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Dr. Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) got the continental body running as he presided over the handover and takeover ceremony of the outgoing and incoming PAPU Secretaries-General.
Mr. Younouss Djibrine handed over the “mantle” of leadership to Mr. Sifundo Moyo as Secretary-General of the Pan African Postal Union. In the same spirit, Mr. Kolawole Raheem Aduloju (in absentia) handed over the mantle to Mrs. Jessica Uwera Ssengooba as Assistant Secretary-General of the Union.
Dr. Muswere thanked the Government and the people of the United Republic of Tanzania for not only hosting the headquarters of PAPU since 1980 but also for the unwavering support and goodwill that has been availed to the Union over the years, be it, financial, moral, and material.
For that reason, he conveyed his sincere gratitude to the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan for that noble gesture and promised to continue supporting her efforts in uplifting the Union’s performance in its quest for the development of postal services in Africa as well as contributing to the African Union Agenda 2063, “The Africa We Want”.
“First and foremost, I wish to sincerely thank the organizers of this historic occasion for extending an invitation to me to be in this beautiful city of Arusha (the Geneva of Africa) to witness this very important ceremony which will forever remain memorable. On behalf of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His Excellency, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa and on my own behalf, I want to extend our gratitude to SADC and the AU for the support and integrity during the last Plenipotentiary in Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls,” Dr Muswere said.
He continued: “I would like to thank the outgoing Secretary General and Assistant Secretary General for the good work done in the development of the postal sector during your tenure. You demonstrated leadership for the last 8 years and we commend you for that. To the incoming officials, you have a lot to learn from your predecessors so I urge you to consult them. There is more work to be done for the digitalization of the African posts to materialize.”
He assured the delegates that Zimbabwe will continue supporting the Union as evidenced by its pledge to contribute towards the PAPU House construction -already underway- which it undertook during the Plenipotentiary Conference in June, 2021, in Victoria Falls.
To the new Secretariat, he said Africa is one Continent and therefore the harmonisation of policies, regulations and development of common positions is key to consolidate the sustainable growth of the sector.
Dr Muswere said the focus of the PAPU secretariat should be on implementing all the resolutions adopted in Victoria Falls and on defending Africa’s postal growth, underlined by the digitalization of the postal sector. In that realm, the fusion of ICT in the postal sector will improve service delivery and efficiency and meet customer needs and demands.
He brought to the fore the fact that Zimbabwe has already identified a digital economy as a priority in terms of National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025) which was launched by His Excellency, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa last year and said PAPU should digitalize and improve on service delivery.