affordable, “I call upon other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and the general public to use IT as an enabler to expedite your work, to enable you to perform much more.”

The honourable minister was finally called upon, to perform the symbolic handover of the laptops.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate Mr. Alan Kasujja upon this very important appointment,” Hon. Godfrey Kabbyanga, the Minister of State for Information, Communication Technology and National Guidance began. “I would like to inform all journalists, at the Media Centre that it will no longer be business as usual! We want this to be your home, either physically or virtually, that’s why we’re equipping the Media Centre now, so that it becomes the main source of government information. I strongly believe, with this token of appreciation from NITA-U, the Media Centre is going to be more sophisticated and technologically online. We thank NITA-U for the offer and I hope the staff here are going to utilise the laptops very well, to the benefit of government. We are going to increase government visibility, by giving you more information, so people can know what government is doing and also encourage people to play their role. The Constitution is very clear, ‘Every citizen should contribute to national development.’ So, before you ask what government has done for you, ask yourself what you have done for government. I take this opportunity to hand over the laptops to Uganda Media Centre.”

The Writer works for Uganda Media Centre