These comments were made to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) Friday by a member of the central technical committee and also the chairperson of the legislation team, Adel Al-Khudhari, and the Assistant Director of the Kuwait Institute of Judicial and Legal Studies Adel Bouresly. Al-Khudhari explained his job is basically to outline technical ideas for the project within a legal framework, "which is a very difficult task which follows technical electronic work." Legislation, in general, involves making sure laws are up-to-date and meet the requirements of a society and culture - eventually helping in attaining social stability, Al-Khudhari stated.
Some laws need to be issued as soon as possible, he explained. This includes legislation on e-trade, e-signatures, e-contracts, privacy protection and Internet crimes.
Al-Khudhari said such legislation cannot be drawn up until there is a solid base to work from, highlighting the need for specialized officers to help in this regard.Adel Bouresly, on the other hand, said the name 'e-government' is legally inaccurate as the correct title should be 'General Electronic Administration'.
He said Article 50 of the Kuwaiti Constitution addresses the division of power and Article 52 says the Executive Branch is led by His Highness the Amir and the Council of Ministers.
"The government has other functions, such as leadership and financial issues... so administration is part of the government, which is what is being referred to as e-government whereas it is not the entire government that is being transformed to the 'electronic' umbrella," Bouresly explained.
He said a new type of relationship between government authorities needs to be established for e-government, or general electronic administration, to be properly launched. Bouresly said this will better enable the government to serve people in Kuwait, as well as citizens who are abroad.
He also drew attention to the importance of learning from other countries which have integrated such technology in their governmental affairs and called for referring to the private sector for suggestions and assistance.
Quelle: Arab Times
