Although Caribbean countries have been implementing e-government projects for well over a decade, generally, citizens still complain about how difficult and time-consuming it is to interact with Government. Bernadette Lewis, the Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, tells us why that is the case, and instead of e-government, why the region should be focussing on migrating towards 21st century government.

 

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Let’s face it, interacting with Government is inevitable. From birth through to your untimely demise, Government must be engaged. However, sadly, and virtually across the entire Caribbean region, getting things done with Government, such paying taxes, renewing your driver’s licence; or registering the sale of a property, can still be a protracted process.

The experience can be incredibly frustrating, especially since to varying degrees, most Caribbean governments have been implementing electronic (e-)government initiatives for at least a decade, which are supposed to, among other things, optimise their operations, make them more efficient and effective, and foster greater transparency and accountability. However, although Governments now have comprehensive computer networks, online portals, and their operations have been computerised, transactions still take about the same amount of time they did (or even longer!) before computers!

Two crucial reasons why e-government efforts have not automatically resulted in improved efficiency across Caribbean region are, first, the fact that government ministries, departments and agencies still tend to operate in silos. Systems and processes have been developed discretely, without consideration to also optimising intra-government transactions to create a more seamless government. Second, and perhaps, more importantly, processes were not conceptualised to be citizen/customer-centric. As a result, although certain processes might work for government, the individual is left tired, frustrated and without any options.

Over the past year or so, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) has been advocating for Caribbean countries to move towards “21st century government”. The CTU is an institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that seeks to foster telecoms and ICT development in CARICOM member countries by, among other things, advising countries on issues, coordinating and encouraging the preparation of harmonised regional policies, and capacity building.

However, how is ‘21st century government’ different from ‘e-government’? Is the former just a 21st century term for the latter?

Bernadette Lewis

To find out, we spoke with Bernadette Lewis, the Secretary General of the CTU. Having been at the helm of the CTU since 2003, the Secretary General has had a first-hand view of how telecoms and ICT, including e-government, has evolved across the Caribbean region.  Hence, in our interview with her, some of the areas we covered were:

  1. Why the CTU has decided to focus on, and to promote, 21st century government
  2. What 21st century government should like
  3. Likely challenges or concerns as Caribbean countries try to get from where they are, to where they need to be to realise 21st century government
  4. An overview of the CTU, and why such an organisation is needed in the region
  5. Challenges the CTU experiences as it tries to fulfil its mandate
  6. Besides lobbying for 21st century government, some of the other priority programmes CTU has been implementing
  7. Her greatest achievements at the CTU
  8. Goals the Secretary General would still like to achieve at the CTU.

 

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Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  JCT 600 (flickr); CTU

Music credit:  Ray Holman