Kuwait Travel Ban and Ministry Information Online

E Governance is the New  Hassle Free Way 

Kuwait Government E Portal

Kuwait Ministry of Interior 

Kuwait Ministry of Interior

Travel Ban 

Violations Inquiry

Cases Filed Against You

Arrest Warrants 

Electricity and Water Bill

Phone Bill

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

http://www.moi.gov.kw/portal/venglish/

http://eservices1.moi.gov.kw/engmoimain.nsf

Kuwait e Portal

http://www.e.gov.kw/sites/KgoEnglish/portal/Pages/PortalMain.aspx

Travel Ban

https://www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp

Violations Inquiry

https://portal.acs.moi.gov.kw/wps/portal/violations

Cases Filed Against You

http://www.e.gov.kw/MOJ_en/Pages/EServices/CasesAgainst.aspx

Arrest warrants

http://www.e.gov.kw/MOJ_en/Pages/EServices/RestrainingOrdersQuery.aspx#

Electricity and Water Bill

http://www.e.gov.kw/MEW_en/Pages/EServices/InquiryAboutBills.aspx

Phone Bill

http://www.e.gov.kw/MOC_en/Pages/eServices/MOC_AR_EService_BillsQuery.aspx