e Government in Namibia John Tomlinson for LIS 619/Debbie Rabina April 5, 2011 Country Background Namibia is a small, sparsely populated country in Southern Africa. A former German colony that later fell under control of South Africa, it gained independence and shook off apartheid in 1990. The country has relatively high per capita income for sub Saharan Africa, at $4,270 per year (World Bank, 2011). Although it is considered Middle Human Development by the United Nations, poverty is widespread, with many measures of inequality very high; for example its income Gini ratio from 2000 2010 was.74 (United Nations Development Programme, 2010). Government Policies Namibia has a democratically elected government, which in 2004 issued a long term strategic plan called Namibia vision 2030: Policy framework for long term national development. In the area of information and communications technology, Vision 2030 is very ambitious, perhaps overly so, laying out five and ten year milestones such as the internet being accessible in nearly all rural areas by 2010 (this has not been achieved), and a variety of export oriented goals for the ICT sector in the country. Overall the aim is to create a knowledge based society that builds upon the country s success in expanding education following the end of apartheid. The plan points to the importance of government subsidizing the reduction in prices of computer hardware, supporting companies that provide internet access and support of citizen internet access (and the speed of connections), stating that the country should Improve access to ICT facilities for all members of Namibian society. Building upon this, in 2005, the Office of the Prime Minister (which is the lead institution in e government) released the e Governance policy for the public service of
e Government in Namibia 2 Namibia. That document uses a definition of e governance from the Council of Ministers of the European Union Technologies in public administrations, combined with organizational change and new skills, in order to improve public and democratic process and strengthen support for public policies. The policy cites global agreements such as the Millennium Development Goals and outcomes of the World Summit on the Society as part of its rationale for growing e government. It also lays out a framework of four phases in the development of e government similar to those examined in our class (Rabina, 2011): 1. providing external constituents with information 2. ability for users to request answers to questions and download forms and documents 3. Transaction users completing transactions online 4. Transformation government services available to the public through a single point of contact, perhaps through personalized websites, with strong integration among government agencies, services, and databases. Although the government documents make it clear that transformation is a long term goal, they point out the importance of interoperability across government systems in the near term as a prerequisite. The e Governance policy states, for example, that [m]inistries will be required to adopt XML as the primary standard for data integration. The Browser will be used as the main interface together with e mail facilities. The Physical Context These goals and policies must be viewed in a context of low and extremely unequal access to information technology, which reflects the remote, poor and rural nature of much of the country, economic inequality, and the legacy of apartheid. For example, in 2009, half of the country s primary and secondary schools lacked reliable electricity or telecommunications (Schoolnet, 2009). The number of telephone land lines has remained around six per 100 people for the last decade (United Nations Statistics Division, 2011A).
e Government in Namibia 3 In some ways, this is changing. The use of mobile phones has exploded, with 49 subscriptions per 100 people at the end of 2008 (United Nations Statistics Division, 2011C), compared to an average of just over 60 per 100 people worldwide (International Telecommunications Union, 2009). How equitably these subscriptions are distributed is unclear, but clearly phone access is growing. The numbers of computer and internet users have also increased more than ten fold in the same period as shown below. 60 50 40 30 20 Telephone Lines Mobile Subscriptions Computers Internet Users 10 0 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Communications/IT Access per 100 Population (UN Statistics Division 2011A, B, C, D) The government recognizes the need for increased connectivity by the public, and that e government should take into account that mobile telephones are by far the most common form of two way information technology available, with shared and publicly available computers as other key tools. The e Governance policy points to mobile phone, call centres, internet cafes, library centres, etc as common access devices. It further states that a multi platform, multi device access approach will be employed to avoid societal divide in accessing government services. Regarding computers, the government recognized that internet access is often machines not owned by the user, a situation common in sub Saharan Africa (Heeks, 2002). Some observers also point out that the sparsely distributed population in Namibia means that improvements in e government could have particularly
e Government in Namibia 4 big impact, helping engage citizens or even government officials in remote locations (Hesselmark & Miller, 2002). Internal Government Systems The Office of the Prime Ministers reports (2009) that it was helping maintain 29 information management systems for a variety of government agencies, with the earliest established in 1993. Among these are registration systems for students, immigration, voting, social welfare, and businesses, as well for managing information about budgeting, government personnel, and crime. According to a study that examined how the government manages electronic records, overall there are many shortcomings in current practices. Nengomasha (2008) writes that Namibia is not e records ready to support e government. Records management is an important part of the infrastructure that will make e government work. Although Namibia s e governance policy recognizes [this], what is lacking is a code of practice to enforce the policy. She points to lack of skill and understanding among many government officials (or skills residing only with external consultants), as well as problems of old/inadequate equipment and limited bandwidth and server space as parts of this problem. Lack of a legal framework, such as for digital signatures, is another problem. Public Websites Looking at a number of publicly available government websites can provide another window into how policy is becoming practice. The following list is not comprehensive; rather it includes sites easily reached from the main government web portal GRN (www.grnnet.gov.na). Each site is placed along the four phase scale described on page 2; sites at later stages also include characteristics of earlier stages. Sites that appear to be infrequently updated are also indicated.
e Government in Namibia 5 Site, Content & Comments Republic of Namibia - http://www.grnnet.gov.na Portal with six major links on homepage (one leading to a site under construction) and extensive general government information Parliament http://www.parliament.gov.na Link to daily schedule, bills in progress, laws passed, lists of MPs, apparent ability of registered users to comments on bills, though this appears to not have been used or is disabled Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment http://www.dnea.gov.na Student test results available with login Municipality of Walvis Bay http://www.walvisbaycc.org.na Directory plus customer-focused information such as how to apply for connection to water services, forms; no online transactions for government services but there is a detailed query form for lodging Electoral Commission http://www.ecn.na/ Requirements to register to vote, downloadable forms, elections results, location of polling stations Ministry of Environment and Tourism http://www.met.gov.na Downloadable forms such as for research permits and company registration, job openings, catalogue of 5,300 volume library at headquarters, fact sheets about national parks and wildlife areas Ministries of Fisheries and Marine Resources http://www.mfmr.gov.na Extensive downloads of reports, application forms, rules, and fees, also links to international listservs Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.mfa.gov.na Forms for visa application and work permits, policy documents (such as Namibia vision 2030), press releases National Library of Namibia http://www.nln.gov.na Online catalogue (though it appears to be offline) Namibia Port Authority http://www.namport.com.na Tariff information, very extensive directory for government and private entries involved in shipping/ports, links to specific port websites, nice photo gallery Anti-Corruption Commission http://www.accnamibia.org Prominent display of toll-free phone line to report corruption, downloadable posters and videos, online forms for reporting corruption, RSS feeds; a previous URL for this agency has been taken over by an online shopping mall Ministry of Health and Social Services http://www.healthnet.org.na Content aimed at professionals in government, researchers and foreign aid agency staff, not Namibian public; graphically intense Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration http://www.mha.gov.na Rules, policies, many forms such as for visas, marriage, etc; very clear Rural Poverty Reduction Programme http://64.120.141.189/rprp/ Reports, blog, user commenting (taken over by spam) and polls Ministry of and Communications Technology http://www.mict.gov.na/ Extensive information, some downloadable forms are related websites, such as Namibia Film Commission, poor technical design due to use of frames Phase Transaction Transaction (plus some basic transactions) (plus links to interactivity on other government site)
e Government in Namibia 6 Site, Content & Comments Office of the Prime Minister - http://www.opm.gov.na Policies, selected legislation and drafts, press information, biographies; technically weak due to use of frames Ministry of Defence - http://www.mod.gov.na Very minimal site National Planning Commission - http://www.npc.gov.na Policy information, census data and other statistics Association of Regional Councils - http://www.arc.org.na Provides contact info, basic webpages for different regions (provinces, with some statistics, lists of schools, clinics, etc. Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development - http://www.mrlgh.gov.na Basic information, including phone contact info for Regional Councils, Municipalities, Settlement Areas, but no email or web links, even for the capital city of Windhoek Ministry of Finance - http://www.mof.gov.na Policies, budgets and tender awards Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare - http://www.mol.gov.na Very outdated site with some information as old as 2000 presented as if new, no downloadable forms Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry - http://www.mfmr.gov.na Document downloads but few forms Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry Statistics http://www.agristatsnamibia.org/ Extensive collection of statistics, but many missing Phase We see that many Namibian government agencies have well developed informational or even interactive websites. Transaction oriented websites appear rare, but given the relatively low level of online access in the country this is understandable and perhaps appropriate at this time. What is disappointing among the websites examined is the lack of emphasis on obtaining government information by telephone. Although telephone numbers are available on almost all the sites, task specific telephone lines are rare. An exception is the toll free number to report corruption at the Anti Corruption Commission site. It is possible that other task specific phone lines are marketed in country, perhaps in newspapers or posters, but the impression the websites provide is that this is an area in which substantial improvements might be made easily, to the benefit of much of the population.
e Government in Namibia 7 Another shortcoming is the number of websites with significant amounts of outdated information. This suggests some shortcomings in management or skills among the involved agencies. There also appears to be some urban or elite bias in the quality of websites a common problem in many developing country contexts in which government resources and new initiatives too often benefit elites. Beyond the implicit bias in IT projects where connection to the internet is required, it seems that sites for issues presumably for rural people (such as the Ministries Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development and of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, as well as the Rural Poverty Programme) have poor updating. Apart from a quasi governmental site for the Association of Regional Councils, local government representation in this small sample of sites was weak. Conclusions E government in Namibia presents a mixed picture. On the one hand, a well designed national policy is in place, with leadership at a high level through the Office of the Prime Minister. The availability of computers and, especially, of mobile phones is growing. On the other hand, weaknesses in implementation seem to be holding back the effectiveness of e government, with unevenness across websites serving the public. The lack of widespread access to the internet must be viewed as a problem as well; though e government policy to increase access and also to better serve citizens through mobile phones could help a great deal. Overall, Namibian e government seems to be advancing, but needs better implementation to achieve its potential.
e Government in Namibia 8 Reference List Heeks, R. (2002). egovernment in Africa: Promise and practice. Manchester, UK: Institute for Development Policy and Management. Retrieved from http://idpm.man.ac.uk/wp/igov/index.htm Hesselmark, O., & Miller, J. (2002). A country ICT survey for Namibia. Stockholm: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Retrieved from http://www2.sida.se/shared/jsp/download.jsp?f=ictnamibia.pdf International Telecommunications Union. (2009). The world in 2009: ICT facts and figures. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/itu D/ict/material/Telecom09_flyer.pdf Nengomasha, C.T. (2008, May). egovernment in Namibia: A records management perspective. IST Africa 2008 Conference Proceedings, Windhoek, Namibia. Retrieved from http://www.ist africa.org/conference2008/ Office of the President of Namibia. (2004). Namibia vision 2030: Policy framework for longterm national development. Windhoek. Retrieved from http://www.npc.gov.na/vision/vision2030.html Office of the Prime Minister of Namibia. (2005). e Governance policy for the public service of Namibia. Retrieved from http://209.88.21.36/opencms/export/sites/default/grnnet/grnoverview2/archive/poli cies/e Governance_Policy_Final.pdf Office of the Prime Minister of Namibia. (2009). Annual report 2008 2009. Retrieved from http://209.88.21.36/opencms/export/sites/default/grnnet/opm/annual_reports/opm _Annual_Report_2008 2009.pdf Rabina, D. (2011). E Government. Unpublished slides. New York: Pratt Institute. Schoolnet homepage http://www.schoolnet.na (last updated 2009) Schuppan, T. (2009). E Government in developing countries: Experiences from sub Saharan Africa. Government Quarterly, 26, 118 127. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2008.01.006
e Government in Namibia 9 United Nations Development Programme (2010). Human development report 2010. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2010/chapters/en/ United Nations Statistics Division. (2011A). Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/data.aspx?q=telephone&d=itu&f=ind1code%3ai91 United Nations Statistics Division. (2011B). Internet users per 100 population. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/data.aspx?q=internet&d=mdg&f=seriesrowid%3a605 United Nations Statistics Division. (2011C). Telephone lines per 100 population. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/data.aspx?q=telephone&d=mdg&f=seriesrowid%3a755 United Nations Statistics Division. (2011D). Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 population. Retrieved from http://data.un.org/data.aspx?q=telephone&d=mdg&f=seriesrowid%3a756 World Bank (2011). Namibia country data. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/country/namibia.