WINDHOEK – Prime Minister Hage Geingob yesterday (Thursday) officially launched Namibia’s e-Government Strategic Plan, which strives to promote a more efficient and effective government and to make it more accessible and accountable to citizens through the use of information and communication technologies. “E-Government will help enhance our ability to improve service delivery and in so doing bring us closer to the public, who are then customers of government”, remarked Geingob.
“The benefits of e-Government are immense, citizens, businesses and visitors alike will be able to access government information and online services with ease through multiple channels or in the comfort of their homes”, commented Geingob. The Prime Minister continued that through e-governance, collaboration and data sharing among government institutions that will ensure consistency of information to avoid duplication of efforts and documentation. For example, through e-governance, other institutions that may require verification of such a record can reference a citizen’s record at the Ministry of Home Affairs. “Namibia enjoys services provided by other sectors, mostly banks and private businesses. The availability of online banking is one such service that has benefitted those who have the confidence to use it. Therefore the government would like to extend its effort in providing similar services such as registration of birth and income tax declaration all through the e-Government portal”, noted Geingob.
In all, the e-Government Strategic Action Plan outlines the high level vision of the government, which is to be the leading networked government providing client-centric, transparent, affordable and efficient services to all. What’s more is that the action plan places emphasis on five areas of importance, starting with impact and visibility that will see the state work towards the redesign of extensive business processes and computerisation of services from identified offices, ministries and agencies by 2018. The second is collaborations and networking, which aims to create a network of government institutions which share government resources such as data, infrastructure and solutions through a collaborative approach, also by 2018. The third area emphasized consistency and standardisation, aims at a standard and consistent approach, interfaces and interactions for developing and implementing solutions and rendering services by 2016. Furthermore, area number four; training, education and research, aims at having experienced employees for rendering e-services as well as willing clients for participation and accessing serviced the e-Government approach. Finally, foundational support is the area through which government will aim to develop relevant laws and policies as well as the establishment of technical committees to drive the e-Government reform by next year, 2015.
“A project as big as e-Government no doubt will have its challenges and risks, therefore I call upon all government institutions and the information society to make their contribution when called upon to do so. Through a collaborative effort we will succeed”, added Geingob.
Namibia currently ranks eighth on the United Nations e-Government index survey of 2014, which is an improvement from the previous position of tenth in 2012. According to Geingob, Namibia is well on its way to the top of these rankings with the launch of the Strategic Action Plan yesterday. However, Geingob cautioned that the success of the action plan depends on awareness and skills development at all levels, enhancement of ICT infrastructure to all corners of the country, expansion of the national grid to include all schools and constituencies, nation-wide support to make use of technology, finalisation of relevant policies and laws, and above all an adequate budget that will enable the achievement of the goals in the plan. “I therefore call upon all government institutions and the Information Technology society to throw all their weight behind supporting this project and to ensure the successful implementation of this plan”, concluded Geingob.