IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The strategy called ‘A strategy proposal for the use of ICT in the Public Administration 2012-2020’ is the first of its kind. The vision of the strategy goes up to 2020, while the policy approaches and measures will run until the end of 2015. Its objective is for the central and local governments to better use technology and bring services and information closer to individual users, enterprises and the public administration. By the time the strategy finishes in 2020, services and data will be safely and easily accessible and available in various ways.

The declaration also highlights raising local e-government employee capabilities and GCC integration, Kuwait's Minister of Communications and State Minister for Housing Affairs Salem Al-Uthaina, who heads the GCC centralized council for information technology, told KUNA.

He said members were aware of the ill fated, inefficient and badly managed computer system like the Customs Excise and Preventive Service automated system for Customs data, compromised SSNIT’s database, Ministry of Education’s unreliable integrated personal pay data base and the Ghana commercial bank computer system.

Dr Robert A. Baffour, Vice President of the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) disclosed this while speaking at the University of Ghana Business School where NIIT Ghana graduated diploma students recently.

He spoke on Ghana's internet infrastructure which he codenamed 'Project Ghana.'

Specifically, it was also affirmed that Nigeria’s economic agenda - Vision 20: 2020, will need robust local content policies in all the various sectors of the country’s economy to become a reality and improve the lives of citizens.

We live in exciting times - where technology pervades our lives. The news of a dramatic operation in Abbottabad in Pakistan first broke on Twitter through Sohaib Athar who unwittingly tweeted about the secret operation as it unfolded, before the news was officially delivered by US President Obama several hours later.

In Japan, after the major earthquake and tsunami in March, satellite technology proved invaluable in helping rescue workers assess the extent of the damage in disaster zones. It also helped bring together families who have been separated during the disaster.

Additionally government policy is subject to the whims of the electoral cycle and the politics of the day, a fact which is even more pertinent in Zimbabwe’s current GPA dispensation.

The Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), the government body charged with the emirate's ICT agenda, noted several achievements, capacity building initiatives, partnerships and special events over the past months that are expected to have positive impacts on technology-enabled growth in 2013 and beyond.

It will provide the citizens with additional channels to access governmental services, such as internet, mobile phone and e-kosks, in addition to traditional customer service centres.

‘In two years time, all ministries and federal authorities must provide a host of comprehensive e-services to customers’, stressed Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE.

Salem Khamis Al Shair Al Suwaidi, Deputy Director General for Information sector and eGovernment, TRA, welcomed the federal government representatives with a keynote speech.

He said, "I am very glad to announce the launch of the Federal eGovernment Plan. eTransformation will further enhance the economic and social development of our beloved nation. It will also enhance the reputation of the UAE as a global leader in the field of eGovernment." "I call upon all the federal ministries, authorities and entities to join us on the path of eTransformation. I would encourage each of the entities to prepare their own action plans and coordinate with the Emirates eGovernment in the same," he added.

Minister of State with responsibility for that Ministry, Senator Dr. Edomond Mansoor, says 2012 will be the year of electronic development.

Minister Mansoor said government is committed to advancing the twin island state to a level where the country is more competitive in the area of information technology.

Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and shadow finance minister Andrew Robb joined forces in Melbourne to launch the policy for e-government and the digital economy, which they described was part of an "aggressive reform agenda."

A key intent of the strategy is to break down the departmental silos that presently hold government information and services used by the public and present these in ways that match how the public uses them.

Announcing the Victorian Government's new ICT strategy, the Assistant Treasurer and Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips said the 50-point action plan had been developed following rigorous consultation with industry and the public. He also took the opportunity to criticise the previous Brumby Government for what he said was "at least $1.44 billion of taxpayers' money wasted in cost blowouts on projects like HealthSMART, myki and the LEAP database."

The first draft of the Vision was leased in April 2011. Announcing the new version on the AGIMO blog, the Government's CIO, Ann Steward, said the second version had been produced following input to a workshop conducted by the Secretaries' ICT Governance Board (SIGB) with a range of senior executives and academics from ICT and other industries, broader consultation and additional advice from Dr Ian Reinecke.

"A key element of the Vision continues to be active engagement with the community. Consistent with that, I am sharing this updated version with you today," Steward said.

The Coalition has proposed a new structure where ultimate authority for “effective whole-of-government ICT decisions” would rest with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

If elected this weekend, the Coalition said it would make the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) a support agency for a new Australian Government ICT Advisory Board.

Since the release of the World Economic Forum’s Information Technology Index earlier this year, AIIA has expressed concern that Australia’s global ranking has continued to fall and that we rank particularly poorly in terms of the importance of ICT to government vision and in government promotion of ICT.

The Department of Defence’s research and development organisation will separate its corporate and research ICT systems in a bid to improve collaboration.

In a five-year strategy released last week, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) flagged plans to move its corporate applications to the Defence Restricted Network.

The Federal Government is studying a whole-of-government big data strategy among several other initiatives as part of its three-year ICT strategy released last year, according to an update today.

Announced last October, the 40-page ICT strategy document aimed to improve operational efficiency, services and stakeholder engagement until 2015.

The Federal Government will move to improve operational efficiency, services and stakeholder engagement under a three-year ICT strategy, released today.

The 40-page document was first aired as a broader "draft ICT Strategic Vision" 18 months ago and released after a secretly commissioned inquiry into the Australian Government Information Management Office's (AGIMO) capacity to implement a whole-of-government strategy.