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IT Ministry Seeks Consultations With Operators Over Tightening Bill |
| Source: |
Addis Fortune |
| Source Date: |
Sunday, January 08, 2012 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
Ethiopia |
| Created: |
Jan 13, 2012 |
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Officials at the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) are keen to hear the views of operators in the information technology industry over a bill that they have produced to certify the competence of importers, exporters, wholesalers, and retailers of electronics.
They have sent the bill to leaders of the Ethiopian Information & Communications Technology (ICT-ET), an industry lobbying group registered with the Ethiopian Charities & Societies Agency in 2010.
The bill was issued following the February 2011 proclamation to regulate commercial registration and business licensing, which requires all businesses to reregister with the Ministry of Trade (MoT). Businesses need to have accreditations from ministries and agencies regulating their industries. This proclamation mandates government agencies, including the MCIT, to issue directives to enforce the law, setting standards for business.
The MCIT's new bill divides industry operators into 30 categories, requiring them to hire graduate employees along with accountants and technicians to service and maintain electronics and IT equipment before they are issued with accreditations.
Wholesalers engaged in the supply of computers, mobile phone apparatuses and accessories, as well as telecommunications devices will be required to hire employees with diplomas in electronics, marketing, and procurement. In addition, an employee with a degree in electrical engineering or telecommunications will be required.
It will also compel companies to require employees to wear uniforms. Additionally the wholesale shop should have a maintenance facility, showroom, and warehouse in order to earn accreditation indispensable for licensing, the bill reads.
Retailers will also be required to hire information technology graduates with degrees and diplomas, while importers will be demanded to hire electrical engineering or telecommunications specialists.
The bill will require exporters of electronic goods to hold an international standard quality certification before passing through the local professional certification process, in order to get export permits.
For those who provide training in computer applications and database development, the bill will add the burden of hiring instructors with undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and information technology. These training centres should have whiteboards, projectors, reference books, and a minimum of 10 computers, in order to get certified.
Those running Internet cafes will be required to have printers and machines that show the amounts of time that users spend online.
Responses from operators have been unpleasant, many fearing that the bill, if passed, will discourage an industry still in its embryonic stage.
The human resources demand, including the qualifications, for instance, is unjustifiable based on the market shares of computer importers and retailers, claims one computer importer from the United States and Europe.
Balcha Reba, director of the communications and information technology, standardisation, and regulation directorate, disagrees.
"We have certified close to 1,000 businesses with professional certifications, using similar requirements during the 2010/11 fiscal year," he told Fortune.
Placing requirements and enforcing standards will protect the buying public, Balcha argues. Many do not meet the expected levels of professional competence, for their employees have not been trained in the products they sell, according to him.
"Many are unable to provide explanations of the specifications of the products that they sell, neither can they service or repair them in case of a malfunction," Balcha said. "If the bill passes, it will give employment opportunities for graduates and better services to buyers in the industry."
BOn the flipside, retailers of mobile accessories around Megenagna, on Haile Gebrselassie Street, were shocked to learn that a bill is in the making that is to change the way they do business. Hardly anyone among them is a member of the ICT-ET, which requires 1,000 Br registrations with 500 Br annual membership fees, to use it as a platform to make their voices heard.
The ICT-ET association declined to comment.
Retailers at Megenagna will have a difficult time fitting three people in their dilapidated, little shops, with some contemplating leaving the business due to the financial burden they will face in hiring skilled technicians.
The MCIT will organise a workshop before passing the directive, according to Balcha.
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