"E-Government" it's a fancy term that gets a lot of airtime – but we don't see too much action around it. In the e-government world, you wouldn't have to wait in line for forms to be approved, or go endlessly from one government department to another, looking for answers, nor would you have to seek the gilded approval of an all-powerful minister. Just hearing all that you'll know that e-government is a distant reality in Belize. But, it's a reality nonetheless, even if it's only visible on a far off horizon.
That horizon came dimly into view today at the Biltmore Best Western where the Ministries of Finance and Technologyopened a workshop to develop two policy documents, one named the National Information Communication Technology Innovation Policy (NICTIP) and the other, an E-Government Policy, Strategy and Plan of Action.
Lots of big ideas in there, and we tried to get the organizers to break it down for the regular citizen:
Dr. Colin Young - CEO, Ministry of Science, Technology and Public Utilities
"We are very mindful that we have too many policies. That's the charge that is laid against us all the time. There are all these policies; they sit on a shelf. They gather dust. How will this one be different? Well, I think that it's that the Government is committed at its highest levels. So, we have the cabinet support; the Ministry of Finance has already allocated the financing to get this thing done, and the directorate of Government is serious. If we want to transform the way we do business, this is the only way to go."
Jules Vasquez
"But, explain to me from a citizen's perspective how E-Government helps with the delivery of goods and services to them."
Analee Babb, Ph.D. - International Consultant
"Do you like standing in lines? Do you like trying to find information and don't know where it is, and how to find it? You call 5, 6 or 7 different offices, and they send you somewhere else. What we're looking at doing is making the access to information easier."
Dr. Collin Young
"When you can use the technology to do - for example, going to the Ministry of Lands. Imagine where all of that can be done electronically. There is electronic applications; you submit it electronically. You can track where your applications are, the same for Ministry of Health, applying for a birth certificate, Vital Statistics. This is all part of the services that the public needs, that the Government provides, and right now, it's a paper system. People have to go to Belmopan if they live in Punta Gorda, or they have to travel far distances incurring expenses. What we're saying is that if we embrace this technology, we can provide a quicker and faster service to the public."
Analee Babb, Ph.D.
"Part of the strategy has to be about changing culture. The good thing, I think, about Belize is that because it is not as developed as some of the other Caribbean countries, there is an opportunity to "leap frog" in a sense. I know that we bandy the word around, but there is a way to build and design your systems and structures that allow you not to have to struggle against some of the institutional inertia that other countries would have experienced."
Jules Vasquez
"How would having E-Government minimize corruption? It's a known fact that you have to make certain pay-offs, or certain help or assistance to people along the way to move your process along. How does E-Government eliminate that?"
Dr. Colin Young
"Well, I think that one of the things that E-Government does is that everything is electonic. It's stored; you can tell how is following each document. You can tell who opened it, and it has to be in a very transparent way."
Jules Vasquez
"We have a centrist- oriented system, where the center is always the minister. There is a reason that system exist. It doesn't exist because it is efficient; it exists because it's an important component of the politically patronist system, which undergirds all activities in every sphere of public life. How do we overcome that?"
Analee Babb, Ph.D.
"So, you don't ask easy questions, do you? That's a tough one. It is about a culture change, and I know that we at the CTU put together our 2 proposals, we were very to address issues like you're talking about. If you're going to empower people, you can't disempower them at the same time."
Perhaps typical of the growing pains associated with e-governance, and the schism between words and deeds – we could not find online at the ministry's website, nor were we provided with an agenda of the meeting – so we can't say how long it will go for.
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