After the signing of the Financial Agreement, with World Bank in July 2022, the Government of Sierra Leone has met the conditions for an International Development Association (IDA) $50 Million grant for a 5-year Digital Transformation Project, which will also ensure the success of President Julius Maada Bio’s Inclusive Digital Agenda.
The Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, disclosed this development in a tweet, following the World Bank announcement.
The project will support digital skills, enhance e-governance and promote cyber security in the country.
It would be recalled that President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has always emphasised that Sierra Leone should catch up with the fourth industrial revolution and this project is one step towards ensuring Sierra Leone does not miss the opportunities.
The President in his address at the State Opening of the fifth session of the fifth Parliament of the Republic of Sierra Leone, highlighted the gains the country has made in enacting the Cyber Security and Crime Act, Digital Transformation project and the Data Protection Bill that will soon be tabled in Parliament for approval.
“The recently enacted Cyber Security and Crime Act addresses cybercrimes, protects critical national information infrastructure, and
provides for the timely and effective collection of electronic evidence for the purpose of investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes.
The National Cyber Security Coordinating Centre has been established and the Ministry of Information and Commutations, will soon start implementing the $50m USD World Bank funded Digital Transformation Project.
Additional measures and legislation on national digital development, data protection and privacy, and electronic communications will soon be laid in this House,” the President said.
As mapped out in the New Direction manifesto, the Digital Transformation project seeks to leverage the use of Digitalisation in governance, which will establish an Electronic Governance system to manage government business electronically.
