E-GOVERNANCE

Government must be able to take quick timely and correct decisions. Availability of complete and detailed information about the issues involved, through analysis of the available information and assessment of the impact of the decisions form the basis of correct decisions. Information Technology has provided online access to all information about all matters or events, at any time and from any location. First step of e-governance is therefore establishment of infrastructure all over the country in such a way that all the information that is being generated in rural or urban areas is properly processed and stored in appropriate forms.

The stored information must also be updated periodically. Computerisation of the information at each village/town level in all government offices is there fore mandatory. This information must then be made available to the decision makers through Government Intranets, which are the networks spread all over the State. As an example one can quote the National Informatics Centres’ Network of Government of Kenya, which will aim to connects are district level and divisional level Government offices to Government Secretariats in the State capitals. The communication network used telephone lines as well as the VSAT (Very Small Aperture Satellite Terminals) based satellite communication system. Real time information records and their instantaneous processing makes the decisions process optimum.

Movement of Files: The second hurdle in good governance is the ‘movement of files’ from one table to another through umpteen number of functionaries. Computerisation of Government Offices eliminates the need of physical movement of the files since they are accessible to all the functionaries at the same time. Any person who has to process the file can make the appropriate entries and the next functionary in line will have the updated file on his PC instantaneously. A major advantage of this system is that the files cannot go under a big pile on the table or cannot do the vanishing trick. Another significant gain from the system is that whole process is transparent which makes the decision impartial.

Good Government must also be able to establish a good control over the entire machinery as well as over the various events, that take place in the society. e-Governance is a very powerful tool since it has the entire information network at its command through which it can receive information and transmit orders and commands to control. Very interestingly, there is a computer software called Geographical information System (GIS) which provides not only the geographical coordinates of each and every items like bridges, electrical transformers, wells, field boundaries etc. but also provides information about events that are taking place like coconut crop disease that is spreading over a particular field. An other example is that the financial management has now become very efficient because all the treasuries can be computerized and networked.

The Click of the Mouse: Service to citizens, contacts with the common man and collection of taxes and revenues is another fact of e-governance that has surpassed all expectations. A resident of a village does not have to travel to the chief/sub chief office or district place or state capital to get the revenue record of his farm or house. Getting birth certificates does not more imply long waits or tips to the functionary in the records office where he has to dig through one hundred years record to find out a proof of birth of his three year old child. All these records are archived on computers ad are available to anybody, anywhere with the ‘click’ of the mouse as they say. Many citizens phone bills in a conventional system. Payment of taxes to Government is dreaded by the citizens not because of the cumbersome process of the transactions.

The Kenya Government should open computerized counters called ‘Friends’ where one can pay taxes, dues etc. to various Government Departments and University fees etc. all under the same roof. In near future: ”Information Kiosks” should expected to replace the present (around “STD/ISD telephone booths(simu ya jamii)” and public call offices in Kenya. One will be able to walk in the boot “Infokiosk” situated almost next door and then pay taxes, electricity bills and collect birth/death certificates, land registration records, details of a government decision about the public distribution system for grains to people below poverty line.

Government Online: Following are some of the actions under implementation by Governments in Kenya. All Government information other than that having a bearing on security is made available to public. Under the District Information System, plan programme is being made widespread and databases updated online are made available to public. Courts Information System (COURTIS), Parliament Information System (PARLIS), Computerised Rural Information systems Programme (VRISP) are other examples of databases generated and made accessible.

Websites have been launched for most Government Departments and agencies. All Government departments should be asked to allocate 3 to 5 percent of their budgets for IT related activities including training of personnel. An Informational Project named “Government Online” has been formed by G-8 countries to plan and implement projects to promote IT in Governments. IT literacy should be stipulated as an essential requirement for all future government and public sector employment. Government of India has framed a national policy on Information Security, Privacy and data protection act for handling of Computerized data. Cyber laws have been framed and IT bill has been approved by the Parliament. The Government should gear up to become a SMART Government by declaring itself to be Simple, Moral Accountable, Responsive and Transparent.

In conclusion, Governance through e-media using IT technologies has enabled very efficient, transparent and fast decision-making process. The IT infrastructure has made direct participation of a common man in the Government matters with access to all the information he needs.e-Government is the ideal government system of the modern age.

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Unlicensed Software in Government offices?

I wonder how many government offices and organizations use only licensed software, and nothing else? There is not much data available on this, but when I put this question to a few IT managers in government, they sounded evasive. And when I asked some vendors, who supply hardware and software, or those systems integrators who implement end-to-end projects, the clear answer was that there are lots of illegal software in use in the government.

The reasons might be many, but if the government itself is using unlicensed software, either knowingly or unknowingly, there is not much it will be able to do to stop others. Therefore, it is a serious matter, and must be addressed immediately.
First and foremost, there should be no difference of opinion on whether using pirated software is a crime or not. If organizational heads and CIO’s are yet to convey in no uncertain terms that software piracy is a crime, they must do so immediately. There should be organization-wide campaigns to make people aware of what is pirated software, and why it should not be used. There should be clear guidelines on what is legal and what is not, and preferably, penalties for acquiring illegal software. Of course, for those who resort to this for reasons of cost, recommended options of freeware, and open source will be a big help.

Quite a few crusaders of licensed software, especially those representing the software companies, are now realizing and accepting that promotion of licensed software in Kenya needs motivation rather than coercion and force. Therefore, they are ready and open to suggestions and feedback for working about mutually win-win solutions. Government, being one of the biggest IT users in the country, must actively put its act together on this front and initiate a dialogue with software vendors. I am sure users in the Government can work out some very clear benefits that they except from licensed software, and share that with vendors. As far as my understanding goes, software companies are today ready to consider many of the demands they would have ignored earlier.

It is very important that software piracy should be considered a serious offence at the government level. This will send a strong message across the nation, and Kenya will be seen as a safe place for intellectual property. Secondly, and more important, in the coming years there are going to be lots of IP that Kenyan companies will develop. And if they will have to be protected and valued in Kenya, government or the law enforcer have to take the first step. And then it will not be the MNCs but the Kenyan entrepreneurs and Kenyan economy that will lose.

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How Barack Obama Used The E-governance In His Presidencial Election Race

In obama's mind this was the question he wanted to answer for the all Americans,Open Government is the main plank, but what about the roadblocks? All eyes were and are on the US President Barack Obama, who assumed charge of his office on January 20, 2009. He has also set an ambitious agenda for e-governance. Obama had very successfully used information technology IT in his presidential campaign.

For example, according to reports on www.barackobama.com more than 280,000 people created accounts, users created over 6,500 grass-roots volunteer groups and organized more than 13,000 off line events using the website, and over 15,000 policy ideas were submitted through the website. The Internet operation was looked after by ninety-five people. Obama has built a treasure trove of database of more than 10 mn supporters.

Since change was the main plank of Obamas election campaign, the transition site has also been named after change, set up as http://change.gov/. More is expected from him in the field of IT and e-governance once he enters the White House.
What then is Obamas agenda for e-governance? In a nutshell, it is open government. He, however, has many items in his agenda but the following ten items appear to be particularly noteworthy.

Transparent and Connected Democracy: The agenda proposes to integrate citizens into the actual business of government by a number of measures including Making government data available online in universally accessible formats to allow citizens to make use of that data to comment, derive value, and take action in their own communities, thereby lifting the veil from secret deals in Washington with a website, a search engine, and other web tools that enable citizens to easily track online federal grants, contracts, earmarks, and lobbyist contacts with government officials.

Open Government:All available technologies and methods are proposed to be used to open up the federal government, creating a new level of transparency to change the way business is conducted in Washington, giving Americans the chance to participate in government deliberations and decision making in ways that were not possible only a few years ago. Most modern communications infrastructure will be used to realize this vision.

Federal Chief Technology Officer: The agenda proposes to appoint the nations first CTO to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the twenty-first century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an inter-agency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

Openness of the Internet:Realizing the importance of the Internet as the most open network in history, the agenda proposes to maintain the openness of the Internet. The agenda strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet. Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices. They have a right to receive accurate and honest information about service plans.

Protection of Children:An important item on the agenda is protection of children on the Internet. The agenda proposes to work to give parents the tools to prevent reception of programming that they find offensive on television and on digital media. Again, it will encourage improvements to the existing voluntary rating system, exploiting new technologies like tagging and filtering, so that parents can better understand what content their children will see, and have the tools to respond. The agenda treats a sanity not censorship approach of the Common Sense Media, a private entity, as a model.

Public Media 2.0: The agenda will encourage the creation of Public Media 2.0 the next generation of public media that will create the Sesame Street of the Digital Age and other video and interactive programming that educates and informs. The agenda will support the transition of existing public broadcasting entities and help renew their founding vision in the digital world.

Right to Privacy: The agenda notes that dramatic increases in computing power, decreases in storage costs and huge flows of information that characterize the digital age bring enormous benefits, but also create risk of abuse. We need sensible safeguards that protect privacy in this dynamic new world. The agenda therefore proposes to strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations of personal privacy.

Next Generation Broadband: The agenda realizes the importance of broadband in so many words: Full broadband penetration can enrich democratic discourse, enhance competition, provide economic growth, and bring significant consumer benefits. Moreover, improving our infrastructure will foster competitive markets for Internet access and services that ride on that infrastructure.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights at Home and Abroad: The agenda recognizes the importance of intellectual property rights by stating that intellectual property is to the digital age what physical goods were to the industrial age and emphasizes the need to update and reform our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation and investment while ensuring that intellectual property owners are fairly treated. The agenda proposes to protect intellectual property rights at home and abroad.

Healthcare: The agenda proposes to invest $10 bn a year over the next five years to move the US health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records and phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT and commit the necessary federal resources to make it happen.

Many of these items are routine, mundane and incremental. Nevertheless three items of his agenda are striking and deserve a close look.First open government. This will be a very challenging task. The issues here are the extent to which government will open up consistent with the requirements of security and protection of privacy of citizens, and making government transparent and accountable. Obama, of course, has taken up the gauntlet when he makes a daring commitment in his agenda: (he) will use the most current technological tools available to make government less beholden to special interest groups and lobbyists. In a speech in Des Moines, LA, on November 10, 2007 Obama had forcefully declared,and I quote“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists and won. They have not funded my campaign and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am President.”

Blueprint for Change;Obama and Bidens Plan for America declares Obama and Biden will close the revolving door between the executive branch and K-Street lobbying shops. Their appointees will serve the American people, not their own financial interests. It will be quite interesting to watch as to how Obama and his team goes about it as lobbyists are firmly entrenched in Washington, DC.

Second citizen participation in government decision-making. An integral part of open government, it is also a very challenging area as despite living in democratic regimes citizens have no participation in decision-making, a task performed singularly by the legislators who, once elected, forget about the citizens until the next election. The nearest governments have gone for citizen participation in government decision-making is to seek citizens views on governments specific proposals. But this is usually an eye wash as citizens views may be taken as a mere formality without being taken into account in decision-making, leave alone having an impact in decision-making.

Third, federal chief technology officer. This has been talked about for quite some time. It is going to be a very challenging task for the incumbent as co-ordination is no cakewalk. On the contrary, it is quite problematic as CTO/CIO will protect his turf and the method of working. Quite often he is immune to external advice. The agenda proposes to suitably legally empower him. In such a case he will be a Super-CTO or Super CIO and his authority is likely to be resented by agency CTO/CIO.
Here is, however, wishing Obama and his team all the best in implementing his ambitious agenda for the Great Americans.Courtesy of DNA and AP.

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