E Governance is the New Hassle Free Way
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Electronic government, also known as e-government, has
fundamentally transformed the internal workings of public administrations and
the manner in which they interact with their populace. Nowhere is this more
evident than in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), where,
little constrained by financial imperatives, rulers have wholeheartedly
embraced this innovative way of conducting the day-to-day business of government,
driving forward ambitious e-government projects. It comes as no surprise, then,
that as of 2010 three of the six GCC
states – Bahrain (ranked at 13), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (49) and Kuwait (50) – rank amongst the 50 top
performers on the United Nations (UN) e-government development index (United Nations 2010:
114–15).
e-government is here defined in the broadest possible sense
as ‘the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services
to benefit citizens, business partners and employees’, Multidimensional in
scope, e-government thus refers to the following sets of interrelationships
based on information and communications technology (ICT): government to government
(G2G), government to employees (G2E), government to citizens (G2C) and
government to business (G2B).
To date, the most common form of e-government is
internet-based, as is evident in the rapid spread and ever-growing
sophistication of government websites across the globe. Yet e-government,
as understood today, is not only limited
to the internet, but also includes a variety of non-web-based ICTs for
interaction and transaction purposes, such as telephony and short message service (SMS) text messaging, mobile
computing, and other types of audio and video
transmissions.
Disaggregating e-government to its component units, the
paper seeks to compare and contrast the
functionality and maturity of e-services provided on individual ministry websites and the Kuwait
Government Online (KGO) portal, which was
established in 2008 to provide a ‘one-stop’ centre for G2C and G2B
communications. Since the inception of its e-government project in 2000, the
Kuwaiti authorities have made significant strides in the provision of online
information and services for citizens, residents, businesses and foreign
visitors. This is most apparent in the country’s impressive rise through the ranks of the UN’s global e-government
development index, from rank 90 out of 183 listed countries in 2003 to the top 50 only seven
years later. The KGO portal apart, as of 2011
virtually all government ministries and most other government agencies
are present online, offering a host of
information and basic online services to its users, with some even facilitating payment transactions. These
developments are mirrored by year-on-year growth in internet user rates (which
presently stand at almost 40 per cent of the total population) and a steady
growth in online traffic on the KGO portal, all of which are promising signs
that ICT literacy is on the rise, and that more and more Kuwaiti citizens are
equipped with the necessary skills to interact with government online.
Five Strategic Points & Six Programs being implemented. In order to direct these aspects in line with
the project's vision, the Action Plan set for the five strategic points, and
six programs.
The five strategic points are as follows:
* Re-invent the government under a digital economy: A better
way needs to be found to make the public sector aware of the effect of information
and communications technology (ICT) in making feasible decisions that will be
useful to governmental services.
* Providing integrated electronic services: Citizens should be
able to have access to more electronically developed governmental services at
all times and all places. The public sector should encourage the creation of an
electronic society under the digital economy through the provision integrated
electronic services directed towards clients.
* Initiative and response: The public sector adopted the model
of sensing and response in dealing with the new tendencies. Services and
systems should be accomplished with the speed of the Internet, and they should
be continuously improved as a response to clients’ needs and remarks.
* Using ICT to build new capabilities: The public sector should
go beyond the utilization of ICT as systems. It should be creative and adopt
operational procedures that will totally transform and radically re-engineer
the methods adopted in finalizing matters. ICT provides great opportunities
from the cooperative power of knowledge management, and prompt knowledge
provision, and the procedural ability to accomplish more transactions.
* Creativity with ICT: The public sector should go beyond
ICT testing and its utilization.
The new technology should be tried for the sake of learning
and developing its capabilities. In addition, the project management and supply
method should be flexible enough to avoid the utilization of old technology.
Six Programs
The six programs that were launched to achieve the strategic
points stated in the Plan are as
follows:
1. Knowledgeable Work Environment: Eliminating the digital
illiteracy in the private sector, so as to benefit from ICT capabilities in
developing work, accomplishing services, and performing team work.
2. Accomplish Services- Electronically All the services
ready to be provided electronically, or making use of electronic channels to
develop them should be reengineered within this framework.
3. Technology Testing-This would improve abilities in the
hasty adoption of new tendencies in the field of ICT, which will help reduce the
possibility involvement in major investments due to poor decision- making.
4. Development of Operational Efficiency: Modern equipment
and word processors are considered the backbone needed for efficiency and
efficacy in the public sector.
5. Flexible and Strong Infrastructure: The convergence among
the sectors of ICT, and transmission paved the way to establish a reduced -cost
governmental network. The existence of a well-designed infrastructure that
could be relied on and be subject to expanded, is considered vital in
supporting e-government initiatives.
6. Professional training in the field of ICT: Such training
is not limited to training on systems
and applications only, but goes beyond this to the development of work procedures and service accomplishment.
Kuwait’s e-Government launch is fairly new in comparison
with other nations; however is taking shape quickly and being noticed and
welcomed by citizens & expatriates alike.
Kuwait still has some ways to go
to meet the standards set by some leading nations; however the start is fairly
a good one with the joint cooperation with Singapore which is a leader in e-government. It is now left up to those government
agencies and ministries in Kuwait to retain the progress made and train and recruit
qualified employees to develop the e-government further to meet all
challenges.
Kuwait Government e portal
Kuwait e Portal
Travel Ban
Violations Inquiry
Cases Filed Against You
Arrest warrants
Electricity and Water Bill
Phone Bill
