successfully so that political support can be strengthened and expanded. The identification and support of an executive sponsor at the ministerial level is also critical to mitigating this risk. In essence, success will engender support and improved resource allocation. It is also critical that the Plan continue to be tightly aligned with the development plan and goals of the country if long term support is to be assured. There are many other risks that can potentially derail the successful implementation of the Plan. It is therefore necessary to develop and use a detailed risk register as the key and foundational tool for managing and reducing the risks identified before and during the project. This means the careful documentation of risk mitigation strategies to be pursued in response to the identified risks and their grading in terms of likelihood and seriousness. This framework will provide the project sponsor, stakeholders and senior management with a documented framework from which risk status can be reported, and against which risk managers can be assigned the responsibility to manage these risks. The creation of the detailed risk register and associated risk mitigation framework is one of the immediate actions to be taken in project implementation, and will be tailored to the actual projects which are put into train and the resources available at that time for implementation. At this point, the initial step in moving forward can be identified. 5.6 The First Step Forward The first step would be to accelerate the stakeholder engagement process to operationalise the Plan, and to ensure and strengthen grass root support for its programmes and projects. The communications process should begin with all Ministries and agencies. The private sector should be quickly engaged to ensure that e‐business and the ICT sector can take root and expand. Integral to the above activities is the establishment of the governance arrangements by the appointment of the National Ministerial ICT Steering and Advisory Committee and the National ICT Implementation and Monitoring Secretariat. The Secretariat must be provided with the resources, and be given the mandate and the responsibility to move the Plan to action in a cost‐ effective and sustainable manner. The NCIO role should be filled as soon as practical. Furthermore, Government should kick start the quick win projects within government to build confidence in the Plan and to generate credibility and support. While these short term projects are in train, work should begin on the detailed implementation planning for the programmes and projects identified. Funding and other resourcing would need to be obtained to execute the prioritised projects, and the e‐government agenda further refined. [47]