I am an enthusiastic advocate for E-Government and E-Democracy and have written about it here on a number of occasions. So my only criticism of the announcement is that for a development that will revolutionise how Gibraltarians relate to their government the press announcement was, I am sad to say, rather sterile with no sense of excitement.
From now it will be possible for everyone to go on-line to pay their rent for Government housing, to book their car in for a Roadworthiness test and to check their lottery numbers. No-one will ever need to go to City Hall to check their place on the Housing List or to queue to book a Driving Test at the MOT Centre so we are told.
All good stuff but hardly revolutionary: in many ways we are just playing catch up. If the Chief Minister is launching this with the dance of the seven veils the above equates to just a glimpse of his dainty ankle.
Yet there is no doubt that the Chief Minister gets it! He is quoted as saying: “This is a landmark development in this Government’s term of office. We are determined to make maximum use of all the latest technology to make life easier and more efficient for both businesses and the public alike. Today’s announcement is the start of the roll out of a huge initiative which will eventually revolutionise the way in which we provide services across all the Ministries. It will have major benefits for the community at large and it will mean big changes to the way in which the Civil Service does business.”
So whilst the Chief Minister clearly sees the huge and exciting potential for E-Government the announcement came via a curiously low-key press release. It closed with a last almost throw-away line: “More on-line services will go live when the new ‘chip and pin’ ID card is issued.” You can say that again and this time with a bit more enthusiasm!
Last October I sat in on some sessions of the EuropCom Conference organized by the Council of the Regions in Brussels. It drew 600 delegates from across the EU. The conference was wide ranging but there were key sessions on E-Government and its companion E-Democracy.
One of the speakers was Liia Hanni who described how Estonia had introduced on-line voting and interestingly how this has grown in popularity across all age groups. Indeed Liia voted in an Estonia election which was being held as the conference took place. She did it on-line from Brussels using her chip and pin ID card: if they can do it in Estonia we can sure do it in Gibraltar and I am sure that is what the Government intends.
Eila Vahakuopus spoke about Oulu in Finland, a town with around 190,000 residents. It has become a digital town allowing residents to engage with the administration online and through the social media where they even have an eCopper service which allows young people to engage with the Police directly and receive immediate answers or advice back. There is nothing they are doing in Oulu that we can’t do in Gibraltar.
Finally I sat in on a session with Tomislav Korman. He explained how the Croatian Government has little money but has used the social media to open up government to the people even having senior ministers in question and answer sessions on-line. E-Democracy working as it should in one of Europe’s newest and smallest States.
This is all part of what E-Government and E-Democracy is all about and the exciting future that Gibraltar is just starting out on. However the point I have made here in previous articles is that given the size of Gibraltar we have the ability not just to participate in E-Government and E-Democracy but to be leaders. That is the true challenge: being able to pay your Government housing rent on-line is only just the start.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Eade
Quelle/Source: Panorama, 10.06.2014
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