IT Infrastructure Launched To Improve Public Sector Service Delivery

Two Information Technology infrastructure to facilitate coordination and exchange of data with government, public institutions and other sectors was launched in Accra yesterday to improve public sector service delivery.
     
Government through the Ghana Information and Communication Technology Directorate (GICTeD) is developing the infrastructure with a United Kingdom-based company, Lennox and Netwise, as part of the e-Governance Project.
     
The projects are the Enterprise Architecture (EA) and the E-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF).
     
Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister for Communications, said the project
was in line with the ongoing Public Sector Reforms.
     
He said the EA was therefore aimed at breaking barriers restricting organisations from collaborating, whilst the e-GIF policy would promote inter-linkages and exchange of information through efficient internal and better online access.
     
The minister pledged government's commitment to the project and hinted that four bills in the communication sector would be presented to Parliament when it reconvenes in October.
     
Dr Ntim said consultations for other legislations such as Data Protection and Privacy, Intellectual Property, National Digital Content Management, Public Record Management and Access Devices Regulations would also commence soon.
     
He said government was also working to establish about 40 information centres all over the country by the end of the year to promote the exchange of information between government and citizens.
     
The Minister said this would help pursue an e-government strategy that would involve the citizenry in policy formulation and decision-making.
     
Dr Sam Somuah, Director-General of GICTeD, said the EA and e-GIF would provide a well-structured Information Communication Technology (ICT) environment for resource, labour and information sharing among public institutions.
     
He said this was crucial to address concerns on undue delays in setting up companies in the country due to lack of coordination between the various public institutions.
     
Dr Somuah said working groups compromising representatives from the various public institutions would be constituted to help develop standards that would consider the technology needs of every institution.
     
He said personnel from each institution would also be trained to enable them to operate the IT infrastructure.
     
Mr Solomon King Adiyaah, Chief Architect for Lenoxx, said the EA and e-GIF would reduce the cost and complexity of using ICT and ensure effective programme delivery.