PAPU to link-up 30,000 continent offices with internet

 

 

Photo/FILE Customers at a Posta branch in Kenya. Rental fees and postage rates—both local and international will also go up with individual box rent going up by 70 per cent from Sh1400 to Sh2,000 while corporates will pay Sh6,000 to rent the boxes, up from the current Sh4,200.  

By The guardian reporter

Pan African Postal Union (PAPU)

The Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) is working on a project geared to connect 30,000 post offices with internet facilities in Africa, particularly in countries, where such services are yet to be established.


PAPU's Secretary General Younouss Djibrine revealed this on Tuesday in Arusha during the union's four-day Electrification and Connectivity Project for Post Offices in Africa Workshop.

Djibrine said the project is meant to improve communication among post offices across Africa, so as to stimulate socio-economic development in the region.
According to Djibrine, the project is expected to kick off by the end of this year.

"Right now we're in final stages of preparing documents of agreements with development partners and by June, this year we'll be meeting with partners for agreements," he said, adding that the project was to start earlier, but delayed a bit due to lack of financial muscles.
"We are very optimistic that this time round we'll start on time as we've secured donors," he said.

The PAPU official said by 2016, 80 percent of post offices in Africa will be linked with internet, the situation that would allow customers particularly those located in rural areas to easily access the services.

"We want to see rural communities get access to internet communication including bank services. Rural people are denied access to bank services because of their inaccessibility. So, this project is determined to see those people are connected with such services," he said.

PAPU Communication and Marketing manager Dickson Rayori implored the important role played by postal services in African developmental endeavors.

"But, this important tool, is being affected by not being given priority as it is in other issues like agriculture," the official said, adding limited knowledge among its staff is another challenge that need to be addressed.

PAPU has started providing regular training for post staff particularly on the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT).

Innocent Mungi, communication manager with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), praised the action taken by PAPU of linking its offices with internet communication.

"This is an important milestone that PAPU has residtered and will stimulate development across Africa, particularly in countries where there are no such services," he said.

Based in Arusha, PAPU is a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) and came into existence 34 years ago, with the aim to spearhead the development of postal services in Africa. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN