Chakwera advocates for African nations become active participants in the digital revolution

The President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has on Wednesday advocated for an expedited, a pragmatic agenda in which African nations become active participants in the digital revolution.

During the opening his Address at the opening session of the Transform Africa Summit (TAS2023) taking place in Zimbabwe, Chakwera said Africa must deploy multiple strategic investments to integrate all key sectors of the economy on a single digital platform in order to catch up with the First World trajectory of digital uptake.

“Our citizens should have affordable access to digital products and services, digital literacy and improved digital infrastructure,” said Chakwera. “With these in place, we should be able to transition our economy to the digital space through e-Learning, e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Health and smart farming among other key components.

“Malawi, in our quest to become an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation by 2063, will remain a reliable partner within the Smart Africa Alliance to see our people benefit from the digital dividends via affordable connectivity and efficient public service delivery.”

Continuing with his Address, Chakwera said the development in Africa as a continent, has been delayed and in way or another, the delay has been there due to our own detachment from the rest of the world which deprived Africans of new ideas of innovations for economic progress.

“Sometimes [development] has been delayed by superstitions that resist no invention and solutions that that faded all the ideas,” added Chakwera.

His Excellency said the only way to eradicate the economic problem is to work hard and lift the obstacles to digitalisation and to work together on connecting the whole country digitally so that Africa becomes a single digital market.

“Am excited to be here and represent Malawi as the newest member of the African Summit Alliance and am grateful for President Kagame of Rwanda for his leadership in pursuit of this,” continued to say Chakwera.

Chakwera travelled to Zimbabwe on Thursday, 26th April, 2023 to attend the summit which is aimed at Building Resilient Digital Ecosystem in Africa through Sustainable Investments [with the aims] of discussing the importance of sustainable investments in building a resilient digital ecosystem in Africa.

This session will look at challenges faced by African countries in building a sustainable digital ecosystem and the need for private sector investment to help bridge the infrastructure gap. The panelist will look at emphasis and importance of building sustainable digital infrastructure that can withstand the challenges faced by African economies, including political instability, insufficient regulatory frameworks, and limited access to capital.

The panelists also emphasized the need for sustainable investments that promote inclusive growth and support local innovation, the role of policymakers, investors, and private sector actors in fostering sustainable investments in Africa’s digital ecosystem. Finally, the session concluded by highlighting the opportunities for sustainable investments in Africa’s digital economy and the need for partnerships to accelerate growth in this area.