IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Abu Dhabi: About 3.75 million national ID card holders in the country had received a PIN (personal identification number) along with their cards but never got a chance to use it, said a senior official.

They will be able to use the PIN soon to access online services of government and private sector as the Emirates Identity Authority (Emirates ID) is in the final stages of building infrastructure for electronic services, Dr Ali Al Khoury, Director General of Emirates ID, told Gulf News Sunday.

Abu Dhabi Government will be the first one in the country to utilise that electronic infrastructure to offer about 600 e-government services to the ID card holders, he added.

Dubai eGovernment Department (DeG), has announced its readiness for transformation into a smart government in line with the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and its commitment to the instructions of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council.

During a three-day stakeholder's workshop to review the draft EAC corporate ICT and website/portal policy held recently in Moshi, Tanzania, officials underscored the importance of the policy saying that it would lead to better performance and faster decision making processes within the community.

The legal framework for cyber laws covering electronic transactions, electronic signatures and authentication, cyber crime, and data protection and privacy have been approved by the EAC Council of Ministers and is under implementation. The second phase of laws , still being developed, will focus on intellectual property rights, competition, e-taxation and information security. The region's connection to the fiber optic cable has sparked an upsurge in internet fraud and hackers.

This is the centerpiece for the East African Communications Organisation (EACO).

As part of the process, a Telecom Numbering and Internet Resources Planning, Allocations and Governance meeting is scheduled for Kigali between November 17 and 19. Rwanda also hosts the EACO Secretariat. The current Executive Secretary is Hodge Semakula.

The East African Community (EAC) is set to develop Health Data Governance to foster digital transformation and innovations in the health sector in the region.

According to a press statement availed to the media by EAC Senior Public Relations Officer Simon Owaka, the EAC Secretariat, together with the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and the Pan African Health Informatics Association (HELINA), has committed to fostering stronger health data governance to drive digital transformation and innovations in the health sector in East Africa.

"ICT systems will fail if electronic records cannot be identified, retrieved and used, if they are stored improperly or if they cannot be linked to related paper records," said the E-government specialist for the Canadian government John MacDonald.

He further warned that increased financial and performance costs will be incurred if electronic records are allowed to proliferate and grow in volume without proper control.

"E-business is a growing field that would require better preparations if the region was to fully exploit the potentials in the e-business sector and the realization of a solid cyber laws regime in the Community will underpin the implementation of the Common Market Protocol especially on the services, an area of great potential for the region," he explained.

It is also intended to improve delivery of government services.

The need to have common cyber laws among the five partner states of East African Community (EAC) Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, comes at a time when the countries have started exploiting benefits of being connected to high speed Internet following linking of the region to three undersea fibre cables.

However, the link has also opened up a floodgate of cyber crimes.

The region has not suffered major cyber crime scares although a major bank in Kenya had been hacked into while websites of the Ugandan Army and the Kenya’s agency The National Security Intelligence Service were also hacked into.

The connection of the region to the cyber optic cable that started mid-last year is however expected to increase internet traffic and by virtual of facilitating global connection exposes the region to global cyber criminals.

According to participants at a regional e-government forum in Nairobi recently, lack of funding has slowed down the adoption of e-government in the region, with local authorities most hit.

Following the Bujumbura Ministerial discussion in September to discuss the establishment of the network, the use of ICT in the health sector has been intensified to disseminate information on the outbreak of communicable diseases such as cholera, Rift Valley Fever and H1N1.

The best part of the arrangement in the bigger picture, concerns the laying down of the much - hyped - about fibre optic cables.

With the coming of the fibre optics, we anticipate that sooner than later, the entire region shall indeed be networked, enabling the efficient and easy tapping into of various e-connection interventions in the region.

The deputy board chairman of Tanzania’s Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, Mr Thomas Mihayo, told the third East African Procurement Forum that it was important to implement the plan “as soon as possible”.

He was speaking during the closure of the event in Dar es Salaam at the weekend. “E-procurement will play a crucial role in improving efficiency and transparency as well as saving resources and time.”

A report prepared by the UN shows that of the top ten users of e-Government in the continent, the only East African nation that appears is Kenya, occupying the seventh position. Seychelles, Mauritius and Mauritius lead the continent's users.

Out of the 190 countries ranked by UN in terms of e-Government usage, no East African country appears in the top 100. Kenya is ranked 119, Tanzania 138, Rwanda 139, and Uganda 143 while Burundi sits in a distant 173 position.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon signed a memorandum of understanding with East African Community Secretary General Richard Sezibera.

The EAC, which consists of the republics of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and Tanzania, was formed to promote regional cooperation and development.

The republic of Rwanda, reputed to be East Africa’s hub for technology, has been recently selected to be the regions center of excellence in e-health, biomedical engineering, health vaccines and immunization logistics. The appointment was made by health experts from the East African Community (EAC) who recently met in Uganda for the fifth annual EAC Health and Scientific Conference.

E-health is an evolving innovative practice involving the use of electronic processes and communication to promote healthcare. First appearing on the scene in 1999, it is closely related to health informatics, cyber medicine and m-health (mobile health). Being a low cost and easily accessible service, it continues to gather momentum and popularity across the globe.

Uganda's Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi was speaking during an international workshop on 'Foundations of Government Information Leadership' organized by the Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU), Uganda National Information Technology Authority (NITA) and the Center for Electronic Governance at UNU-IIST (UNU).

The EAC, which consists of the republics of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and Tanzania, was formed to promote regional cooperation and development.

Sunyoung Jung, Assistant of Seoul Government CIO Dr. Jong-Sung Hwang, told FutureGov, “Together, the EAC and Seoul Metropolitan Government shall strive to work together to enhance e-government for development, establish and strengthen the Information Management Services in the EAC organs, institutions and other relevant institutions in the partner states, with the aim of achieving a paperless EAC, work together to support the development and deployment of key e-government applications, and build ICT Institutional Capacity for the EAC.”