In a Ministry of Digital Transformation press release on July 29 2022, the Ministry of Digital Transformation (MDT ; https://mdt.gov.tt/) announced the meeting of four technical working groups comprising “skilled nationals and members of our diaspora” on Wednesday 27th July 2022 to begin the preparatory work towards Trinidad and Tobago’s National Digital Transformation Strategy for 2023-2026.

According to a slide accompanying the press release, there will be several steps starting from July 2022 to January 2023 :

• Step 1 – Initiation (presumably the convening of the four technical working groups)
• Step 2 – Assessing the Digital Environment
• Step 3 – Creating a Compelling Vision for National DT
• Step 4 – Action Planning of Prioritised Projects
• Step 5 – Implementation ; Monitoring and Evaluation

Steps 4 and 5 has the note “October 2022 – Submission to Cabinet”

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The text of the press release from MDT is as follows :

Work Commences Towards TT National Digital Transformation Strategy

Four (4) Technical Working Groups (TWGs) comprising skilled nationals and members of our diaspora met on Wednesday 27th July, 2022, to officially begin the preparatory work towards our new National Digital Transformation Strategy for the period 2023 – 2026.

Speaking at the virtual launch this morning, Minister of Digital Transformation, Senator the Honourable Hassel Bacchus emphasised that the strategy is not only about transformation but about ensuring that no one is left behind. “Everything that we are doing is for our customers – this means citizens, public officers, business-persons, the diaspora – all stakeholders. This is for Trinidad and Tobago.” He thanked the members of the Technical Working Groups who said “YES” to the call to contribute, “YES”, to the call to serve the country, and “YES” to the challenge to carve out a new way of creating a pathway for the future for T&T.

The new Digital Strategy will take into account the gains achieved by previous strategic documents which have guided national ICT strategy – fastforward (2003-2008), smarTT (2014- 2018), and the ICT Blueprint, which covered the period 2018 to the end of 2022. It will also seek to incorporate the principles of co-creation, collaboration and communication.

In the coming weeks, members of the public will be invited to contribute their ideas, comments and feedback through different public engagement channels. The Working Groups will utilise all of the ideas coming in to create the vision. They will also source strategic information, advice and guidance from various digital assessments and reports, including the Digital Readiness Assessment (DRA) conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this year.

Initial findings of the UNDP DRA Assessment report, which were shared with the TWGs at the session on Wednesday, show that there is a strong foundation for digital transformation and several opportunities exist for enhancement of our digital landscape. The UNDP, IDB, along with other local, regional and international agencies and stakeholders have committed to partnering with TT in its ambitious vision to have the National DT Strategy ready for implementation by January 2023.

Mr. Devindra Ramnarine, Digital Transformation Advisor, in his brief remarks commented that the MDT and by extension T&T will achieve its digital ambitions by being agile and learning from its mistakes, by building on the natural creativity of our people and by taking “moko jumbie steps” that will propel us forward in the shortest time possible.

More information on the public engagement will be provided soon. In the meantime, persons are invited to engage with the Strategy team by sending ideas, comments or queries to transformtt@mdt.gov.tt, and visit the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s website mdt.gov.tt for more info.

The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) has published a second version of the “Consultative Document on the National Emergency Communications Plan” (PDF ; 169 pages ; 3MB) in January 2022 for comments due March 16 2022.

The scope of the proposed National Emergency Communcations Plan is to:

“1. identify and facilitate necessary upgrades to the existing land mobile radiocommunications system, enabling all emergency/disaster responders to communicate and share information on a reliable, flexible telecommunications and ICT system across all agencies, in the event of a threat or hazard, as needed and when authorised.

2. identify a contingency system which allows emergency/disaster response agencies to maintain communications in the event of damage to or destruction of their primary telecommunications and ICT systems infrastructure.

3. develop resilient systems for public notifications, alerts and warnings.

4. establish systems and processes for the urgent restoration of basic telecommunications and ICT services (voice and data) in affected areas.

5. propose appropriate upgrades for the reporting of local emergencies/disasters by the public, to include voice, video and data messages.

6. establish a contingency emergency/disaster communications system for contacting regional and international agencies.

7. identify how to include the assistance of amateur operators during emergency events.”

The first version of the National Emergency Communication Plan was posted in 2017 and the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society submitted comments on the first version of the National Emergency Communications Plan .

Via the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament’s website:

“The Special Select Committee appointed to consider and report on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) (No.3) Bill, 2021 is inviting comments on the Bill.

The purpose of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) (No.3) Bill, 2021 is to amend the Sexual Offences Act, Chap. 11:28.

The Bill seeks to establish:

1. the offence of voyeurism where one engages in the Act for the purpose of deriving sexual gratification for themselves or another or for the purpose of causing humiliation and distress to another person;

2. an offence for any person to engage in the capturing and distribution of intimate images, without the consent and reasonable belief of consent from the individual who forms the subject matter of said image;

3., the penalty for committing the abovementioned offences on summary conviction to a fine of $250,000.00 and two (2) years imprisonment or upon conviction on indictment to a fine of $750,000.00 and five (5) years’ imprisonment; and certain exceptions in which it shall not be deemed an offence for any person to engage in the abovementioned offences.”

The Bill can be viewed at 

http://www.ttparliament.org/legislations/b2021s11g.pdf

The Committee is inviting members of the public to submit comments by February 18 2022.

What are your thoughts of the bill? The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has often commented on many ICT related issues and policies in Trinidad and Tobago and abroad. Let us know via email at info@ttcs.tt

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