HR deficiencies will collapse e-gov’t programs

The head of the Centre for Electronic Governance at the UN University's International Institute for Software Technology, Tomasz Janowski says the E-government concept risks collapse in many countries unless the required human resource capacity is properly harnessed and developed.

Often times, the program's sustainability is never factored in the implementation exercise, he noted, adding that people who are in charge of E-government agencies should possess a variety of skills that are not traditionally thought at the universities.

“The human resource capacity which is a major component should be developed towards the sustainable implementation of the programme. People should possess a composition of technical and non-technical skills, management skills knowledge management, e-society skills so that they can drive the initiative at both the private and public sector levels,” he said.

Dr. Janowski who attended the just ended African E-government Forum organized by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization in Accra, told the dailyEXPRESS that he is not sure Ghana (one of the countries touting the implementation of an E-government program) has a program that aims at enhancing the capacity of those currently in charge of the program, as well as those intended to be affected by the change especially at the public sector level.

“Countries like the united Kingdom, United states, have a program that helps people acquire the needed skills across government and academia, collaborating in the design, implementation and the development of software solution for E-government.”

He was equally worried about the level of infrastructure development in most African countries, noting that it is important that the infrastructure is properly looked at so that those trained can have the field to be innovative in their approach to the implementation of the programme.

He disclosed that Africa abounds in talents but the problem has always been that people are not innovative in their approach to things and this normally leads to duplications in the development of software solutions that ought to be used by all the participating sectors in the programme implementation and running.

Dr. Janowski also called for the involvement of all shades of opinions in the directing and running of the initiatives in order to ensure that the programme achieves the intended aim.