At a meeting held in Gaborone, Botswana recently, National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF) executive secretary Nicholas Kitikiti said the country faced many challenges in coming up with a comprehensive ICT policy. "There is need for reforms in the telecommunications sector to allow new investors," Kitikiti told the meeting, which was attended by senior government officials, representatives from the private sector, parliament and international development agencies.
"We also need a legal framework to guide us in the implementation of the policy," he added.
He said the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Banking Act, and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act should be amended to provide for computer generated services such as online contracts and computer-related crimes.
The meeting, held under the banner of the Southern African Development Community regional consultation on national e-government readiness, was meant to enable participants to identify institutional and human resources capacity building needs.
E-government is the electronic deliverance of local government services through faxes, telephone and the Internet using a computer, digital television, phone or other electronic services.
The national coordinator of IT Development Zimbabwe, Sylvester Matondo, said various initiatives were being carried out to improve service delivery in government ministries.
He said a pilot project called PINFONET was already under way to electronically link the Public Service Commission (PSC) with the key ministries of Health and Education.
The project is a human resources information system whose objective is to provide information on civil servants.
"Lack of funding has affected the implementation of the project but we hope it will be a success," Matondo said. "We are also experiencing a shortage of staff and this has affected our operations."
He said a survey to establish computer literacy in various ministries was also under way.
Advances in the telecommunications sector have assisted many entrepreneurs in conducting their day-to-day business transactions.
For example, it is now possible to get a bank balance, open a savings account, pay electricity bills, among other things, on an Automated Teller Machine. Although the government created a ministry specifically to look into IT, it has emerged that it has been losing a lot of money because of duplication of roles.
Players competing for the same resources to establish a comprehensive IT network include the Central Computing Services, the office of the National Coordinator on ICT which falls under the PSC, the Scientific and Industrial Research Development Council and other government departments.
Zimbabwe is also exploring ways of reducing poverty, improving health delivery services and the education system through ICT.
The country has been internationally reco-gnised as a training hub for the region in information technology.
Central Computing Services director Simon Chigwada said there was an urgent need to rationalise institutional arrangements, link various ministries and provide services electronically.
"It is important to identify the e-services we are going to provide and also come up with a framework we will use as a guideline," Chigwada said.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe has also embarked on a pilot project to establish information kiosks in various constituencies throughout the country.
The information centres will soon be connected to the Internet, making it easy for rural folks to communicate electronically.
The principal director of information services in Parliament, Andries Rukobo, said: "People will soon be able to access socio-economic data about their constituencies from the kiosks.
"This information will help us plan in advance as we will be having key information."
SADC spending on ICT is likely to run into billions as countries move to increase efficiency in e-service delivery systems.
Countries like Mozambique, South Africa, Mauritius, Swaziland and Botswana are channelling resources towards the development of ICT in an effort to eradicate poverty and spearhead economic growth electronically.
Calls have been made in the past for government departments such as the birth and registration offices, the passport office as well as the police to be computerised to enhance efficiency and the timeous processing of information.
Quelle: AllAfrica, 29.04.2004
