By Theresa Kef Sesay
In order to see how far progress has gone on the ongoing construction work on the New National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) Building at Hill Station, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray conducted an inspection tour on the 26th August 2021.
The Minister was accompanied by senior staff of the Ministry which includes the Permanent Secretary Kwame Yankson, Acting Director of Communications Mumini Jalloh and the Director General of NATCOM Daniel Kaitibi to inspect the progress of the building.
The visit, this medium understood, was primarily initiated by the Minister to see how far the work has gone as a supervisory Ministry and most importantly to provide a space in the building for the installation of the National Computer Security and Incidence Response Team (NCSIRT) to enable tracking down cyber-crimes.
It would be recalled that Parliament unanimously enacted the Cyber Security and Crime Act 2021 this year and one of the key components of the Act is to provide a National Computer Security and Incidence Response Team to track down cyber-crimes.
The NCSIRT will be supported by ECOWAS and EU to serve as the national infrastructure to strengthen the fight against cyber-crimes and related matters. The Government of Sierra Leone is expected to provide the office space for the installation of NCSIRT.
During the inspection tour the Director General of NATCOM identified a space to the Minister which was examined by the Acting Director of Communications and approved by him.
From what Minister Swaray stated there is an ongoing training for Judges and law enforcement officers on how to handle matters related to cyber-crime. The Minister added that, eight (8) Sierra Leoneans had been sent on training in Accra, Ghana on how to operate and handle the NCSIRT. “We are far ahead and ready as a nation to receive this installation,” the Minister asserted.
The Cyber Security and Crime Bill 2021 now await the assent of the President.
