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| President Paul Kagame |
In today's world,
citizens are increasingly demanding for more convenient, responsive and
accessible government services. Besides, they are also expecting more
democratic and accountable government.
E-government
means different things to different people. Some observers have defined
E-government in terms of specific actions: using a government office to receive
information, applying for benefits through a web-site, or creating shared data
bases for multiple agencies. Other observers have defined E-government in
general terms. For instance they see E-government as 'automating the delivery
of government services'.
While perceptions
of E-government vary widely, there is no doubt that E-government involves using
information technology and especially the internet, to deliver government
information, and in some cases, services to citizens, businesses and government
agencies. E-government could in fact enable citizens to interact and receive
services from government 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It should however
be clear that E-government is itself a process, or a means to an end, rather
than an end in itself.
For
Rwanda, e-government is still at a fairly infancy stage of its development and
can only promise to evolve in due course. In Rwanda, Government is determined
to ensure that its IT policy is implemented. To put the said IT to
effectiveness however, there will be need for 'e-readiness' in terms of
infrastructure, accessibility to the population at large and the effect of the
legal and regulatory framework on ICT use.
This is what
Rwanda is attempting to do and it is by no means a simple challenge.
To realize the
fullest potential of e-Government requires transformation, a new paradigm for
government service delivery centered on the application of technology. As Deloitte Touche Research, New York has revealed,
'e-Government is not just another way of doing things; it is a transformation
on a scale that will fundamentally alter the way public services are delivered
and managed. It does not have a fixed developmental time line; it is
evolutionary'.
Like
most governments, the Rwanda government's path to e-Government has been
evolutionary. Rwanda government's support for the e-Government programme is
part of the ICT-led Socio-Economic Development Policy and Plan for Rwanda (
NICI-Plan ) toward achieving a knowledge-based economy as envisioned in the
country's Vision 2020. E-Government strategy focuses on the evolution of
existing systems and implementation of new ones in order to promote a variety
of issues including portability, scalability and security. Other components
include: Capacity development, electronic transaction legislation, security
issues and access plus networking in the public sector and addressing minimum
technology standards on systems, hardware and software.
An Electronic
Documentation Centre is in place at the Kigali Institute of Science and
Technology (KIST) which was funded by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP). The said centre is playing an role as part of the country's strategic
plan for safe keeping and fast retrieval of vital documents and materials
generated through the development of Rwanda.
It is important
to note that if many of the e-Government solutions often involve some
conversions of paper documents into electronic ( digital format such as .doc or
.pdf ) and their storage in information systems, many challenges will have to
be addressed. For instance, how will access to the said documents be
controlled? Who will be authorized to make changes to the said documents? What
will be the mechanisms to ensure that data integrity of the documents is
maintained during transmission? For new documents created in electronic format,
what mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that they retain their
authenticity and proof of origin? The list of questions may be long.
Infrastructure
has been put in place including laying down of fiber network across the city of
Kigali, which started from Kacyiru, an outskirt of Kigali that is headquarters
to a number of Government Ministries and Departments. The idea was to ensure
that all ministries and Government Departments are connected by fiber. For the
last six years Rwanda has had what it takes to deliver e-government services.
While fiber is
said to be expensive in the short run, it is critical infrastructure that will
in the long run be an advantage to Rwanda's telecommunications industry. For
instance having fiber optic is in favour of Rwanda as international calls are
routed through Kigali on account of reliable infrastructure. Better and
reliable services are already being offered including normal data service.
Despite this
impressive shift to IT, we will need to undergo a paradigm shift-a kind of
process re-engineering. We will need to have products and services that match
our vision. We will need to educate our people on the value of information.
Information will have to be quantified and also ensure that there is security
and safety of information. The user of the information must not feel worried
about issues of safety and security.
At the end of the
day e-Government cannot be successfully implemented if the service providers
are not able to use it. Given the way things are taking shape, there is little
doubt that e-government in Rwanda will be a reality in the very near future.
By
Oscar Kimanuka
The
New Times of Rwanda