National Cyber Security Coordinator, Dr. Hamza Bangura has been appointed as chairman of the Technical Working Group(TWG) for the review and regulatory process of the Data Protection Act, according to him is the basic requirement for a country like Sierra Leone to participate fully to the implementation of peace.
MR. ALPHA KANU
Dr. Hamza Bangura, disclose that the Technical Working Group ( TWG) has developed a work plan and a propose budget that will facilitate the enactment of the Data Protection Act, which is believed to be completed before the end of this year. He said that they are very much please to be the pioneers of the Data Protection Act,as it is key to the security of the country’s protected information infrastructure, and the privacy of the end users of cyber. He reiterated that, they have work tirelessly with Law enforcement agencies and ICT stakeholders to ensure that they cyber space is protected as required by international best practice. He however said that they are trying to make sure before the end of this year, the National Cyber Security Policy to be forwarded to cabinet and the Data Protection Act passed into Law.
The Director of Communications in the Ministry of Information and Communications, Mr. Bakarr Tarawally in his capacity as the chairman of the meeting welcome all for the timely response to his invitation to attend and discuss the way forward to enacting a Data Protection Act for the government and people of Sierra Leone. In his remarks, he uses the opportunity to brief attendees on the strides the government has continued to play to provide an accessible and affordable ICT services of this country and especially the 2013 landing of the Fibre Optic cable to be rolled out nationwide as a fibre backbone and whereas, the last mile solutions will be fibre to the Homes and or Premises he explained. This is also very much key to the implementation of the West African Police Information Systems(WAPIS) he stressed. The automated database systems requires a reliable ICT infrastructures for its sustainability he added. He called on the Sierra Leone Police representatives to brief attendees on the WAPIS project.
In his briefings, the Director of Crime Services in the Sierra Leone Police AIG Morie Lengor explains the need for the quick enactment of the Data Protection Act as it is a pre-requirement for Sierra Leone to be officially invited to participate in the pilot phase of WAPIS. He opened that, the project is funded by the European Union and currently holds its headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. We currently have a representative from INTERPOL in Abuja for the project implementation. He called on the Ministry of Information and Communications and other stakeholders to speed up the process of enacting the law as this is key to enhancing national security.
Mr. Mans Dabo, from INTERPOL in his contribution briefed attendees on the historical relationships between Sierra Leone and the other 190 member states and governments of the organization. It is collaborative approach to share information and track down hard core and profiled criminals across national and international territories and that Sierra Leone has been very much cooperative to the cause he explained. He appealed to all key stakeholders to make this dream a reality to ensure Sierra Leone does not missed this golden opportunity he stressed.
The Director of Serious Crimes from the Office of National Security(ONS) who also double as the Secretary General of the Transnational Organized Crime Unit( TOCU) management board expressed delight for The purpose of meeting as it is a clear manifestation that, stakeholders are now very much cooperative in security issues. The ONS will do all it can to cooperate fully for the Data Protection Law enactment and hence the implementation of WAPIS he concluded. By Septimus Kanu
