According to the UN, Kyrgyzstan in 2012 took 99th place out of 190 countries on the index of e-government (EGDI). The relatively low position is explained by the low levels of online services and an imperfect telecommunications infrastructure. However, indices of human capital and e-participation of the population are quite high, according to the study.
In Kyrgyzstan, where the population is 5.3 million, there are nevertheless 6.8 million mobile numbers and 3.5 million Internet users. In a single year — from 2011 to 2012 — 1,000,000 people received access to the Internet. But 30% of the population is still outside the Internet coverage. The share of the ICT sector is about 8% of GDP.
According to the Government, Kyrgyzstan has a relatively good position in the digital space and on the Internet because of the fast-growing private sector, resulting from the inflow of foreign direct investment and loans from international organizations. All of these are good prerequisites for the establishment of e-government.
"Thanks to the IT-technologies, many countries have switched to electronic document flow long ago. The government of Kyrgyzstan also has the interest and political will to do this. The annual paper document flow in the Government and the Parliament is about 16 tons," Deputy Head of the Government Office, Kaadanbay Baktygulov, said. "But it is time to create an electronic system that will be convenient for interaction and will have a positive impact in environmental terms, since the amount of paper used will be reduced significantly."
"There was an attempt to introduce e-government in 2011, but the work on creating an electronic document database was constantly hampered due to lack of finances. Despite repeated announcements, e-government has not started working. I promise to make every effort for electronic government to begin functioning," said First Deputy Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev.
Not everyone shares his optimism. "Authorities of Kyrgyzstan still do not pay enough attention to their own websites and to providing electronic services to the public, as well as to the information policy in general. There is no clear and well-planned, systematic approach," said the Executive Director of the Internet Movement, Erkin Mamasaliev.
For the implementation of e-government a total training of civil servants is required, as most of them are able to work only in the three main Office programs — Word, Excel, Internet Explorer. Only about 20% of government employees are able to work with complex information systems, and only about 4% use them perfectly.
"The introduction of e-procurement will prevent the loss through corrupt practices of between 2% to 20% of the purchase amount from the state budget," the analyst of Info-System, Akyn Mambetaliyev, says. "But there are problems with access to the communications infrastructure. Internet channels in the regions of Kyrgyzstan are embryonic. For example, the heads of state-funded organizations, in order to make an application for a tender, have to travel to regional centers in order to place an advertisement of the auction on the site."
In Kyrgyzstan, authorities talk about e-government, but do not have a clear, well-planned, systematic approach. There is still no "Kyrgyz" model. We can use some elements of any country. South Korea set a goal to stimulate economic growth. The Scandinavian countries focus on ensuring public trust in state authorities and the involvement of citizens in all these processes. The United States is the best example of e-government, under which it managed to coordinate the actions of government agencies at various levels, from central to local. India succeeded in involving citizens residing in rural areas in governmental processes with the help of e-government.
"E-government is not just the delivery of computers and providing the Internet; it is a change of the governance system, that is, communication with the public. E-Government is not a project but a process of continuous improvement," the Director of the National Center for Information Technology, Almaz Bakenov, said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Victor Winner
Quelle/Source: The Times of Central Asia, 21.06.2013
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