With the advent of the Internet, many families and communities formerly with completely no access to the information superhighway were left out. But now, its becoming invetible to neglect this great information and communication technology tool. Information formerly a reserve of the super rich or educated is now a click away and the best thing is, it is available to everybody.

It reminds me of a the time towards the end of the last century about the time the first mobile telephony company setup business, celtel. A mobile phone sold by the same company, was costing more $500, GA628 ericsson. Then, only VIPs (very important persons, don’t know the criteria how these where picked), government ministers, village millionnaires, would usually be seen with block-size phones strapped at their sides which they would often unstrap at big gatherings to receive that all call. Gatherings such as weddings, village meetings, funerals. Whenever the “big man” received a call, which happened to be often, the entire function normally came to a standstill till the “big man” finished his call! So much has changed till then.

The mobile phone era exploded upon and has greatly impacted on our lives, from the very way we do business to how we keep in touch. Mobile phone prices have dropped to as low as $22.5 for a pair of brand new fully connected handsets! Phone calling rates are falling every other day as well. A lot is about to change when more people embrace the use of the computers and the Internet. Currently, only about 2 million people use computers in my country.

But that number is growing everyday with the creation of the ministry of ICTs, a vibrant and eager group of IT professionals spearheading the IT industry in the country. Government portals such as state house are becoming common, better still, they are beefing with current info. Its only a matter of time before government services become available online.

Below is a mini-list of the most popular sites in Uganda:

Bukedde - Online vernacular newspaper with over 25,000 visits daily!
Newvision - government daily
Monitor - news portal
facebook - so many youth are logged in here.