Thanks Harry Harre for the great post,<br><br>Walu mentioned "People ware", this is the greatest impediment to e-government, unless we handle this issue properly we might keep going in circles, we need a radical paradigm shift otherwise "the spirit of Africa will prevail" Lethargy the many databases and silos are basically "Projects" funded by donors, may i propose that all donors financing ICT projects go through a single governmnet agency instead of dealing with Ministries directly?<br>
<br>Regards<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 5:23 PM, Harry Delano <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:harry@comtelsys.co.ke">harry@comtelsys.co.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Hey Wals,</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Now, I gain some understanding. In that case, then what do we
need changed....? Harry Hare, mentioned
legislation/law...</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Is that where we need to begin? If so, I suppose let's
pick up all the relevant areas that need improvement, and lobby for
</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">the right </font></span><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">piece of legislation to be put in place, and
overhaul the way we do things..</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Change, must be initiated. The agenda that is important to
move things forward cannot be held hostage by a handful of</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">turf wars and other self seeking interests. Nation first, self
second..</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font size="2" color="#0000ff" face="Arial">Harry</font></span></div><br>
<div dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b>
kictanet-bounces+harry=<a href="http://comtelsys.co.ke" target="_blank">comtelsys.co.ke</a>@<a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bharry" target="_blank">kictanet-bounces+harry</a>=<a href="http://comtelsys.co.ke" target="_blank">comtelsys.co.ke</a>@<a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>] <b>On
Behalf Of </b>Walubengo J<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, March 29, 2010 3:51
PM<div class="im"><br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:harry@comtelsys.co.ke" target="_blank">harry@comtelsys.co.ke</a><br></div><div class="im"><b>Cc:</b> KICTAnet ICT Policy
Discussions<br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [kictanet] E-Government is it a myth or a
reality?<br></div></div></font><br></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div></div>
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<div>right on the spot Harry (the Hare ;-)),</div>
<div> </div>
<div>infrastructure(cables, comps, networks, s/ware, bandwidth
etc) is often the easy part. There's a complex bit we sometimes
call Layer8 or Peopleware. You cant change the way people think
overnite - even if you provided them the pre-requisite policy, legal
and other frameworks, one must still fight that inertia (comfort
zone) you and i have that makes it difficult to adopt new ways of
thinking, working.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>for .KE government, the biggest hurdle towards egovernment is really
the turf wars I alluded to (Harry Delano, now am interprating), You
will find resistance to building single databases/shared services fought
tooth and nail because that means one dept/ministry or agency has to ceed
power and assosciated privileges(rent?) to another...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>walu.</div>
<div><br><br>--- On <b>Mon, 3/29/10, Harry Hare
<i><<a href="mailto:harry@africanedevelopment.org" target="_blank">harry@africanedevelopment.org</a>></i></b> wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px;"><br>From:
Harry Hare <<a href="mailto:harry@africanedevelopment.org" target="_blank">harry@africanedevelopment.org</a>><br>Subject: Re:
[kictanet] E-Government is it a myth or a reality?<br>To:
<a href="mailto:jwalu@yahoo.com" target="_blank">jwalu@yahoo.com</a><br>Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions"
<<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>><br>Date: Monday, March 29, 2010,
11:26 AM<br><br>
<div>Hello Barrack,<br><br>I see and hear your concerns,
however, this animal called e-Government can<br>be very complex and
allow me to share some little knowledge I have after<br>more than 10
years of e-Gov consulting. Warning: This will be a bit
long.<br><br>First and fore most we have to understand that e-Gov is
delivery of public<br>services through the use of ICT infrastructure.
This means e-Gov is *not*<br>ICT infrastructure but part of the delivery
and facilitation mechanism. If<br>we agree on this, then the networks
that you refer to (I think this is the<br>Government Core Network (GCN))
has set the stage for e-Gov service delivery<br>but it is not a service
as-is.<br><br>This means there is a another level that needs to be
worked on, and that is<br>the services portfolio. This has already
started albeit in a very<br>uncoordinated manner. KRA seems to be
leading the fray - PIN, VAT<br>application, Online tax returns etc. Due
to poor or lack of coordination,<br>each Ministry seems to be working on
their own programmes and projects (I<br>have talked about this before)
and I can tell you this does not bring the<br>benefits of e-Gov -
efficiency, accuracy and cost savings.<br><br>A case in point is the
myriad of databases across government agencies.<br>Almost each ministry
*owns* its own database with a lot of redundant<br>information that each
ministry keeps on collecting from you. Under the<br>shared services
model, application and data re-use can be made possible.<br>Where Govt
can shared core applications and databases. You will be surprised<br>the
amount of errors that are introduced to records every time an new
form<br>is filled. So just reducing the number of times you fill a form
at each<br>ministry greatly improves the accuracy of Govt records. So,
shared services<br>model is best practice in e-Gov.<br><br>Now, about
strategies and strategy meetings. E-Gov is a change process.
Its<br>about change, changing the way people work, changing the
processes and<br>re-engineering these process to be supported by an ICT
infrastructure.<br>Change at any level is not easy and at government
level is unthinkable!<br><br>Let me illustrate. All e-Gov services have
to be backed by law and there are<br>legal requirements for every
government service you receive. Some laws have<br>come into effect that
support the roll out of e-Gov services but many are<br>yet to be
enacted. Consider the issue of contracts. When is a contract<br>valid?
In most cases there are specific requirements of form designed
to<br>protect interests or persons. So you see that contracts may in
some cases be<br>considered valid only when executed in their physical
form. That's why you<br>have to make a physical application and sign it
when applying for your<br>passport. So, for you to apply for the same
passport online, some laws have<br>to be amended to allow for such
provisions.<br><br><br>The UN or InfoDev, not sure which one, identified
5 e-Gov maturity levels<br>from basic online presence to what they refer
to a Connected Government. All<br>these stages are incremental and have
increased benefits to the citizens as<br>you move up the ladder.
Connected Government is ideal level and very few<br>countries globally
are there yet. One of them is Canada. We are possibly at<br>the second
level where we have basic transactional capabilities - can<br>download a
form, can file tax returns online, can query a database to check<br>the
status of your passport application etc.<br><br>Now, to move to the next
level, we need to plan and put strategies in place.<br>Evaluate what we
have done, where we are at, revisit our priorities and set<br>new goals.
This is a that you will see over and over again. So e-Gov is
not<br>something you switch on, its a process that builds on existing
blocks<br>incrementally.<br><br>Whether we use these strategies we
develop and review is a totally different<br>thing. But its critical to
plan and strategise. As they say, failure to plan<br>is planning to
fail.<br><br>My apologies for such a long post, but I felt obliged
because e-Gov is a<br>subject that is very close to my heart and I hope
this helps. Corrections<br>and additions are all welcome<br><br>I
suspect this is worth a bob, ama walu?<br><br>Kindest
regards<br>Harry<br><br><br><br><br><br>On 3/27/10 7:43 PM, "Barrack
Otieno" <<a href="http://us.mc578.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=otieno.barrack@gmail.com" target="_blank">otieno.barrack@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br><br>> Listers,<br>> <br>> I have been following
discussions on this list that seem to be<br>> touching on the above
mentioned subject. We seem to be spending large<br>> sums on
meetings strategizing and restrategizing however are we<br>>
really making any headway? at this point in time we are
still<br>> required to "fill in some forms" whenever we seek
government services<br>> is this e-government? we are now talking
about shared services i<br>> thought e-government implemented a
project that networked most<br>> government offices, however you have
to travel physically to offices<br>> to get services, at times we
confuse the public with ICT jargon what<br>> the public needs is
efficiency and effectiveness in service provision.<br>> ICT4D on the
other hand has been infiltrated by commercial interests,<br>> i
wonder what should prevail when "commercial" and "public"
interests<br>> meet, probably we should spend more money on change
management,<br>> capacity building and awareness campaigns as opposed
to this "strategy<br>> meetings" which will only lead to analysis
paralysis<br>> <br>> My thoughts<br><br>African eDevelopment
Resource Centre<br>eDevelopment House : : 604 Limuru
Road<br>Old Muthaiga : : P O Box 49475 00100<br>Nairobi : :
Kenya<br>T +254 20 3741646/7 : : C +254 725 650044<br><br>Training
: : Research: :Consultancy: :
Publishing<br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>kictanet
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Barrack O. Otieno<br>Administrative Manager <br>Afriregister Ltd (Ke)<br>P.o.Box 21682<br>Nairobi 00100<br>Tel:<br>+254721325277<br>+254733206359<br>+254202498789<br>
Riara Road, Bamboo Lane<br><a href="http://www.afriregister.com">www.afriregister.com</a><br><a href="http://www.afriregister.co.ke">www.afriregister.co.ke</a><br>ICANN accredited registrar.<br>Skype: barrack.otieno<br>