Within this purview, the transformation agenda is concentrated on the key thrusts: finance, access and governance.
It has become imperative for these same governments to focus more on issues that improve access to basic development and welfare services. The last of the thrusts is governance, which invariably should translate to good governance. Good governance, expectedly should contribute significantly towards improving the quality of life of the citizenry. This is vital for efficient and effective administration in every democracy setting, which to a large extent has also been accepted as a basic human right. It is also strategically used for the welfare of the people and for public benefit. In essence, good governance is different from bad governance. Bad governance occurs when the authority and power of the government is used indiscriminately for private gains. When this is the case, the basic right of the people is infringed upon.
Further still, information and how information is used is very crucial to good governance in the public administration system. This is the case because the way and manner in which information is used in governmental processes and procedures leads to a conclusion on whether such practice is good or bad governance.
Meanwhile, the selective usage of information results in hierarchical structures on which power and authority of government is distributed unequally. To this extent, the skewness in power distribution at each of the levels is proportionate to the information residing at each of the levels. Under good governance, the proportion of distribution of information is uniform across the public administration system.
Bad governance situation on the other hand entails a situation whereby more and more information are out of reach of the common man. When this is the case, the consequence is that information is only available to a privileged few that incidentally use for the purpose of discrimination and for personal benefits and gains. This is after all a contrast to the very essence of good governance, which is informed decision making that is critically dependent upon the quality and timeliness of information. This is because poor quality and outdated information leads to poor decision making and this leads to bad governance. Moreover, restrictions on access to information leads to manipulations.
Information technology – based governance, popularly known, as e-governance is now the new strategy and also the most reliable short cut to realising good governance. Its application results in simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent government.
The acronym for this is SMART government. There are advantages of an information technology-based public administration system. The application of this, results to an efficient, transparent and unbiased administrative and management process; intuitive linkages and sharing of information, resulting in comprehensive monitoring and assessment of government performance; promoting interaction and exchange of ideas, suggestions and innovations; and helping in setting in place intelligent agent at the local level who may facilitate timely production of information in a simple manner.
To be continued ...
Autor(en)/Author(s): Echefu
Quelle/Source: The Tide, 26.09.2006
