IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Attorney General, Senator the Hon. Allyson Maynard Gibson, State Minister for Legal Affairs, the Hon. Damian Gomez, and Permanent Secretary Archie Nairn, along with IT specialists from the Registrar General's Office in New Providence visited the Local Government Administrator Offices in Harbour Island, North Eleuthera, Central And South Eleuthera May 9 to install and briefly train staff to access the database and print out certificates for the Administrator to authenticate on site. The cost of documents are about $10 each, which is the same as if paying for it in Nassau.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs the Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson described the re-launch of Bahamas Laws Online as a “red letter day” that offers new opportunities to take The Bahamas to another level and “celebrate” the rule of law and democracy.

The new website, laws.bahamas.gov.bs, replaces the previous website at which laws were current to 2009. The Ministry of Legal Affairs has since made the site current to December 31, 2014.

The event sought to highlight some of the specific calls for action contained in the recently adopted outcome document of the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, held in September in Apia, Samoa, which relate to the strengthening of information and communications technology (ICT) platforms for Small Island Developing States in order to advance sustainable development and reduce vulnerabilities and isolation; an issue of particular concern for archipelagic nations such as The Bahamas.

"Our value proposition must be competitive globally in order to spur economic growth locally. By making our information available and accessible, by modernizing processes, and having rules and regulations that are fair and apply to all, our customers can improve their productivity," said the Hon. Michael Halkitis, State Minister for Finance, while speaking to the Rotary Club at Sunrise, March 14.

Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson recently returned home after attending a seminar for executive training for Caribbean policymakers and Managers. The event, which was held in Estonia, gave Ministers attending deeper insight into the effective workings of e-government. In photo, Minister Thompson (right) greets Estonia Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Rene Tammist.

Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator J. Kwasi Thompson and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Elise Delancy were invited to participate in an Executive Training for Caribbean policymakers and managers, sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, which took place October 15th and 19th, 2018, in Tallinn, Estonia.

While this will reduce the size of lines in various government agencies, Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing said instead of reducing the number of workers needed, he envisions the program leading to more job opportunities for Bahamians.

"Downsizing is not an issue," Laing noted.

The modernization initiative for Government departments will take advantage of the Internet by making services available online, thereby increasing efficiency amongst Government agencies.

The Ministry of Finance held a town meeting Thursday night at the Foster B. Pestaina Centre to acquaint the public with the system that is expected to be launched in July 2011.

Business license applications, payment of business license fees, real property taxes, various fines, drivers' license renewals, government vendor inquiries and public service-wide customer service will be dealt with - and paid for - for the first time online once the portal - www.govnet.bs - goes live.

In addition to company services already available online, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Minister of Financial Services and Investments, launched the first phase of a series of automation projects expected to be completed by January 1, 2006. She announced that the deeds and documents section of the Registrar General's Department was fully automated and would be available to the public online effective June 1, with records dating back to 1993.

In an address to parliamentarians yesterday morning, Laing noted that the service will allow citizens and businesses to pay business licence fees, real property taxes and fines, as well as apply for driver's licence renewals and new business licences and make vendor inquiries online.

Laing said this undertaking is a fundamental one for The Bahamas, as it will change the culture of doing business and providing public services.

Speaking in an interview with the Bahama Journal, Deputy National Co-ordinator for Information Technology Wayde Watson explained that an inter-ministerial team is continuing work on several fast track and longer range sub-projects which all form a part of the e-government campaign.

The minister's remarks came on Friday while on island for the Governor-General's annual visit to the Rand Memorial Hospital, where he announced the new initiative dubbed 'Telemedicine.'

The implementation of the program, also known as electronic government, is aimed at providing easier and more convenient ways for the government to interact with its customers.

The initiative will make it possible for customers to pay for services such as licences, fees and fines; make contact with government to, for instance, lodge complaints or give compliments and access information such as requirements for obtaining licences and certificates and information about events etcetera, all online.

Dr. Minnis was addressing staff at the Princess Margaret Hospital during the annual hospital visit from the Governor General.

"I am indeed excited about the tremendous potential this has for enhanced service delivery in our Family Islands. After reviewing and watching the telemedicine project just the other day, listening to patients' heartbeats in Abaco via PMH and being able to examine a patient's ear from Abaco via PMH, I am convinced that in the future PMH will be able to house a cardiac clinic for those patients in Abaco here from PMH," Dr. Minnis said.

The new requirements, which will come into effect on April 2, will be imposed under the Data Protection (Privacy of Personal Information) Act, one of three laws passed by legislators in 2003 to facilitate the development of e-government and e-commerce in the country.

It allows doctors in New Providence to examine patients and consult with doctors on Family Islands without actually being face to face, according to health officials.

Doctors of the Public Hospitals Authority and Princess Margaret Hospital on Monday launched the telemedicine pilot project.

Reginald Ferguson, acting commissioner of police, commended the pioneers who were instrumental in bringing the initiative to fruition and said he himself looks forward to using the online service.

Minister Laing made the announcement during the launch of the post office's website and postal online tracking solution.