Such processes would involve several trips to various agencies and would be especially onerous to some citizens, as the nation comprises nine different inhabited islands and is difficult to traverse.
Today, Barbosa accesses government applications on a secure Internet site and can submit them from his office. It takes only minutes, not months, to register a business.
The United States is helping Cape Verde to expand the country's Internet-based government financial management system to make public operations transparent and efficient.
A key service provided by the system is electronic procurement, and it has been recognized as being "of exemplary world standards," said Laurent Brito, head of the agency in Praia, the capital, that manages a grant from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The "e-government system" allows businesses around the world to access information about Cape Verde's open bids for goods and services as soon as it is available. Potential contractors can submit bids up to minutes before the deadline, said Stahis Panagides, MCC country director.
The system vastly improves the government's ability to communicate with the country's population, spread among the nine islands situated over 4,000 square kilometers of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 650 kilometers west of the African coast. It is also used by members of the Cape Verdean diaspora, of whom an estimated 400,000 live in the United States.
The port of Praia, Cape Verde's capital, is a link for West Africa's trade.
The Internet system, which is free to use, standardizes processes and allows citizens to pay their taxes, businessman Barbosa said. The system also gives the public access to birth and marriage certificates.
"The future is communication," Barbosa said at a ceremony in Praia. The ceremony was sponsored by three partners: the MCC, the local grant-managing agency called the Millennium Challenge Account, and a local group that manages the computer system.
In 2005, Cape Verde was one of the first countries to receive funding from the MCC to expand its public e-government and procurement system to include integrated budget and management information from all ministries, Panagides told America.gov. The MCC support, known as a compact, also invested in infrastructure and water development, and helped to put in place a system to monitor results.
MCC funding also went toward computer equipment and software and to bring in technical experts to train staff. With newer software and staff with the skills to use it, the government can offer citizens a budget that can be monitored online.
E-government information is available in both English and Portuguese. Citizens can access the service at public libraries.
Brito said the country began state reforms in the 1990s and "kept at it." The reform process received a boost from legislation passed in 2007 to consolidate public-sector reforms, helping to create a favorable climate for foreign investment.
Because of its diligence and forward-thinking attitude, Cape Verde is ranked among the top three democratic countries in Africa, according to Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy group. It is an example of political stability and good governance in Africa, Brito said.
Cape Verde has become a model for other nations. E-government project staff members have made presentations at conferences sponsored by the World Bank, Microsoft Corporation and the U.S. Congress.
Barbosa is so pleased with the system that he urges Cape Verde businesses, social service agencies and local government offices to develop it for use by their own customers and partners.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Kathryn Mcconnell
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 19.05.3009
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