BUILDING TRUST in GOVERNMENT in The 21st Century - Review of Literature and Emerging Issues 2007

Handbook of Research
on E-Government in
Emerging Economies:
Adoption, E-Participation, and
Legal Frameworks
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya
University of Botswana, Botswana
Saul Zulu
Volume I
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Handbook of research on e-government in emerging economies: adoption, e-participation, and legal frameworks / Kelvin
Joseph Bwalya and Saul Zulu, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: This book is a collection of knowledge on contemporary experiences on technological, societal and legal setups
of e-Government implementation in emerging economies--Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4666-0324-0 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-0325-7 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-0326-4 (print & perpetual
access) 1. Internet in public administration--Developing countries. 2. Public administration--Technological innovations-Developing countries. 3. Electronic government information--Developing countries. 4. Public administration--Citizen
participation--Technological innovations--Developing countries. 5. Internet in public administration--Law and legislation-Developing countries. I. Bwalya, Kelvin Joseph, 1979- II. Zulu, Saul, 1956JF1525.A8H3655 2012
352.3802854678--dc23
2011043679
British Cataloguing in Publication Data

A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the
authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.
List of Reviewers
Aziz man, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey
Gohar Feroz Khan, YeungNam University, Republic of Korea
Moon, Junghoon, Seoul national university, Republic of Korea
David W. Wachira, University of North Texas, USA
Mauricio Solar, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara (UTFSM), Chile
Gonzalo Valds, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara (UTFSM), Chile
Horst von Brand, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara (UTFSM), Chile
Sergio Mura, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara (UTFSM), Chile
Laban Bagui, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
Andrew Bytheway, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
Suha AlAwadhi, Kuwait University, Kuwait
Anne Morris, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Chaudhary Imran Sarwar, University of the Punjab, Pakistan
Shauneen Furlong, John Moores Liverpool University, United Kingdom
Mehdi Sagheb-Tehrani, Bemidji State University, USA
Hyun Jung Yun, Texas State University, USA
Cynthia Opheim, Texas State University, USA
Kerstin Grundn, University West, Sweden
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya, University of Botswana, Botswana & University of Johannesburg, South Africa
De Juana-Espinosa, Susana, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Tar, Juan Jos, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Antonio Manuel Lpez Hernndez, University of Granada, Spain
Manuel Pedro Rodrguez Bolvar, University of Granada, Spain
Laura Alcaide Muoz, University of Granada, Spain
Mike Just, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom
Karen Renaud, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Bongani Ngwenya, Solusi University, Zimbabwe & North-West University-Mafeking, South Africa
Sam Lubbe, North-West University-Mafeking, South Africa
Rembrandt Klopper, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa
Carlotta del Sordo, University of Bologna, Italy
Rebecca Levy Orelli, University of Bologna, Italy
Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna, Italy
Virgil Stoica, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania

Andrei Ilas, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania
Tatjana Bileviien, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Egl Bileviit, Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Kanishka Karunasena, RMIT University, Australia
Hepu Deng, RMIT University, Australia
Anuradha Karunasena, RMIT University, Australia
Hisham Abdelsalam, Cairo University, Egypt.
Christopher G. Reddick, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA.
Hatem ElKadi, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
George S. Oreku, Tanzania Industrial Research Developments Organization, Tanzania & North-West
University, South Africa,
Fredrick Japhet Mtenzi, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
Chris Rensleigh, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Ubena John, Stockholm University, Sweden
Tella, Adeyinka, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Olasina, Gbola, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Taruna Ramesur, University of Mauritius, Mauritius
Andr Andrade, School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil
Luiz Antonio Joia, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil
Daniel Kamlot, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation,
Brazil
Kamal Atieh, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Abd Ulgahfoor Mohammad, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Tarek Khalil, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Fadi Bagdadlian, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
St. Wisnu Wijaya, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
Aris Dwiatmoko, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
Kridanto Surendro, Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia
Husni S Sastramihardja, Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia
Elias Farzali, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Ghassan Kanaan, Petra University, Amman, Jordan
Raed Kareem Kanaan, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Zulu Saul F.C., University of Botswana, Botswana
Sebina Peter.M., University of Botswana, Botswana
Kyu-Nahm Jun, Wayne State University, USA
Christopher Weare, University of Southern California, USA
Erlane K Ghani, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Jamaliah Said, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Noraini Mohd Nasir, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Edgar Napoleon Asiimwe, rebro University, Sweden
Grnlund ke, rebro University, Sweden
Ana Corojan, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain

Ignacio Criado, J., Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain
Ronan de Kervenoael, Sabanci University, Turkey
Ipek Kocoglu, Sa Gebze Institute of Technology, Turkey
Charles Ayo, Covenant University, Nigeria
Ambrose Azeta, Covenant University, Nigeria
Aderonke Oni, Covenant University, Nigeria
Aaron Ciaghi, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
Adolfo Villafiorita, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
Table of Contents
Preface................................................................................................................................................ xxix
Acknowledgment...........................................................................................................................xxxviii
Volume I
Section 1
Applications of e-Government: Case Studies and Surveys
Chapter 1
Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka: Opportunities and Challenges........................................ 1
Chapter 2
Egyptian Local Government Website Portals: Examining Maturity Levels and Human Development
Indicators................................................................................................................................................ 20
Christopher G. Reddick, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
Hatem ElKadi, Cairo University, Egypt.
Chapter 3
A Review of e-Government Initiatives in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities............................. 37
George S. Oreku, Tanzania & North-West University, South Africa
Chapter 4
A Snapshot Overview of the Digital Divide: e-Inclusion and e-Government in the Zambian
Context................................................................................................................................................... 71
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya, University of Botswana, Botswana & University of Johannesburg,
South Africa
Tanya Du Plessis, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Chapter 5
E-Documents and E-Signatures in Tanzania: Their Role, Status, and the Future.................................. 90
Chapter 6
Voters Perception of the Adequacy and Suitability of e-Voting in the Nigeria Polity........................ 123
Tella Adeyinka, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Gbolahan Olasina, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Chapter 7
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation Methods of ICT Investment: The Case of a Small Island
Economy with a Large Public Sector................................................................................................... 145
Chapter 8
E-Government in the Judiciary System: Assessing the Correlation between IT Investment and the
Efficiency of Courts of Justice in Brazil.............................................................................................. 158
Andr Andrade, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas
Foundation, Brazil
Luiz Antonio Joia, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio
Vargas Foundation, Brazil
Daniel Kamlot, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas
Foundation, Brazil
Chapter 9
Business/IT Alignment Framework within e-Government System Case Study: E-Government in
Syria..................................................................................................................................................... 179
Chapter 10
A Statistical Analysis of Priority Factors for Local e-Government in a Developing Country: Case
Study of Yogyakarta Local Government, Indonesia............................................................................ 194
St.Wisnu Wijaya, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
Chapter 11
E-Government in Syria: Obstacles and Interoperability Framework.................................................. 212
Ghassan Kanaan, Petra University, Jordan
Raed Kareem Kanaan, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Jordan
Chapter 12
Benchmarking Botswanas e-Government Initiatives with WSIS Principles: A Review of Progress
and Challenges..................................................................................................................................... 237
Saul F. C. Zulu, University of Botswana, Botswana
Peter M. Sebina, University of Botswana, Botswana
Balulwami Grand, University of Botswana, Botswana
Stephen M. Mutula, University of Botswana, Botswana
Section 2
Future Prospects for Sustainable e-Government Adoption
Chapter 13
Bridging From e-Government Practice to e-Government Research: Past Trends and Future
Directions............................................................................................................................................. 263
Chapter 14
E-Government in Malaysia: A Decade After....................................................................................... 290
Erlane K. Ghani, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Chapter 15
E-Waste Management in East African Community............................................................................. 307
Chapter 16
E-Government for Transparency, Anti-Corruption, and Accountability: Challenges and Opportunities
for Central American Countries........................................................................................................... 328
J. Ignacio Criado, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain
Chapter 17
E-Government Strategy in Turkey: A Case for m-Government?......................................................... 351
Chapter 18
E-Democracy: An Enabler for Improved Participatory Democracy.................................................... 374
Chapter 19
Law Modeling and BPR for Public Administration Improvement...................................................... 391
Volume II
Section 3
Fundamental Principles of e-Government: Theory vs. Practice
Chapter 20
The e-Government Concept and e-Government Applications............................................................. 411
Aziz iman, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey
Chapter 21
E-Government Issues in Developing Countries: An Analysis from a Digital Divide, E-Skills, and
Civil Conflict Theory Approach........................................................................................................... 423
Junghoon Moon, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
Chapter 22
Overlooking Organizational Culture: Problems in Analyzing the Success and Failures of
E-Government in Developing Countries............................................................................................. 440
Chapter 23
A Methodology to Evaluate ICT Platforms in the Implementation of e-Government........................ 455
Mauricio Solar, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Gonzalo Valds, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Horst von Brand, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Sergio Mura, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Chapter 24
Listening to the Ground: Key Indicators of e-Participation in Government for Africa....................... 474
Chapter 25
Adoption of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: An Empirical Evaluation................. 496
Anne Morris, Loughborough University, UK
Chapter 26
E-Government, Robotic, and Conventional Government in Developing Countries........................... 521
Section 4
Key Success Factors of Contemporary e-Government Development
Chapter 27
Project Management: An e-Government Driver?................................................................................ 537
Shauneen Furlong, John Moores Liverpool University, UK
Chapter 28
E-Government: Some Factors for a Conceptual Model....................................................................... 559
Chapter 29
New Technology Communication in American State Governments: The Impact on Citizen
Participation......................................................................................................................................... 573
Chapter 30
Competence Development of E-Government: A Study Circle Approach............................................ 591
Chapter 31
The Quicksilver Initiatives as a Framework for e-Government Strategy Design in Developing
Economies............................................................................................................................................ 605
South Africa
Chapter 32
Benchmarking Local e-Government: Lessons from the Adoption Process in a Tourist Town............ 624
Susana De Juana-Espinosa, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Juan Jos Tar, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Chapter 33
Analyzing e-Government Research in Emerging Economies:Contextualization and
Opportunities........................................................................................................................................ 641
Chapter 34
Trends in Government e-Authentication: Policy and Practice............................................................. 664
Mike Just, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
Karen Renaud, University of Glasgow, UK
Chapter 35
Institutionalisation, Framing, and Diffusion: The Logic of Openness in eGovernment and
Implementation Decisions- A Lesson for Developing Countries........................................................ 678
Rembrandt Klopper, University of KwaZulu Natali, South Africa
Chapter 36
E-Government Challenges in European Countries.............................................................................. 698
Carlotta del Sordo, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
Rebecca Levy Orelli, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
Chapter 37
Is Romania Ready for Nation-Wide Public e-Services? Five Factors to Consider before Adopting an
E-Government Public Policy............................................................................................................... 716
Chapter 38
Public E-Service Conditions in Lithuania............................................................................................ 732
Compilation of References............................................................................................................. xxxix
About the Contributors...................................................................................................................... cix
Index................................................................................................................................................... cxvi
Detailed Table of Contents
Preface................................................................................................................................................ xxix
Acknowledgment...........................................................................................................................xxxviii
Volume I
Section 1
Applications of e-Government: Case Studies and Surveys
Chapter 1
Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka: Opportunities and Challenges........................................ 1
This chapter investigates the status of e-Government development, explores the opportunities created for
citizens and government, and identifies the challenges for an effective implementation of e-Government
in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that the dissemination of public information online, the provision of call
centre services, and the establishment of tele-centres in rural areas have generally improved the wellbeing of citizens. It further shows that the development of information and communication technology
infrastructure and the taking of the human resource capacity building initiative in public organizations
have had a positive impact on the performance of public organizations. The study, however, reveals that
the continuous development of e-Government in Sri Lanka is troubled by the uneven access of rural
citizens to e-Government services, the low e-Readiness of citizens, the delay in implementing major eGovernment projects, and the insufficient funding for successfully implementing all the e-Government
initiatives.
Chapter 2
Egyptian Local Government Website Portals: Examining Maturity Levels and Human Development
Indicators................................................................................................................................................ 20
Christopher G. Reddick, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
Hatem ElKadi, Cairo University, Egypt.
This chapter examines the development of e-Government in selected Egyptian local governments. A
content analysis of 25 local government website portals was conducted examining categories of eManagement, e-Services, e-Democracy, and e-Decision making. The study first sets out to examine the
overall level of maturity of local government websites in these four areas in Egypt. Second, this study
examines whether Egyptian human development indicators explain the maturity of local government
websites. Firstly, the overall results indicated that e-Government maturity in Egypt was primarily in the
information dissemination stage. Secondly, local governments had a greater population in social services
industries which indicated a greater level of e-Government maturity. Out of 17 variables tested, there
were very few human development indicators related to e-Government website maturity. The results of
this chapter showed the maturity of e-Government in local governments in a developing country matched
against developed nations. Also, the results showed the limited impact of human development indicators
to predict e-Government website maturity.
Chapter 3
A Review of e-Government Initiatives in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities............................. 37
George S. Oreku, Tanzania & North-West University, South Africa
Chapter 4
A Snapshot Overview of the Digital Divide: e-Inclusion and e-Government in the Zambian
Context................................................................................................................................................... 71
South Africa
Over the last few years, Tanzania has witnessed an increased usage and awareness of e-Government
services. This is welcome news to all stakeholders in ensuring that services offered by the government
and communications between the government and citizens are efficient and effective. Despite the good
news, the reality in most cases has been that the e-Government projects are implemented as technical
projects (mostly employing techno-centric approaches), ignoring other important considerations, with
the implicit assumption that they will be used by the citizens. In this chapter, the authors conducted
a study to assess the quality of provision, level of awareness, and degree of usage of e-Government
services in Tanzania. Further, the study presents the challenges and opportunities which the Tanzanian
Government faces in realizing its e-Government vision. It demonstrates that the e-Government projects
are community projects and their design and implementation must take into account contextual, cultural,
and environmental factors.
Chapter 5
E-Documents and E-Signatures in Tanzania: Their Role, Status, and the Future.................................. 90
This chapter analyses the use of e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania with a view of establishing their legal status, applicability, and the future of such technologies in e-Government systems. That
is important as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is widely employed in Tanzania.
Moreover, the development and application of information systems is influenced by law. Therefore,
the problem investigated is twofold: First, legal status, validity, and admissibility of e-Documents and
e-Signatures in evidence in Tanzania are questioned. Second, the challenges facing the establishment of
e-Government in Tanzania are explored. The chapter is a qualitative study, i.e. library- and desk-based
research. Various literatures focusing on e-Documents and e-Signatures are reviewed, analysed, and evaluated so as to draw a conclusion on the relevancy of e-Documents and e-Signatures in the e-Government
projects in Tanzania. The literature analysis conducted found that there is a lack of legal framework to
recognize e-Documents and e-Signatures compounded with poor ICT infrastructure in Tanzania. This
scenario puts e-Government endeavours at risk. It is recommended that the government should enact
the laws to recognise e-Documents and e-Signatures to boost e-Commerce as well as e-Government.
Chapter 6
Voters Perception of the Adequacy and Suitability of e-Voting in the Nigeria Polity........................ 123
Tella Adeyinka, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Gbolahan Olasina, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
This chapter examines the perception of academics regarding the suitability and adequacy of e-Voting
in the Nigeria polity. A qualitative approach using interviews as the data collection instruments was employed. Five research questions were developed and used in the interviews. The population of the study
comprised academic staff in the South West Nigeria universities. From this population, 250 academic
staff were purposely selected from five universities. This represents the sample for the study. Five research questions were developed and used in the interviews. The results demonstrated that Nigerians are
aware of e-Voting systems, the advantages of e-Voting revealed include ease of voting, ease of counting,
electoral vote fraud prevention, and cost reduction, To a great extent, Nigeria is e-Voting ready, and the
e-Voting system is relevant to the Nigeria electoral system. Respondents find electronic voting desirable
in Nigeria given reasons such as saving time/cost, queuing reduction, and Nigeria being technologically
advanced enough to carry out a fast voting process. Hindrances to e-Voting and recommendations for
the effective adoption of e-Voting in the Nigeria polity were highlighted.
Chapter 7
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation Methods of ICT Investment: The Case of a Small Island
Economy with a Large Public Sector................................................................................................... 145
With the aim of becoming a cyber island and making Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) one of the main pillars of the economy, the government of Mauritius has been investing huge
sums of money in ICT projects. For instance, in 2009 ICT investments accounted for 5.7% of the total
share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Given this situation, it becomes crucial to evaluate ICT
investments, and as such, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the existing methods used in the
evaluation of ICT investments in the public sector and propose a framework for the evaluation process.
The main contribution of this work lies in the fact that evaluation of ICT projects in the public sector has
remained an unexplored area, and even in the context of the private sector, most studies have concentrated
on developed countries. The main results from the survey carried out in the 22 ministries reveal that
Payback Period (PB) and Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) are the main financial criteria used for the
evaluation. The survey also shows that the major factors, which are prioritised during evaluation process,
are the relevant costs, risks, and benefits. Based on the research findings, this chapter also proposes a
framework for evaluating investments in ICT projects by the public sector.
Chapter 8
E-Government in the Judiciary System: Assessing the Correlation between IT Investment and the
Efficiency of Courts of Justice in Brazil.............................................................................................. 158
Andr Andrade, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas
Foundation, Brazil
Luiz Antonio Joia, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio
Vargas Foundation, Brazil
Daniel Kamlot, Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas
Foundation, Brazil
This chapter presents an analysis of e-government being enabled by Information Technology (IT) investment in the Brazilian Judiciary System. The methodology adopted was the case study, with a mix
of qualitative and quantitative data to deal with the complexity of the phenomenon. The latest data on
e-government use in Brazil, the organizational structure and IT development of the Brazilian Judiciary
System, and the legal framework for electronic lawsuits form the basis for understanding the context.
A qualitative analysis of the influence of the National Council of Justice (NCJ) on IT investment and
e-government initiatives indicates that the NCJs coordination is leading the Brazilian Judiciary System
towards common goals. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the correlation between IT investment
and the efficiency of the courts shows a potential positive influence on reducing the duration and cost
of lawsuits.
Chapter 9
Business/IT Alignment Framework within e-Government System Case Study: E-Government in
Syria..................................................................................................................................................... 179
The purpose of this chapter is to study the effect of Business Information Technology (BIT) alignment
on e-Government success in developing countries and all factors affecting this alignment. Therefore,
the chapter studies the multiple factors on BIT alignment, such as people, process, and organizational
factors. This research discusses some of the possible factors in developing countries with the case study
of Syria. Any e-Government project needs all government resources (IT, financial, and human) and not
only a single organization resources in order to be able to harness the benefits from all resources to
improve an organization work, and this may imply the existence of BIT alignment. Therefore, the gap
between business and IT teams seems to be one of the most important factors negatively impacting the
implementation of e-Government. Therefore, filling in this gap may help in avoiding the failure of eGovernment projects in developing countries in general and in Syria in particular. This case study contains an analysis of related documents and involves 20 semi-structured interviews with senior managers,
e-Government project team members, and independent experts from the academics field. This research
shows the need for BIT alignment as one of the most important factors that should be considered for the
success of any e-Government project. An e-Government implementation framework based on the BIT
alignment was developed as a result of the case study of Syria.
Chapter 10
A Statistical Analysis of Priority Factors for Local e-Government in a Developing Country: Case
Study of Yogyakarta Local Government, Indonesia............................................................................ 194
St.Wisnu Wijaya, Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
This chapter presents findings of a study devoted to investigating the factors that influence successful
implementation of e-Government at a local level in a developing country context. The study is based on
the case study of Yogyakarta Local Government, Indonesia. Using qualitative methods of data gathering,
the study developes a conceptual model with 27 items that were used for developing the questionnaire
distributed into conducting in-depth interviews with 200 government officials in Yogyakarta, who adopted
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a platform for their daily work activities. The
study also conducted desk research that explored many documents on ICT implementation in the public
sector. The results reveal that the most significant factors that influence success in e-Government projects are corporate culture and e-Governance competency. The other factors, in order of importance were
users willingness and competency in using ICTs, information quality and human resources competency,
and system quality, which was moderated by information quality and human resources competency.
Chapter 11
E-Government in Syria: Obstacles and Interoperability Framework.................................................. 212
Ghassan Kanaan, Petra University, Jordan
Raed Kareem Kanaan, Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Jordan
The information technology revolution has forced many governments to create new mechanisms for
delivering services in order to reduce costs, increase the ease of administration, and overcome some
of the economic and social problems. E-Government uses the methods of new technology to simplify
administrative procedures and assist decision-makers in their operations. Using the survey method
and interviews, this chapter investigates e-Government activities in Syria in order to explore the main
barriers of e-Government. It focuses on how to utilize the necessary frameworks in policy, economics,
administrative procedures, society, and technology, with the aim of showing the benefits of Enterprise
Integration in e-Government. The chapter extensively reviews the literature on barriers to e-Government
and Enterprise Integration technologies. Based on the investigation of barriers to current e-Government
activities in Syria, the chapter proposes an e-Government Interoperability Framework that is designed
to address effective implementation of e-Government in developing countries
Chapter 12
Benchmarking Botswanas e-Government Initiatives with WSIS Principles: A Review of Progress
and Challenges..................................................................................................................................... 237
Saul F. C. Zulu, University of Botswana, Botswana
Peter M. Sebina, University of Botswana, Botswana
Balulwami Grand, University of Botswana, Botswana
Stephen M. Mutula, University of Botswana, Botswana
The chapter assesses the state of e-Government projects to anchor Botswanas drive towards attainment
of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Data for the study was obtained
through a survey research design, which employed desk research and interviews with strategic respondents in the ICT sector in Botswana. Botswanas e-Government projects are then benchmarked against
the WSIS Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action and other international and regional strategic
frameworks for ICTs. The findings reveal that while Botswana, through its various e-Government projects, has made some progress towards laying the foundation for meeting the goals of the WSIS and has
reached other international milestones for ICTs, a lot remains to be done as the e-Government projects
have yet to positively impact the lives of the majority of citizens. This is due to a number of factors
that have to be addressed, including inadequate infrastructure, low citizen capacity in terms of skills,
accessibility, and affordability of ICT systems, and absence of an enabling e-Legislative and policy
framework. Among the proposed areas for future studies are measuring the levels of ICT uptake at the
citizen (individual) level to determine levels of e-Participation.
Section 2
Future Prospects for Sustainable e-Government Adoption
Chapter 13
Bridging From e-Government Practice to e-Government Research: Past Trends and Future
Directions............................................................................................................................................. 263
This chapter examines the state of the field of e-Government research to assess strategically how scholars may best target future research initiatives. While e-Government research is characterized by a great
deal of interaction between practitioners and academic researchers, most research continues to either
lack sufficient rigor to produce generalizable results or in search of rigor becomes too abstract to be
directly useful to guide practice. Thus, despite the explosive growth in the field, there remain numerous opportunities to develop research projects that can both interest and aid practitioners and generate
new theoretical and empirical knowledge. Through two reviewsone of the specialized e-Government
literature and the other of general public administration and political science journalsthis conceptual
chapter identifies a number of research areas in which e-Government scholars and practitioners in the
emerging economies may target their efforts.
Chapter 14
E-Government in Malaysia: A Decade After....................................................................................... 290
Erlane K. Ghani, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
This chapter examines the development of e-Services among Malaysian local government authorities.
Using content analysis on 147 Local Government Authorities (LGAs), this chapter shows that all agencies
have Web sites with a marked improvement in the availability of each category of e-Services. Among
the motivating factors to the drastic increase of e-Services were meeting the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) established by the state and federal governments, meeting the governments requirement of
providing most of the essential services online, easing the burden on staff, improving transparency, and
providing more convenient service to the customers. The findings in this chapter indicate that the LGAs
are implementing e-Services, which should make it easier for the government to rollout more e-Services
to the LGAs under its NPM policy to help drive the country into developed nation status by the year
2020. However, there are issues that need to be addressed in order for the government to deliver services
effectively and efficiently to its citizens.
Chapter 15
E-Waste Management in East African Community............................................................................. 307
The rapidly increased use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has increased
demand for electronic equipment such as mobile phones and computers. Individuals and government
institutions worldwide are adopting ICTs at a fast pace. Increased consumption has resulted in huge
amounts of e-Waste generated from scrapped electronics. E-Waste contains chemical substances that
have adverse effects on the environment and human health. Consequently, handling of e-Waste needs to
be organized in ways that minimize the adverse effects. This chapter investigates how the East African
Community (EAC) governments, i.e., Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, conceive their
role in combating negative impact of e-Waste and how their views and current actions compare to the
current state of the art practices in e-Waste management. As data on e-Waste handling in EAC countries is
not publicly available, semi-structured interviews with high government officials and a literature review
were conducted. The results show that EAC governments consider e-Waste to be an emerging problem.
Despite this awareness and attempts to mitigate the problem in some of the countries, there are currently
no solid solutions that have been crafted to rectify or mitigate this problem. The study suggests practical
solutions for resolving e-Waste challenges in EAC.
Chapter 16
E-Government for Transparency, Anti-Corruption, and Accountability: Challenges and Opportunities
for Central American Countries........................................................................................................... 328
J. Ignacio Criado, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain
This chapter discusses the development of e-Government in Central American countries. The study presents an analysis of the role that e-Government has played during the last decade (2000-2010) in order
to promote transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures. It starts with a definition of the
principal concepts of the study and the e-Government development in the Region. It then reviews the
laws and regulations and analyzes Web technology deployment in new agencies that have been legally
established by Central American governments to advance transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption
initiatives. In this context, the research aims to explore the question about whether information and
communication technologies (specifically e-Government) facilitate transparency and accountability, and
limit corruption in developing countries. The results provide support to this general statement and also
suggest that public institutions themselves, and their non-digital procedures, still play a significant role
in promoting more transparent practices. Finally, the text concludes with how to reinforce the policy of
employing digital technology as an instrument for promoting good government in emerging economies.
Chapter 17
E-Government Strategy in Turkey: A Case for m-Government?......................................................... 351
Market orientation strategies are now expected to be integrated and enacted by firms and governments
alike. While private services will surely continue to take the lead in mobile strategy orientation, others
such as government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are also becoming prominent Mobile
Players (m-Players). Enhanced data services through smart phones are raising expectations that governments will finally deliver services that are in line with a consumer ICT lifestyle. To date, it is not certain
which form of technological standards will take the lead, e.g. enhanced m-services or traditional Internetbased applications. Yet, with the introduction of interactive applications and fully transactional services
via 3G smart phones, the currently untapped segment of the population (without computers) have the
potential to gain access to government services at a low cost. E-Government started officially in 2008.
Chapter 18
E-Democracy: An Enabler for Improved Participatory Democracy.................................................... 374
In the 21st century, the ability of citizens to participate in online democracy is a key issue for governments
in the developing nations because of its attendant benefits. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) facilities support the establishment of electronic interaction between citizens and the various
organs of government. Towards this, a variety of efforts have been made, and many systems have been
developed, but few attempts have been made to combine more than one mode of access for e-Democracy
system. It is difficult for people with visual impairment to be involved in issues of governance and communicate with government representatives such as public office holders. For these people, having access
to an electronic means of communicating with these representatives is necessary as a way of enhancing
participatory democracy among the citizens. In this chapter, the authors propose an access method for
e-Democracy system using Multimodal SMS, Voice and Web (Multi-SVW) system. The system was
implemented using VoiceXML and PHP for the user interfaces and MySQL as the database. The system
was evaluated using cognitive walkthrough strategy. The results of the usability evaluation suggest that
the prototype Multi-SVW application presented in this chapter has good usability based on the total
mean rating. The system provides accessibility options to citizens who are able-bodied and citizens who
are blind or vision impaired as a way of promoting digital citizenship.
Chapter 19
Law Modeling and BPR for Public Administration Improvement...................................................... 391
The presence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming more pronounced in
Public Administrations and in the context of legal knowledge management. In most countries, it is now
possible for citizens to freely access the text of Parliamentary Acts, bills, judgments, et cetera. Analysts
that work on re-engineering public administration processes must take into account all relevant sources
of law as they will ultimately be modified in order to legitimize the new processes. This chapter considers
the requirements to design a framework for business process re-engineering for public administrations
by analyzing the existing systems for legal knowledge representation and interchange and the current
technologies to assist modeling and change management of business processes. The ultimate goal is that
of supporting the law-making process, facilitating the participation of people without a jurisprudence
background to the editing of regulations, by providing effective means to comprehend and observe the
law, make changes to the law, and to keep track of the dependencies between the text and the models.
The framework presented in this chapter integrates several different and rather mature technologies
developed in Europe and in Africa, providing a set of tools applicable to virtually any legal system.
Volume II
Section 3
Fundamental Principles of e-Government: Theory vs. Practice
Chapter 20
The e-Government Concept and e-Government Applications............................................................. 411
Aziz iman, Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey
Since the end of the last century, computers have become a widespread phenomenon in most developed
and developing countries. In the last decade, all around the world, governments and private organizations have attempted to explore new searches, opportunities, and investments for making their services
vibrant, independent from space and/or time, comfortable, and contemporary. These initiatives have also
been done with a view to increase their services quality by employing the opportunities offered by the
Internet technology. The electronic government (e-government) concept has developed as a result of
these efforts. E-government offers the opportunities that offer citizens and the government to execute
their mutual duties and obligations via electronic communication and process. E-government has several aspects, including social, technical, economic, political, and public administrative. However, most
dominating concepts of e-government arise from the technical perspective and a combination of the
socio-economic and public administrative perspectives. In this study; concept, structure, and frame of
e-government were defined. The Networked Readiness Index was investigated, and featured topics for
e-government applications were determined. Necessity of e-government in both developed and developing countries were investigated, and digital divide, which negatively affects e-government formation in
developing countries, was investigated.
Chapter 21
E-Government Issues in Developing Countries: An Analysis from a Digital Divide, E-Skills, and
Civil Conflict Theory Approach........................................................................................................... 423
Junghoon Moon, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
Developing countries, utilizing the late comer advantage, are mimicking trends of paperless governments
with the expectations to reap the same benefits enjoyed by developed countries. However, e-Government
initiatives have not always been successful in developing countries. The authors believe that such failures
are mainly due to certain unique social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges faced
by e-Government in developing countries. For example, some major issues include digital divide, political instability, and skills-related issues. However, the research dealing with these problems is limited.
Therefore, in this chapter, the authors discuss these challenges.
Chapter 22
Overlooking Organizational Culture: Problems in Analyzing the Success and Failures of
E-Government in Developing Countries............................................................................................. 440
The growth of the information communication technologies (ICTs) has fostered the adoption of e-government across the globe. E-government offers many benefits to developing countries. However, these
countries are often plagued with problems that inhibit the implementation of e-government initiatives.
As a result, research in e-government has attempted to offer solutions by listing the factors that influence the success and failures of e-government initiatives. The argument is made here, however, that
by failing to consider the internal complexities unique to developing countries, these factors only offer
palliative solutions to problem. Furthermore, these factors overlook the role that organizational culture
plays in influencing the success or failure of e-government initiatives. Following existing literature in
e-government, this research will highlight some the major factors listed for e-government successes
and failures in developing countries. It will also show how influential organizational culture is in understanding the organizational changes proposed by e-government programs as well as how it has been
overlooked in much of the existing literature.
Chapter 23
A Methodology to Evaluate ICT Platforms in the Implementation of e-Government........................ 455
Mauricio Solar, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Gonzalo Valds, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Horst von Brand, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
Sergio Mura, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile
In this chapter, a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model is proposed to be used by the agencies of the
Chilean public sector when evaluating alternatives for the implementation of e-government. This TCO
model is used to compare the pros and cons of solutions that require high levels of investment at start up
and low long-term operations expenditures against solutions that require lower start up investments and
higher operational costs. It considers all the associated costs and investments of a candidate technological solution, under an integral assessment approach. This work shows how to gather all the information
that is required to analyze and determinate the feasibility of a migration project. Since e-government
projects are primarily driven by the goal of delivering better services to citizens, it is recommended
to deal with these projects case-by-case and to take into account the quality of the resulting service to
citizen, before deciding about their viability.
Chapter 24
Listening to the Ground: Key Indicators of e-Participation in Government for Africa....................... 474
E-Government can be seen as governing through the use of information technology, and a key component
of e-Government is e-Participation, the use of information and communications technologies to engage
citizens more closely in government processes. Public participation is achieved by a range of means,
any or all of which might benefit from the use of technology in order to reduce costs and improve effectiveness. In South Africa, the public has a generally poor opinion of government services, even though
Web and mobile technologies are being used. That sentiment sometimes ensues in social tensions. In this
chapter, a review of literature, opinions of informed experts, and a scenario analysis develop indications
and a model for e-Participation maturing with e-readiness improving.
Chapter 25
Adoption of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: An Empirical Evaluation................. 496
Anne Morris, Loughborough University, UK
Egovernment initiatives are in their infancy in many developing countries. The success of these initiatives is dependent on government support as well as citizens adoption of egovernment services. This
chapter explains in detail a study that aimed to explore the attitudes and perceptions of citizens regarding the adoption of egovernment services in Kuwait, as a developing country. The study employed both
quantitative and qualitative methods, including a questionnaire survey incorporating the amended version
of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), as well as usability testing and
focus groups. The findings identified factors that determine and influence the adoption of egovernment;
these were then modeled taking a systemic approach. Based on the results and conclusions of the study,
recommendations were made to Kuwaiti officials responsible for the egovernment services.
Chapter 26
E-Government, Robotic, and Conventional Government in Developing Countries........................... 521
This chapter focuses on technology-enabled government via robotic government and electronic government (e-Government) and compares this with the conventional government approach. With increased
popularity and dependence on virtual presence of government, it has become essential to focus on online
government and design interventions on how to develop e-Government. Robotic operations and processes
are also finding increased acceptance. This entails that future generations of government setup exploring
robotic government may be worthwhile. This research is a step towards development and refinement of
theories, principles, concepts, and practices for online government and robotic government in addition to
conventional government. Exploration of technology related aspects in the government service is principal
objective of this research. It also enlists facilities and services that may be provided by any government.
Pros and cons of introducing e-Government and robotic government are qualitatively explored. Panel
discussions are done. Experts in the government sector and related technology, brain stormed the issues
in e-Government, robotic government, and conventional government. Furthermore, a survey was done
to explore leadership aspects of people in governing positions. Introduction of technology has facilitated
an improvement in the public sector performance. The study opines that the governed and governing
are at ease with e-democracy, e-citizenship, e-identity, and e-voting and are willing to welcome robotic
government. This chapter identifies and analyzes emerging issues in contemporary modes of government.
Section 4
Key Success Factors of Contemporary e-Government Development
Chapter 27
Project Management: An e-Government Driver?................................................................................ 537
Shauneen Furlong, John Moores Liverpool University, UK
The purpose of this chapter is to present the e-Governments problems attributed to project management and to introduce research to determine if these problems could be mitigated by strengthening the
North American project management standard methodology (PMBOK - Project Management Body
of Knowledge) to support an e-Government environment. Specifically, this chapter intends to share
insights into answering the following questions: Why has e-Government, especially transformational
e-Government, not advanced around the world to the degree anticipated? Neither developed nor emerging nations have embraced the opportunities to the extent possible, and few can share and breach the
gap towards success. Could current project management methodologies have played a role? Were they
helpful? Did they drive or hinder success?
Chapter 28
E-Government: Some Factors for a Conceptual Model....................................................................... 559
Some state, national, and local governments around the world have long been playing active roles in
the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to stimulate economic development.
Electronic government (e-Government) utilizes information technology (IT) to provide the necessary the
access to a wide range of public services. Governments see IT as a way to improve the quality of life of
their citizens. Today, governments at all levels of the governance hierarchy respond to millions of citizen
demands electronically. Many public organizations are implementing e-Government projects. There is
a need to put forward a conceptual model focusing on steps towards implementing more successful eGovernment projects. This exploratory paper argues that several key success factors are appropriate for
e-Government implementation. About twelve e-Government websites were examined using the identified
key success factors. This chapter proposes a conceptual model for a better implementation of electronic
government especially in the developing world context.
Chapter 29
New Technology Communication in American State Governments: The Impact on Citizen
Participation......................................................................................................................................... 573
This study examines the effects of states e-government efforts, more specifically the progress of eservice and e-democracy, on citizens general political engagement and electoral participation. Utilizing
the combined data with the state level of Wests e-Government measures and the individual level of the
2008 American Election Study, this study finds a strong link between state sponsored efforts at e-Government and traditional forms of the publics political participation. State sponsored digital services and
outreach increase general political participation more than campaign activities, and the implementation
of e-democracy has a greater effect on mobilization than e-service. The results imply that e-government
has potential to ameliorate political exclusion by letting the politically disadvantaged access a higher
quality of information with an equalized accessibility through state governments electronic systems.
Chapter 30
Competence Development of E-Government: A Study Circle Approach............................................ 591
Effective implementation of e-Government demands the likelihood of appropriately incorporating all

the multi-dimensional socio-technical factors in its design strategy. These socio-technical factors may
involve, apart from the technological penetration and adoption, the different attitudes and competencies
that may influence e-Government uptake. In this chapter, an interview study of a Web-based course
for issues related to the implementation of e-Government is described and analysed. The design of the
course was inspired by a study circle pedagogical approach. The respondents were especially positive
to the group discussions of the studied course. Group-discussions and follow-up activities contributed to
integrate learning outcomes into work practice. This study opines that there is a need to combine both
development-oriented approaches with adaptive-oriented approaches in order to link different theoretical
and practical aspects of the changed work-situation in the community of practice. There is also a need
for pedagogical learning of producers and organisers of Web-based education in public organisations,
in order to make them to be conscious about the importance of different pedagogical approaches, and
the importance of making a thorough problem analysis before the design of the course.
Chapter 31
The Quicksilver Initiatives as a Framework for e-Government Strategy Design in Developing
Economies............................................................................................................................................ 605
South Africa
In countries where e-Government is being implemented, levels of its development and adoption show
pronounced disparities. These disparities could be attributed to mismatches in the strategies employed
when pursuing the e-Government agenda and the lack of consideration of the contextual environment in
which e-Government is implemented. This chapter aims to encourage informed e-Government strategy
design in developing countries by referencing the Quicksilver Initiatives approach, which was used
by the USA government during the Bush administration, culminating in placing America as one of the
top countries in e-Government development. The chapter also aims to provide a platform on how these
initiatives could be adapted to an emerging economy environment. Further, the chapter uses extensive
literature reviews to assess e-Government readiness of emerging countries in general and provides conceptual principles on which e-Government strategy should be hinged in developing countries. This chapter
is timely, as it comes at a time when many emerging countries are trying to develop their e-Government
strategic frameworks and roadmaps for leveraging government efficiency and competitiveness.
Chapter 32
Benchmarking Local e-Government: Lessons from the Adoption Process in a Tourist Town............ 624
Susana De Juana-Espinosa, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
Juan Jos Tar, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
The aim of this chapter is to examine the stages of business process re-Engineering (BPR) and the critical
success factors needed to successfully implement e-Government initiatives in a major tourist town in
Spain. The research utilises a case study as the main methodology for understanding the penetration of
e-Government in a tourist town in Spain. This town is one of the most attractive destinations for holiday
travelers from Northern and Central Europe, as well as for many Spanish people. The chapter shows
how the stages of BPR are deployed in a local e-Government project and how the critical success factors
(CSFs) have been addressed. These results may serve as an exemplary approach to understanding BPR
and critical success factors in local e-Government strategies. The study provides lessons for policy makers
and other stakeholders, including project managers and implementers that will help them to increase the
efficiency and efficacy of their e-Government adoption processes especially if their economy is tourismcentered. Accordingly, the local government in many tourism-oriented, emerging economies may benefit
from this experience, since it will allow them to identify the relevant success factors and to overcome
possible barriers culminating into the increase of efficiency of their e-Government development plans.
Chapter 33
Analyzing e-Government Research in Emerging Economies:Contextualization and
Opportunities........................................................................................................................................ 641
The research field of e-Government is a broad one, and diverse methodologies have been used to analyse this subject. However, most such research has focused on developed countries, with the area of
emerging economies being neglected. This chapter offers a framework to help public administrators and
researchers evaluate the field of e-Government research in emerging economies, identifying the subjects
examined, the research methodology applied and the compilation methods used in the e-Government
research published in leading international journals, as well as the possible links between these questions. Knowledge gaps and research opportunities are identified from these observations. In addition,
the authors highlight changes in the research methods employed, with a greater application of quantitative methods, thus reinforcing the development of a theoretical framework so that the application of
e-Government may efficiently contribute to improving management in the public sector and examine
the authors institutional affiliations.
Chapter 34
Trends in Government e-Authentication: Policy and Practice............................................................. 664
Mike Just, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK
Karen Renaud, University of Glasgow, UK
Government engagement of its citizens through digital channels offers the potential for efficiencies and
savings, while at the same time allowing the government to reach out to constituents in novel ways. Yet
such endeavours must be undertaken with care, especially with personalised service delivery, which
requires effective management of security and privacy. Proper authentication and management of
identity are key related factors. In this chapter, the authors examine government use and adoption of
e-authentication and identity management technologies in order to securely interact with citizens. They
first provide some background in which the state-of-the-art for protecting and managing identities is
reviewed in terms of the various methods studied in academia and marketed by industry. The chapter
then describes the degree to which these methods have been, and continue to be, used in the e-government
initiatives of several developed countries. Finally, the authors consider the lessons learned, and how
they might be applied to similar initiatives in developing countries.
Chapter 35
Institutionalisation, Framing, and Diffusion: The Logic of Openness in eGovernment and
Implementation Decisions- A Lesson for Developing Countries........................................................ 678
Rembrandt Klopper, University of KwaZulu Natali, South Africa
In this research, the premise is that sharing data according to the guidelines for publishing open government
data ensures greater transparency, delivers more efficient public services, and encourages greater public
and commercial use and re-use of government information. This logic, drawn from previous literature
and past studies, is extended by examining the interplay between economic benefits of e-Government
and social considerations in adoption of e-Government models decisions. Drawing on organizational
decision-making research, this research argues that, both early and late adopters respond to framing and
interpreting adoption decision situations as opportunities, instead of threats, to enhance transparency and
accountability. Following interpretivist research conventions methodology, the sampling plan was purposeful and included a total of 39 interviews. It is found that the social, political, and economic context
of developing countries may not readily accommodate current models of openness in e-Government.
The conclusion drawn in this research is that motivations for the openness in e-Government to appear
legitimate coexist with motivations to realize transparency and accountability. These findings prompt
rethinking of the classic institutional, framing, and diffusion model, to suggest openness in e-Government
model that developing countries could adopt to suit their social and economic context, as a contribution
to the body of knowledge.
Chapter 36
E-Government Challenges in European Countries.............................................................................. 698
Carlotta del Sordo, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
Rebecca Levy Orelli, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna, Forl Campus, Italy
To what extent and in which direction does the recent so-called shift from e-Government to e-Governance
systems take place in European governments? Much has been claimed and written about the influence
of e-Government on the modernization and growth of public sector initiatives in Europe. Little is known,
however, about how the shift from e-Government to e-Governance takes place in European governments. In particular, in this chapter, an overview of both challenges and advantages of implementing
e-Governance strategies is presented, by examining how closely and critically intertwined e-Government
and e-Governance are in European countries, with particular reference to the emerging ones. In fact,
according to the European Commission indexes, European countries have been split in two groups: Pioneers (P) that are the best-in-class EU members, and Followers (F) that have only recently undertaken
their path towards the ICT and e-government implementation and still have to foster the e-governance
development. The authors judge this comparison as particular instructive in order to draw out some lessons that can be learnt by emerging countries about how to face these challenges.
Chapter 37
Is Romania Ready for Nation-Wide Public e-Services? Five Factors to Consider before Adopting an
E-Government Public Policy............................................................................................................... 716
In 2009, the Romanian Government engaged itself to the ambitious goal of providing most of the
traditional administration services through electronic means. The authors larger aim is to assess the
policys chances of success by looking both at the history and the current level of e-development in
Romania. While most of governments actions are incremental, only marginally modifying existing
programs or practices, the e-government policies around the world do not necessarily fall within this
model. However, even the miraculous advancements depend on specific realities. Based on the relevant
literature, the authors consider the way towards the success of a nation-wide e-government public policy
as being paved by several major pre-requisites: educated citizenry, adequate technical infrastructures,
offering of e-services that citizens need, commitment from top government officials, and membership
in international organizations supporting e-government development. Results stress the importance of
the EU membership and the disequilibrium between the level of Romanians e-knowledge and that of
governmental e-services. The chapter concludes that in the case of Romania, a successful e-government
policy should primarily target the raise of citizens Internet and computer related skills.
Chapter 38
Public E-Service Conditions in Lithuania............................................................................................ 732
E-governance projects improve the efficiency of administrative systems, lower the number of civil
servants, and improve the quality of administration. The Lithuanian Concept on the Development of
the Information Society seeks to modernise governance through the use of computerised information
resources. This is important so as to develop electronic context, to encourage the provision of e-services,
and to allow local residents and businesses to use those services. Lithuania has a public e-services portal,
the purpose of which is a broad online access to information and public e-services provided by state
institutions. The requirements for common European e- services enforcement in cyberspace influence
the improvement of e-services in public administration in Lithuania. Lithuania has a legal system necessary for public e-services, but the actual implementation of services directives requires more specific
statutes on services as well as corresponding secondary legislation. Basing on different studies, the
authors examine the development and conditions of public e-services in Lithuania.
Compilation of References............................................................................................................. xxxix
About the Contributors...................................................................................................................... cix
Index................................................................................................................................................... cxvi
xxix
Preface
The concept of transformation of public service delivery has culminated into the revitalization of the
different approaches employed in public service delivery frameworks. One of the central tenets of this
pragmatic and robust government process metamorphosis lies in the efficient and appropriate usage of
the different forms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the realm of e-Government.
Although arguably and seemingly not a very mature field, e-Government started way back when the
computers were invented. Despite this being the case, it is only now that active research has been devoted into understanding e-Government at an appreciable extent. As the e-Government field is still in
its infancy, it is important to share experiences in its design and approaches. This book, therefore, presents conceptual and empirical studies that aim to share the experience of the fundamental concepts of
e-Government development in emerging countries. The relevance of the book is placed on its potential
usage by both e-Government researchers and practitioners as they design their context-aware and robust
e-Government implementation strategies.
The genesis of e-Government was rooted in the motivation to promote citizens and businesses access to government information through online platforms anytime and anywhere (pervasive/ubiquitous
access to information resources). In addition, the idea of e-Government also emanates from the business
world where issues on efficiency and effectiveness are their modus operandi. The business world has
matured from Fredrick Winslow Taylors principles of scientific management to Total Quality Management (TQM) and 6 Sigma, and now the utilization of ICTs in processes such as Business Process
Management (BPM), electronic procurement (e-Procurement and tendering processes) and Business
Re-engineering (process redesign to maintain relevancy and currency owing to short technology cycles
and corresponding processes evolution) culminating into operational effectiveness, efficiency, agility
and increased productivity. With this in mind, businesses and citizens have indirectly been mounting
pressure on governments to also employ ICTs with a view to improving public service delivery, accountability and social inclusiveness. On the part of the developing world, some governments have jumped
onto the bandwagon of implementing e-Government projects out of a desire to keep up with the Joneses.
This motivation to implement e-Government without a carefully needs analysis and strategy is always
problematic and has contributed to most of the e-Government projects to fail.
It cannot be overemphasized that electronic government (e-Government), which is implemented with
the goal of transforming public service delivery, has become a buzzword in contemporary public service
administration circles. E-Government involves global utilization of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) in the different hierarchies of the public service delivery frameworks. Effective
implementation of e-Government has largely culminated into many tangible benefits such as: removal
of the bureaucratic rigidities, proceduralisms and its attendant red tape, inefficiencies and ineffective
xxx
public service delivery; facilitation of interactive, horizontal, collaborative and participatory engagement
of citizens, businesses and other governments agencies (e-Inclusion) - a departure from the traditional
hierarchical and vertical command-and-control type of governance; provision of a framework where
governments continuously re-engineer their business processes to retain currency and relevancy to best
practices; and its mitigatory effect as an anti-corruption agent in the public sector (For example, the
introduction of e-Procurement and e-Tendering can greatly reduce corruption in tendering processes
because these processes become open and transparent). However, e-Government must be adopted with
caution as it is not a panacea for all the different problems that public administration faces. Ineffective
implementation of e-Government programmes and poor interventions may render all the anticipated
benefits of e-Government a mere exercise in rhetoric.
In other circles, e-Government has ambitiously been referred to as the fons et oligo of contemporary
competitive government paradigms. This is where e-Government is seen as a tool for good governance,
which is characterized by its promotion of citizen inclusiveness, participation, and social responsiveness in the design and delivery of services. However, some schools of thought have posited that eGovernment has the potential to further widen the gulf between government and citizens because of
the digital divide that exists in society, where a significant proportion of the population is electronically
excluded (e-Exclusion) due to many factors such as their lack of appropriate ICT skills, lack of access
to ICTs (including issues of affordability, connectivity, etc.) to enable them to engage in e-Government
activities. Unless issues of e-Inclusion are addressed, e-Government will continue to be the preserve of
the chosen few. This scenario is especially true of most developing countries, which lack readily available ICT infrastructures and appropriate and context-aware e-Government applications and solutions.
. Other researchers have posited that there are a lot of disparities regarding the success and failure of
e-Government when implemented in the developed versus the developing world (north versus south).
Given this scenario, a lot of theoretical models and conceptual frameworks have been proposed with a
view to modeling the different factors that affect e-Government implementation in developing versus
developed countries. In order to understand the factors affecting appropriate e-Government development, it is important to pay attention to this bipolar debate being advanced by the different authors from
different backgrounds owing to the multi-disciplinary nature of e-Government.
Overall, the implementation of e-Government has a noble cause on the collective competitiveness of
the public service delivery establishment and may culminate into public service business accountability,
effectiveness, efficiency, and intelligence that enables a country to effectively participate in the knowledge economy and other global business value chains. For these benefits to be amassed, it is however,
expected that there should be put in place robust design paradigms informed by the local contexts so
that citizens may buy-in the e-Government initiatives. This is not to disregard the fact that there are
also global characteristics of e-Government, which, fortunately or unfortunately, need to be embedded
into any e-Government design paradigm. It is in this regard that this book is cardinal to addressing the
knowledge gaps that may exist between the theoretical underpinnings of e-Government and its actual
practice. The highlighting of the cases of e-Government implemented in different parts of the word,
and their experiences thereof, will have a lasting positive impact on the overall development of the eGovernment body of knowledge.
This book contains 38 well-chosen chapters fitting into the main theme of the book and written by
renowned and emerging experts in e-Government dispersed all over the world. It contains strategic
discussions on the sustenance of e-Government development by presenting cases and studies aimed at
highlighting strategies for harnessing the potential of e-Government in developing countries. The first
xxxi
part of the book has two sections: The first part presents cases and surveys for the different possible
applications of, and experiences garnered through the implementation of e-Government. The second
section presents, mostly, exploratory studies that aim to discuss the future prospects for sustainable
e-Government development in developing or emerging countries. These future projections are timely
and it is anticipated that they can potentially be utilised as reference points whenever e-Government
strategies are being designed in developing countries.
A snapshot of the chapters included in the first section of the book are presented below.
The first chapter, by Karunasena et al., looks at opportunities and challenges faced by e-Government
implementation in Sri Lanka. The chapter explores the opportunities created for the government, businesses and citizens from the implementation of e-Government in Sri Lanka. It is apparent that the continuous development of e-Government in Sri Lanka is troubled by the uneven access of e-Government
services by citizens in the rural areas, the low e-readiness of citizens, the delay in implementing major
e-Government projects, and the insufficient funding available for successfully implementing all the eGovernment initiatives. The chapter posits that interventions taken in the realm of e-Government such
as the online dissemination of public information, the provision of call centre services, the establishment
of tele-centres in rural areas, the rapid development of the ICT infrastructure and the implementation
of several capacity building programs in the public service departments have a positive impact on the
growth of e-Government in Sri Lanka.
Chapter 2, by Abdelsalam et al., examines the maturity levels and Human Development Indicators
(HDI) indicators of e-Government development in Egypt by analizing 25 government Web portals.
The analysis of the Web portals centers on e-Management, e-Services, e-Democracy, and e-Decision
making. This study revealed that e-Government maturity in Egypt is still in the information dissemination stage. Out of the 17 variables tested, there were very few human development indicators related
to e-Government website maturity. The results of this chapter are significantly showing the maturity of
e-Government in local governments in a developing country matched against developed nations. Also,
the results showed the limited impact of HDI to predict e-Government website maturity.
Oreku and Mtenzi, in their chapter entitled A Review of e-Government Initiatives in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities, aim to explore the experiences of implementing e-Government in Tanzania.
The chapter posits that e-Government has mainly been implemented from the technical front end without due consideration to the social or managerial issues that may dictate its successful implementation
considering the environmental contexts in which it is implemented. The chapter presents the challenges
that e-Government in Tanzainia, and posits that since e-Government is a community project, its design
and implementation should take into account the contextual, cultural, and environmental factors.
Chapter 4 presents an overview of the digital divide in the Zambian context. Bwalya et al. emphasize
the impact of e-inclusion on succesful implementation of e-Government and present the concept of eInclusion as an a priori phenomenon to understanding the concept of the digital divide. The chapter argues
that effective e-Government development should be supported by enhanced access to e-Government
applications by the general citizenry and businesses. The chapter opines that e-Government depends
on multi-dimensional factors to succeed, and this entails that any robust e-Government strategy should
incorporate a multivariate approach in its design.
Ubena discusses the role of a legal framework in the design and implementation of an e-Government
project. The chapter particularly focuses on the legal status of e-documents and e-signatures in the
development of e-Government in Tanzania. The chapter highlights the absence of the legal framework
to recognise e-documents and e-signatures in Tanzania and posits that contemporary e-Government
xxxii
practice in developing countries should consider e-documents/signatures for effective development and
engendering trust in e-Government transactions.
Chapter 6, by Adeyika and Gbola, assesses the voters perception of the potential e-voting in Nigeria.
IT also reviews the current situation, its adequacy, and its suitability for adopting of e-voting in Nigeria
as a strategy for dealing with issues of electoral malpractices. The chapter highlights the different challenges experienced by the general citizenry in their pursuit to utilize e-voting platforms and presents the
recommendations thereof. Issues such as the low levels of ICT literacy amongst the citizens, poor ICT
infrastructure, and the higher likelihood of systems breakdown (reliability) should be addressed before
any e-voting programs are rolled out. The recommendations emanating from this chapter present lessons
for other developing countries desiring to adopt and implement e-voting systems.
Ramesur, in his chapter entitled A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation Methods of ICT Investment:
The Case of a Small Island Economy with a large Public Sector, discusses the different approaches
utilized in the evaluation of ICT investments in Mauritius. The chapter presents results from 22 ministries
after analyzing the Payback Period (PB) and Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) of ICT investments in
Mauritius. The chapter further proposes a framework for evaluating ICT investments in ICT projects
in the public sector.
Chapter 8 by Andrade et al. assesses the correlation between Information Technology (IT) investments
and the efficiency of the courts of justice in Brazil owing to their utilisation of ICTs. This exploratory
chapter analyses the latest data on e-Government in Brazil, and the organizational structure and IT development of the Brazilian Judiciary System. It also assesses the legal framework for electronic lawsuits
to understand the contextual ICT setting in Brazil. The study posits that although a lot has been achieved
in e-Government implementation in Brazil, a lot more still needs to be put in place to counteract the
inherent challenges at the organizational and individual levels.
Atieh et al. propose the business/IT (BIT) alignment framework in the design of e-Government strategies considering the case of Syria. The chapter highlights the fact that there are generally gaps in the
approaches utilized for aligning business and IT in the realm of e-Government design frameworks. In
fact, most of the e-Government strategies in the developing world follow a technology-centric approach.
This study contains analysis of related documents and involves 20 semi-structured interviews with senior
managers, e-Government project team members, and independent experts from academia. The chapter
posits that BIT alignment is cardinal for appropriate and sustainable e-Government development.
St. Wijaya et al.s chapter aims to present the priority factors for local e-Government development
in the developing world by considering a case study of Yogyakarta Local Government in Indonesia. The
chapter proposes a conceptual model for effective e-Government implementation in a developing world
context. A ranking of the different factors that impact on e-Government implementation is presented,
viz corporate culture and e-Governance competence, users willingness and competency in using ICTs,
information quality and human resource competency, and system quality. These are assumed to be the
core factors that have a direct impact on e-Government development.
The eleventh chapter, by Farzali et al., discusses the interoperability framework utilised in the eGovernment implementation in Syria. The study analysizes how the different barriers to e-Government
implementation can be synergized with the avialable e-Government development platforms. The study
posits that e-Governments relies on a number of factors; these include, but are not limited to: gathering
information, requirement analysis, and software designing. The e-Government framework is a list of steps
and necessary works in some issues (policy, economy, society, legislation, technology, and administrative procedures), which are working together to provide e-Services to citizens using interoperability to
xxxiii
develop interconnected relationship between organizations. The study considers enterprise integration
as one of the core pillars for e-Government implementation in any environment.
Chapter 12 by Zulu et al., assess the state of e-Government projects in Botswana benchmarked against
the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The methodology used in this research
is essentially the survey approach coupled with desk research and interviews with cardinal stakeholders
in the ICT sector in Botswana. The study opines that although a lot has been achieved towards attaining the goals of the WSIS, a lot more remains to be done to enable global adoption of ICTs and the
proliferation of e-Government. The study proposes that a number of factors need to be addressed if the
goals of the WSIS were to be firmly achieved. These include addressing the inadequate infrastructure;
low citizen capacity in terms of skills, accessibility, and affordability of ICT systems; and absence of an
enabling e-legislative and policy framework.
Chapter 13 discusses the past and future trends of bridging e-Government research and practice in
developing regions of the world. This chapter examines the state of the field of e-Government research
to assess strategically how scholars may best target future research initiatives. Jun and Weare, in this
chapter posits that while e-Government research is characterized by a great deal of interaction between
practitioners and academic researchers, most research continues to either lack sufficient rigor to produce
generalizable results or in search of rigor becomes too abstract to be directly useful to guide practice.
Thus, despite the explosive growth in the field (pertaining to the number of researchers actively involved
in e-Government research), there remain numerous opportunities to develop research projects that can
both interest and aid practitioners and generate new theoretical and empirical knowledge.
Chapter 14, by Ghani et al., discusses the development of e-Government in Malaysia after 10 years
of its implementation, particularly paying attention to the e-Services delivered among the 147 local
government authorities. The study concludes that effective implementation of e-Government in Malaysia has culminated into contributing to the countrys vision of attaining the developed world status by
2020. Despite this being the case, some challenges have been highlighted which need to be addressed if
e-Government were to effectively contribute to this vision. These challenges may be similar to other developing world countries aiming to implement e-Government in their public service delivery frameworks.
Chapter 15 discusses the e-Waste management concept as applied to selected countries in East Africa. The concept of e-Waste includes the chemical substances that may come from ICTs and may have
adverse effects on both the environment and human beings. As African countries continue embracing
e-Government in their public administration domains, ICTs (in most of the cases, secondhand ICTs
principally from emerging economies such as China, Taiwan and Singapore) have reached many individuals and businesses. Such ICTs have a limited lifespan and end up being disposed. The choice of the
method of disposition of these ICTs may have enduring effects on the environment and human health.
With this background, the chapter by Asiimwe and Grnlund discusses several ways African countries
may avoid this problem in future.
Corojan and Criado, in their chapter entitled E-Government for Transparency, Anti-Corruption,
and Accountability: Challenges and Opportunities for Central American Countries, discuss the impact
of e-Government in Central American countries during the period 2000 2010. With a careful look at
the experiences of e-Government implementation in these countries, this exploratory chapter provides
directions in both future evidence-based policy and implementation of e-Government in South America.
Chapter 17, by Keevenoael and Kocoglu, discusses the possibility of e-Government maturation in
Turkey into mobile government (m-Government). It reviews the integration of e-Government into both
the private and public institutions. The chapter brings out the discrepancies between policy and the
xxxiv
actual ICTs development cycles and practices that may drive the e-Government agenda in Turkey. The
chapter posits that with the introduction of interactive applications and fully transactional services via
3G smart phones, the currently untapped segment of the population (without access to computers) have
the potential to gain access to government services at a lower cost. For this to be implemented, it is
recommended that more research is needed regarding location-aware technologies that will unlock the
intention to use m-Government services and the overall success rate for large government ICT projects.
Chapter 18, by Ayo et al., discusses e-Democracy as applied in the context of improving participatory democracy in Nigeria. Technical specifications of prototype e-Democracy applications are herewith
proposed. The chapter assesses the possibility of vibrant e-Democracy platforms (accessible by both the
able-bodied and the visually impaired individuals) informed by the local context in Nigeria.
The first part concludes with a chapter by Ciaghi and Villafiorita, which presents the synthesis of law
modeling and Business Process Re-eingineering (BPR) for the purposes of improving public administration. The chapter considers the requirements to design a framework for BPR for public administrations
background to the editing of regulations, by providing effective means to comprehend the law, make
changes to the law and keep track of the dependencies between the text and the models. The framework
presented in this chapter integrates several different and rather mature technologies developed in Europe
and in Africa, providing a set of tools applicable to virtually any legal system.
The second section of the book aims to highlight the status, issues, and challenges affecting e-Government implementation in the developing and emerging countries. The second section has two parts:
The first presents the fundamental principles of e-Government and aims to draw a thin line between
theory and practical aspects of e-Government implementation. The second outlines the Key Success
Factors (KSFs) that are cardinal to effective e-Government strategy design. This section generally posits
that appropriately designed e-Government solutions should put the local context characteristics at its
core. This book, by outlining the fundamental principles of e-Government, presents a signpost to what
e-Government is and acts as a battery for young researchers or practitioners who might not be cognizant
of the e-Government phenomenon to engage in e-Government research. The seccond section of the
book posits that e-Government is a multi-dimensional entity and therefore its effective implementation
and development largely depends on the degree to which multiple approaches have been utilized in its
implementation endeavors to infuse the divergent factors on which it is anchored. The comprehensive
snapshot of the second part of the book is presented below. The point to note in almost all the chapters
included in this part of the book is that e-Government is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, which requires
multi-dimensional approaches for it to succeed.
The twentieth (20th) chapter, by iman, aims to outline the fundamental concepts of e-Government
and presents the motivation behind e-Government implementation by both public and private entities.
The chapter emphasizes that the concept of e-Government keeps evolving as new technologies emerge
on the ICT market. With this in mind, iman posits that it is vitally important to frequently review the
understanding of what e-Government entails. With e-Government incorporating a myriad of factors,
it is important to consider both the technical and social perspectives when designing e-Government
strategies and interventions.
Chapter 21, by Khan and Moon, analyses the concept of e-Government from the perspective of the
digital divide, e-skills, and the conflict theory. The chapter emphasises that e-Government failures in
xxxv
developing countries are mainly due to the social, economical, technological, and environmental challenges. The chapter highlights the different challenges that are faced when implementing e-Government
in a developing world context.
Wachira, in his chapter entitled Overlooking Organizational Culture: Problems in Analyzing the
Success and Failures of e-Government in Developing Countries, looks at the inherent challenges that
may be met when assessing e-Government development in developing countries. The chapter posits
that any e-Government assessments in developing countries should not overlook the consideration of
the internal complexities, which may be unique when developing countries are compaired with their
counterparts, the developed world. The study has also highlighted the need to carefully consider organizational culture before any efforts in e-Government development are considered.
Chapter 23, by Solar et al., proposes a methodology for the evaluation of ICT platforms in the implementation of e-Government by proposing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model, which has been
positioned for possible adoption by the Chilean e-Government authority. The model basically compares
the pros and cons of solutions that require high levels of investments and start-up and long-term operations expenditures against solutions that require lower start up investments and higher operational
costs. The chapter posits that potential e-Government projects need to be evaluated on case-by-case
basis taking into account the quality of the resulting service to citizens and businesses before deciding
whether they are viable or not.
Chapter 24, by Bagui and Bytheway, proposes a model to encourage e-participation of the general
citizenry by reviewing the public perceptions of government services in South Africa. This exploratory
study highlights issues that may negatively impact on e-Government maturity in a developing world
context and should therefore be addressed when designing e-Government strategies.
AlAwadhi and Morris present an empirical evaluation of e-Government adoption using the Unified
Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) in chapter 6. The chapter presents the results
of a study that aimed to understand the attitudes and perceptions of citizens in Kuwait. Some conclusions have been drawn on what directions e-Government implementation should take, especially in the
context of developing countries.
Chapter 26, by Chaudhary Imran Sarwar, discusses the role of the virtual government (e-Government)
in transforming conventional and robotic government in developing countries. The chapter posits that
robotic applications are finding increased usage in many different government and business processes.
Using a survey approach, the chapter analyses emerging issues for e-Government development especially in a developing world context. These issues may be similar in most of the developing countries.
Chapter 27, by Shauneen Furlong, brings out the need for understanding that e-Government research
should not only be technology-centric but also inculcate in its design the social and managerial aspects
of technology diffusion. Having garnered experience in Canadas e-Government team in the Treasury
Board Secretariat that initiated the Government On-Line initiative across the federal government of
Canada, Shauneen (who is also an IBM doctoral fellow) delves to highlight the importance of project
management as a central tenet of e-Government implementation regardless of location. The chapter presents a discussion as to why transformational e-Government has not progressed to the level anticipated
and presents a leeway on how contemporary project management practices can be embedded into the
design of e-Government. Specifically, the chapter brings out flaws in the project management body of
knowledge (PMBOK) and presents ways of how this can be applied in the design of a real e-Government
strategic framework.
xxxvi
The twenty-eighth chapter, by Prof. Sagheb-Tehrani, aims to present the different pertinent factors
that should be incorporated into the design of any e-Government conceptual model. This is done by first
analyzing several e-Government websites to determine the key success factors of e-Government implementation. The chapter opines that any conceptual model for e-Government should succinctly consider
the factors in the local context (analyze characteristics of the potential e-Government consumers both
citizens and businesses, and the level of development of the institutional and ICT infrastructure readiness)
and determine how these can further impact e-Government implementation. This chapter is cardinal to
the understanding of e-Government development because it outlines the different grassroots factors that
should be considered before the actual design of any e-Government interventions.
In chapter 29, Hyung and Opheim investigate the impact of contemporary technology communications
models on overall citizen participation in the American state governments e-Government programs,
applications, and initiatives. This chapter is important to the current discussion, because it pushes forward
the agenda of the North-South bipolar debate on the levels of e-Government development. It is opined
that researchers in the developing and emerging world need to reference (and not copy-and-paste) the
experiences of e-Government implementation in the first world. The chapters focus is mainly on understanding the level of e-Services and e-Democracy in the American polity and investigates how this
impacts on the e-Government agenda. The results of this robust study show that state-sponsored digital
services and outreach programmes increase general political participation and have a greater effect on
citizen mobilization. The chapter further opines that e-Government has the potential to ameliorate political exclusion by allowing the politically disadvantaged equal access to quality information through
state governments electronic systems.
The thirtieth chapter, by Prof. Grundn, presents the study circle approach and investigates how this
can be used for effective designs of e-Government strategies. The chapter emphasises the need to address
all the different multi-dimensional socio-technical factors that may impact on e-Government uptake. The
study argues that uptake of e-Government should essentially begin from the government officers before
strategies for encouraging global adoptions by the general citizenry. This chapter strategically investigates
the approaches used in Sweden in designing e-Government awareness campaigns and training modules
amongst the government employees. Although the environmental setting may be different with most of
the developing world countries, this study may be used as a reference point on what approach to take
when designing e-Government awareness programs in the developing world.
The thirty-first chapter, by Bwalya et al., advances the bipolar debate on the factors affecting e-Government in a developed versus a developing world context and emphasizes how the different strategic
designs and programmes employed in these contexts culminate into disparities in levels of e-Government
penetration. The chapter provides guidelines on how the Quicksilver Initiatives approach used in the
USA can be adapted and utilised in a developing world context to facilitate e-Government proliferation.
Chapter 32, by De Juana-Espinosa and Tar, presents the lessons learnt from implementing e-Government in a tourist town of Spain. The chapter specifically analyzes how Business Process Modeling (BPR)
can be used in the design of e-Government strategies. The study provides lessons for policy makers and
other stakeholders, including project managers and implementers to increase the efficiency and efficacy
of their e-Government adoption processes, especially if their economy is tourism-centered. Accordingly,
the local government in many tourism-oriented emerging economies may benefit from this experience,
since it will allow them to identify the relevant success factors and overcome possible barriers. This will
culminate into increased efficiency of their e-Government development plans.
xxxvii
Chapter 33, by Hernndez et al., analyzes the development of e-Government in Spain and outlines
the major opportunities that can be harnessed by its effective implementation. The chapter presents a
framework to help public administrators and researchers evaluate the field of e-Government research
in emerging economies.
Chapter 34, by Just and Renaud, analyzes the trends in government e-Authentication by analysing
the policy and practical connotations. Their study identifies proper authentication and management of
identity as key factors to establishing robust security and privacy in personalized e-Government services. The chapter presents guidelines on how e-Authentication can be appropriately implemented in
an emerging world context.
Chapter 35, entitled Institutionalization, Framing, and Diffusion: The Logic of Openness in eGovernment and Implementation Decisions: a lesson for developing countries, by Bongani, Lubbe, and
Klopper, highlights the importance of openness in e-Government service delivery. Using the interpretivist
approach, this chapter opines that the social, political and economic context of developing countries may
not readily accommodate current models of openness in e-Government. As a contribution to the body of
knowledge of e-Government, these findings prompt rethinking of the classic institutional framing and
diffusion model to suggest openness in an e-Government model that developing countries could adapt
to suit their social and economic context.
The thirty-sixth chapter, by Del Sordo et al., outlines the different challenges that are faced in eGovernment implementation in Europe. The chapter investigates how closely and critically intertwined
e-Government and e-Governance are in European countries, with particular reference to the emerging
ones. The chapter brings out valuable lessons that developing countries can draw on in their pursuit
towards the implementation of e-Government.
Chapter 37, by Stoica and Ilas, outlines the five major factors that should be considered when drawing policies for e-Government implementation in Romania. The results of this chapter stress that the
importance of considering the European Union membership and the disequilibrium between the level
of Romanians e-Knowledge and that of governmental e-Services. The chapter concludes that in the
case of Romania, a successful e-government policy should primarily target raising citizens Internet
and computer-related skills.
Chapter 38, by Prof. Bileviien and Egl Bileviit, aims to highlight the prevailing public e-Service
conditions in the case of Lithuania. The chapter discusses the established legal system of e-Services
in Lithunia benchmarked against the requirements for the common European e-Services enforcement
framework.
With the aforementioned topics, the editors believe this book addresses a topical subject that should,
preferably, reach all corners of the world, with a view of sharing experiences in e-Government implementation and outlining the fundamental factors that affect reliable and sustainable e-Government
development in developing countries. They believe the discussions offered in this book will go a long
way in informing policy and practice of e-Government development in the context of developing or
emerging countries.
Bwalya Kelvin Joseph
University of Botswana, Botswana.
Zulu Saul
xxxviii
Acknowledgment
A lot of individuals, who may be too numerous to mention, sacrificed their valuable time to making this
book project what it is.
The success of the production of this book is largely owed to the deligent and enthusiastic authors who dedicated
long hours in the individual chapter writing process. We would like to thank the individual authors who attributed
a lot of dedication and time to producing comprehensive chapters commensurate to the calibre of this publication.
The authors patience and dedication to revising their chapters with reference to peer review results and other
editors requirements cannot go without commendation. We believe this work will go a long way in advancing the
body of knowledge of e-Government research and practice. We would also like to thank the peer reviewers who
participated in the double-blinded peer review process of the chapters. Your dedication and expert-critical eye has
made this work attain its present rigor and quality.
We are also highly indebted to the entire IGI-Global team for the technical and managerial assistance. Particularly, a special thank you is extended to Julia Mosemann Director of Book Publications, (Ms) Jan Travers
Director of Intellectual Property and Contracts, Erika Carter Acquisitions Editor, and Myla Harty Editorial
Assistant at the Development Division.
A special thank you is being extended to Prof. Rensleigh and Prof. Du Plessis (University of Johannesburg,
Department of Information and Knowledge Management) for having helped in the conceptualization of this idea
and for encouraging us to go ahead with this book.
Last but not least, we would also like to commend professionals who had considered publishing their research
works in this publication but due to a huge volume of prospective contributors, their work could not find room in
this book.
A special thank you is also being directed towards our families for their understanding of our working long
hours and correspondingly our absence from our homes in order to accomplish this milestone.
Bwalya Kelvin Joseph

University of Botswana, Botswana.
Zulu Saul
Section 1
Applications of e-Government:
Case Studies and Surveys
Chapter 1
Developments of
e-Government in Sri Lanka:
Opportunities and Challenges
Kanishka Karunasena
RMIT University, Australia
Hepu Deng
Anuradha Karunasena
ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the status of e-Government development, explores the opportunities created for
citizens and government, and identifies the challenges for an effective implementation of e-Government
in Sri Lanka. The study reveals that the dissemination of public information online, the provision of call
centre services, and the establishment of tele-centres in rural areas have generally improved the wellbeing of citizens. It further shows that the development of information and communication technology
infrastructure and the taking of the human resource capacity building initiative in public organizations
have had a positive impact on the performance of public organizations. The study, however, reveals that
the continuous development of e-Government in Sri Lanka is troubled by the uneven access of rural
citizens to e-Government services, the low e-Readiness of citizens, the delay in implementing major eGovernment projects, and the insufficient funding for successfully implementing all the e-Government
initiatives.
INTRODUCTION
Electronic government (e-Government) is commonly referred to as the delivery of government
information and services through the use of
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch001
Information and Communication Technologies

(ICTs) (Akman, et al., 2005; Horan & Abhichandani, 2006). It can be approached from different
perspectives including e-Citizens and e-Services,
e-Administration, and e-Society. E-Citizens and
e-Services focus on developing the relationship
Copyright 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka
between government and citizens by improving

public service delivery, encouraging the participation of citizens in government, and informing
citizens about governmental activities (Heeks,
2002; Ndou, 2004). E-Administration aims to
improve public processes by cutting costs, linking
processes and public organizations, empowering
public employees, and improving transparency
and accountability in government (Heeks, 2002).
E-Society tries to develop the relationship between
government, businesses, and societies (Heeks,
2002) through improving the interaction between
government and business and building the social
and economic capacity of a civil society (Heeks,
2002).
Significant benefits are promised from the rapid
development of e-Government worldwide. Such
benefits include providing quality public services
to citizens, improving organizational effectiveness, increasing transparency and accountability
in government (UNDESA, 2008), improving
the quality of life, reducing the communication
and information cost, bridging the digital divide,
and encouraging the participation of citizens in
government (Jaeger & Thompson, 2003; Akman,
et al., 2005). As a result, e-Government is widely
considered as the new way for governments to
improve their performance in developing countries
(Dada, 2006).
There is no exception in the development of
e-Government in Sri Lanka (Hanna, 2007; Karunasena & Deng, 2010a). In 2002, the government of Sri Lanka officially launched the e-Sri
Lanka initiative with the assistance of World Bank
(ICTA, 2005; Hanna, 2007; Hanna, 2008). Under
the umbrella of the e-Sri Lanka initiative, the reengineering government program is proposed for
reforming the public sector to provide citizens with
transparent, effective, efficient public services
and to improve the quality of the life of citizens
(ICTA, 2010a). Numerous e-Government projects
were initiatedleading to the rapid development
of e-Government in Sri Lanka. A recent study
reveals that Sri Lanka is the first runner-up in the
South Asian region in e-Government development (UNDESA, 2008). The Network Readiness
Index (NRI) shows that Sri Lanka is at the 72nd
position worldwide concerning e-Government
development in 2009/2010, which is 14 positions
up from 2006 (Mia & Dutta, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2010). There is, however, a lack of studies assessing the status and the future of the e-Government
development in Sri Lanka.
To fill this gap, this chapter aims to assess
the progress made concerning development of
e-Government in Sri Lanka. It investigates the opportunities generated for both citizens and government and identifies the challenges that Sri Lanka
comes across as a developing country in its pursuit
of implementingvarious e-Government projects. It
is assumed that this study will eventually serve as
a lesson on the various aspects of e-Government
being investigated to other countries, especially
those in the developing world context.
RESEARCH METHOD
The objective of this study is to evaluate the progress of e-Government development in Sri Lanka,
to explore the opportunities generated through
e-Government, and to identify the challenges
that Sri Lanka faces in the implementation of eGovernment projects. To fulfill these objectives,
several research questions have been formulated
as follows:
1. What is the status of e-Government developments in Sri Lanka?
2. How is this status achieved?
3. What are the opportunities generated in
Sri Lanka through the implementation of
e-Government projects?
4. What are the challenges that Sri Lanka faces
in the implementation of e-Government
projects?
To adequately answer these research questions,

a mixed-method approach is used in this study.
The use of such an approach helps answer both
quantitative and qualitative questions in the study
(Creswell & Clark, 2011). The power of numbers
(quantitative data) can be expanded and elaborated
with the rich context of the lived experience of
people (qualitative data) (Sosulski & Lawrence,
2008). As this research aims to answer quantitative and qualitative research questions (what and
how questions), the use of the mixed-methods
approach in this study is appropriate.
Quantitative data is collected from various
sources such as survey reports, Internet, books,
and government reports for answering the quantitative type questions. As summarised in Table
1, such data includes the statistics relating to eGovernment and network readiness and statistics
on government ICT usage, public staff training,
public staff and citizens attitudes towards eGovernment, telecommunication users, household
computer literacy, and availability of e-Mail and
Internet. Survey data is obtained from various
government organizations including the Statistical
Survey Department (Satharasinghe, 2007; DCSSL, 2007; DCS-SL, 2009), Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL,
2009), and the Information and Communication
Technology Agency (ICTA & MGC, 2008a, 2008b,
2008c, 2008d). Furthermore, there are several
global e-Government surveys (UNDESA, 2003,
2005, 2008, 2010; Dutta & Mia, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2010) used for extracting useful data in evaluating
the performance of e-Government development
in Sri Lanka.
The qualitative data for this study is obtained

from interviews with fifteen participants. Openended interviews weree conducted with the Information and Communication Technology
Agency (ICTA) officials and Chief Innovative
Officers (CIOs) of respective government organizations. Initial contact with ICTA officials and
CIOs was made through telephone conversations
with a brief description of the purpose of the research. Interview questions were pre-tested with
the help of academic experts, e-Government
specialists and e-Government users. An approximately two-hour interview was conducted with
each of the eight staff members. Such interviews
with the ICTA officials and CIOs are useful for
(a) identifying the e-Government development
programs implemented in Sri Lanka, (b) understanding how these programs have been implemented, (c) identifying the opportunities created
for government, and (d) identifying the challenges for an effective implementation of eGovernment in Sri Lanka. To obtain citizens
perceptions on e-Government, volunteers were
recruited from those who visited tele-centres to
access the Internet. Approximately thirty to fortyfive minute interviews were conducted with
seven volunteers. All the interviews were recorded with the permission of the participants.
The collected qualitative data was transcribed for
performing thematic analysis. Table 1 summarises the data collected in this research.
Table 2 summarises the demographic characteristics of the interview participants. As presented
in Table 2, interview participants had varied
demographic characteristics. For example, out
Table 1. An overview of the quantitative and qualitative data in this study

Quantitative Data
government ICT usage and staff training,
staffs attitudes towards e-government,
the usefulness of the tele-centres centres,
fixed and mobile telecommunications users,
households computer literacy,
household computers and Internet penetration,
socio-economic data.
Qualitative Data
e-Government programs implemented,
how these programs have been implemented and what results have been achieved,
opportunities generated for the government, citizens and businesses,
challenges in implementing e-government,
direct benefits of e-Government.
Table 2. Demographic characteristics of interview participants

Age Profile
Educational Profile
Employment Profile
Age Group
No. of Participants
Highest Education
Level
No. of participants
Category
No. of Participants
16-20
School Level
CIO
21-30
Undergraduate
ICT sector
31-45
Postgraduate
Finance
46-60
Professional
Agriculture
Over 60
Education
Unemployed
of fifteen participants, a majority is in the age

group of 46-60 and most of them have university
education.
IMPLEMENTATION OF
E-GOVERNMENT IN SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka has used computing in government
for nearly 48 years, even before the notion eGovernment came into play. Using computers
in the Sri Lankan public sector was initiated in
1962, with the introduction of IBM accounting
machines to the Insurance Corporation, followed
by the introduction of computers to some other
public organizations such as State Engineering
Corporation, and Department of Census and Statistics (Hanna, 2008). Subsequently, many computerization programs in the public sector were
initiated. Most of these initiatives, however, failed
to make any significant contribution to the overall
development of e-Government in Sri Lanka until
the e-Sri Lanka initiative was launched in 2002.
The concept of e-Sri Lanka originated from the
private sector with the involvement of the National
Chamber of Commerce, local software industry
leaders, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (Hanna, 2007).
Motivated by the achievements of the Indian
software industry, the initial e-Sri Lanka concept
mainly focused on developing the software indus-
try in Sri Lanka (Hanna, 2007). With the active

involvement of the World Bank, public service,
civil society, consultative groups and many donor
agencies, the e-Sri Lanka concept was revised and
expanded (Hanna, 2007) by recognizing ICT as key
for achieving growth, equity, and peace through
technological transformation of all sectors in Sri
Lanka (MOST, 2002). As a result, improving the
delivery of public services, bridging the digital
divide, uplifting the quality of life of citizens,
improving social development, and supporting the
countrys growth and poverty reduction through
the development of e-Government became the
objectives of the e-Sri Lanka initiative (ICTA,
2005; Hanna, 2007, 2008).
To achieve the objectives of the e-Sri Lanka
initiative, six e-Development programs have been
adopted including the following:
1. a re-engineering government program for
providing transparent, effective, and efficient
public services;
2. an information infrastructure development
program for ensuring affordable access to
information, communication, electronic
services, and other content;
3. an e-Society development program for empowering the most vulnerable communities
in Sri Lanka;
4. a human resources capacity building program
for building up a skilled workforce;
5. private sector capacity development program

for developing the domestic ICT sector to
ensure a sustainable economic growth in the
country; and
6. a regulatory environment development
program for creating policy and regulatory
environment, and developing leadership
and institutional capacity building to support ICT based developments and reforms
(Karunasena & Deng, 2009; ICTA, 2010).
ICTA was established under the Information
Communication Technology Act 27 for coordinating and funding these e-Government
initiatives.
Sri Lanka has implemented a unique e-Government program with the implementation of various
re-engineering government projects (Karunasena
& Deng, 2009, 2010a, 2010b). The uniqueness of
the e-Government program is due to the specific
context that Sri Lanka is in as a developing country
with a majority of citizens living in rural areas,
low ICT literacy among citizens, low householder
Internet users, poor information infrastructure,
and low e-Readiness in government (Hanna,
2007, 2008). Implementing e-Government projects is bound to have a significant impact on Sri
Lankan citizens and the society (Karunasena &
Deng, 2009; Karunasena, et al., 2011). The reengineering government program is facilitated
by four e-Development programs including (a)
an information infrastructure development program, (b) a human resources capacity building
program, (c) a policy, regulatory environment,
and institutional development program, and (d)
an e-Society development program. These four
programs create an enabling environment for
the effective development of e-Government in
Sri Lanka. Figure 1 shows an overview of the
e-Government development programs adopted
in Sri Lanka.
The re-engineering government program aims
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the
delivery of the public services by re-engineering
processes with the implementation of various eGovernment applications (ICTA, 2010a). A

number of e-Government projects are initiated
including website development, call centre services, data hubs, e-Services developments, and
government process re-engineering. To equip the
public staff with appropriate skills, upgrading ICT
infrastructure in public organizations, interconnecting public organizations, and creating an
enabling environment for facilitating the successful implementation of e-Government are identified
as the key objectives of this program (ICTA,
2010a).
The information infrastructure development
program promises (a) efficient and effective ICT
infrastructure for public organizations and (b) an
affordable access to information, modern communication and electronic services at any time
regardless of their geographical location (ICTA,
2010b). In this context, the Lanka Government
Network (LGN) development project is implemented for setting up an underlying information
infrastructure for connecting all the public organizations in a cost-effective manner to provide
Internet, e-Mail, IP based voice services (VIOP),
and exchange e-Government data in a secure and
reliable manner (ICTA, 2010b).
The Regional Telecommunication Network
project (RTN) has been identified as a priority
under the information infrastructure development program which seeks to ensure affordable
access to telecommunication, Internet services,
e-Services, and e-Content to all rural communities. This project invests on laying two fiber
backbones along with the necessary infrastructure
covering rural Sri Lanka. Development of this
project is extremely important since access to the
telecommunication and other ICT infrastructure is
unaffordable to citizens in rural areas. Sri Lanka
is a country where 85% of the total population
lives in the rural areas (UN, 2008), and the total
contribution by the rural sector to total poverty of
the country is 82.1% (DSC-SL, 2007). Develop-
Figure 1. An overview of e-government development in Sri Lanka
ment of affordable information infrastructure is,

therefore, highly important.
The Nenasala (Knowledge centre/tele centre)
development project is introduced for ensuring
equal and affordable access to e-Government
resources for rural and semi-urban communities.
A Nenasala centre is supplied with telephone connections, a minimum of five computers, broadband
Internet connectivity, a scanner, a photocopier,
webcams, and other computer devices to facilitate rural and semi-urban citizens access to the
computers, Internet, and e-Services (Nenasala,
2007). Development of this project is necessary
because of the low ICT readiness among citizens.
As at 2003 there were only 13.2 personal computers and 10.56 Internet users per 1000 persons
in Sri Lanka (UNDESA, 2003). Moreover, only
3.1% of rural households had computers in 2004
(Satharasinghe, 2007).
The policy and institutional development
program focuses on developing policy and institutional environment necessary for achieving the
overall objective of e-Government in Sri Lanka.
One of these goals is to create a pro-active policy
and a regulatory environment that is supportive
of ICT reform and ICT-based development, to
develop ICT leadership and capacity, and to
communicate these initiatives and policies to
the wider stakeholder audience (ICTA, 2010c).
In the context of a regulatory environment, the
government has developed laws and regulations
relating to electronic transactions, data protection, computer crimes, payment devices frauds,
payment and settlement, privacy, and intellectual
property rights protection (ICTA, 2010c). Such
laws are essential to protect e-Government users.
Intellectual property rights protection laws are
extremely important for generating innovation in
terms of overall ICT development in the country
(Dutta & Mia, 2010). Adequate training is provided
to judges, lawyers, and other law enforcement
personnel to execute these e-Laws.
As shown in Figure 1, supporting local
language initiatives is another sub-program of
the policies and institutional development program. Under the local language initiatives, the
government has facilitated the development of
ICT standards for Sinhala (SLS 1134, 2004) and
Tamil (SLS 1326, 2008) languages, and Unicode
compliance fonts. Moreover, training is provided
to local font developers (ICTA, 2010c). All these
activities are useful for the government as they
facilitate the delivery of e-Government information and services in local languages.
The ICT related policy development is another sub-program of the policy and institutional
development program. The e-Government policy
document is extremely important for the effective
development of e-Government at the organizational level. This document acts as a blueprint for
government institutions for planning, developing, procuring, using e-Government, and creating an enabling environment for e-Government
development at the organizational level. The
e-Government policy approved by the Cabinet in
2009 emphasises that all government organizations
should aim to achieve the following:
1. establish an ICT unit and appoint a Chief
Information Officer (CIO) to lead e-Government related activities in their organizations;
2. draft and implement an annual ICT plan
which indicates how ICT is used for realizing
the organizations mission and vision;
3. allocate an adequate budget for e-Government related activities;
4. use e-mail for all types of official
communications;
5. develop trilingual websites which comply
with the governments website standards
and register them under the gov.lk domain;
6. use Sinhala and Tamil Unicode fonts;
7. connect to the LGN for using governments
common network service;
8. use Lanka Gate as the middleware infrastructure and the country portal for delivering government services through electronic
means;
9. use licensed software or use open source

software; and
10. assess the training and skills needs of public
staff at all levels and incorporate them in the
annual ICT plan (ICTA, 2010b).
The human resources development program
is aligned with the e-Government development
program. The prime objective of this program is
to develop an e-Leadership capability in government staff for leading and driving the process of
e-Government development. Under this initiative,
the government has appointed CIOs across all
government ministries, departments, statutory
bodies, and other grass root level public organizations for driving e-Government and ICT-based
transformation processes within those organizations. Therefore, empowering CIOs with strategic
ICT planning, e-Government practices, IT project
management, outsourcing and managing projects,
government process re-engineering, change management, and knowledge management is a key
objective of this program (ICTA, 2010d).
The e-Society development program is another
program implemented under the e-Sri Lanka initiative. Although it does not directly contribute to
the adoption of e-Government, it facilitates the
social development of most vulnerable groups
in Sri Lanka using ICT (ICTA, 2010e). Among
many other objectives of this program, increasing
awareness among disadvantaged groups of how
ICT can improve the quality of their lives, empowering women and youth with ICT, increasing
economic opportunities and equity by facilitating
wide use of ICT in agriculture, health, and education, and developing local content are important
(ICTA, 2010e).
STATUS OF E-GOVERNMENT
DEVELOPMENT IN SRI LANKA
The e-Sri Lanka initiative has been operational
for the last 7 years. The implementation of the
e-Sri Lanka initiative has a positive impact on

increasing the e-Readiness of the country. This
is demonstrated through the continuous improvement in (a) the United Nations e-Government
development index, (b) the individual readiness
index, (c) the government readiness index, (d) the
individual usage index, (e) the government usage
index, (f) the political and regulatory index, and
(g) the infrastructure environment index.
The United Nations e-Government readiness
survey (UNDESA, 2003, 2005, 2008) is a popular
survey for measuring the capacity and willingness of countries to use e-Government for ICT-led
development (UNDESA, 2005, p. 14). Figure 2
below shows a significant growth in Sri Lankas
e-Government readiness score from 0.385 in
2003 to 0.4244 in 2008 (UNDESA, 2003, 2005,
2008). In 2008, Sri Lanka was the runner-up in
the e-Readiness score in the South Asian region
with the Maldives occupying the top spot. Sri
Lankas e-Government readiness score (0.4244)
was below the world average (0.4514) but well
above the regional average (0.3395) in 2008. The
recently developed United Nations e-Government
development index (UNDESA, 2010), which
examines how far governments have actually
advanced in e-Government development, indicates
that Sri Lanka is at the 111th position out of 183
member countries. Although Sri Lanka is ranked
at the 111th position, e-Readiness scores indicate
that the country has been gradually progressing as
far as e-Government development is concerned
over the past several years.
The NRI is another popular index for examining the overall ICT performance of individual
countries (Dutta & Mia, 2010). It examines the
enabling factors for ICT readiness in a country
from the perspective of government, individuals,
and businesses (Dutta & Mia, 2010). Existing
statistics reveal that Sri Lanka has gone up in the
NRI rank and NRI score although the overall ICT
development is not mature like that in developed
countries. Sri Lankas ranking has improved from
the 86th position in 2006/2007 to the 79th in
Figure 2. Sri Lankas e-government readiness
2007/2008, and to the 72nd in 2008/2009 and

2010 among 133 countries (Dutta & Mia, 2007,
2008, 2009, 2010). In other words, the countrys
rank has gone up by 14 positions since 2006. This
is strong indication that the e-Development programs have positively influenced the overall ICT
development in the country.
NRI consists of several sub-dimensions such
as readiness, usage, and the environment for
examining the ICT readiness in a country (Dutta
& Mia, 2010). Several indicators are usually
utilised in this dimension including individuals
readiness, governments readiness, individuals
usage, governments usage, political and regulatory element, and infrastructure element (Dutta
& Mia, 2010). Individual readiness measures
citizens preparedness to use ICT by considering
those aspects of telecommunication, Internet and
their costs. Government readiness is reflected
by government efforts to incorporate ICT in the
national agenda and procure high-tech products to
improve the organizational efficiency and innovation (Dutta & Mia, 2010). The individual usage
element measures ICT penetration and diffusion at
the individual level. Individual usage is exemplified by mobile users, broadband users, Internet
subscribers, availability of personal computers,
and so forth. The government usage assesses the
actual usage of ICT by the government (Dutta &
Mia, 2010). Political and regulatory element measures the degree to which the national legal framework facilitates innovation and ICT development
(Dutta & Mia, 2010). The infrastructure element

assesses the quality of the ICT infrastructure in
respect to the telephone lines, Internet bandwidth,
secure Internet servers, digital content, electricity
production, and human resources (Dutta & Mia,
2010). As shown in Figure 3, Sri Lankas overall
ICT development has been leaping up in all the
dimensions since 2006. All these statistics reveal
that the e-Development programs are immensely
contributing to the creation of an enabling environment necessary for effectively pursuing the
e-Government development in Sri Lanka.
OPPORTUNITIES FROM
E-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENTS
IN SRI LANKA
In Sri Lanka, government agencies are under
represented in rural and semi-urban areas. Hence,
people living in these areas have to visit Colombo,
the financial capital of Sri Lanka, for transactions
with government agencies, and even to obtain
information or obtain relevant documents. This
caused a lot of significant inconveniences to citizens before e-Government was introduced. As a
result of the e-Government initiatives, however,
this situation has been dramatically changed, and
tremendous opportunities have been created for
citizens and the government itself. To date, there
are more than 100 central government departments and ministries which disseminate public
Figure 3. An overview of the progress of the overall ICT development in Sri Lanka
information through websites giving anytime

and anywhere access to the public. As at 2008,
nearly 35% of government agencies had their
own websites (ICTA & MGC, 2008a). Most of
these government agency websites nowadays
disseminate information in local languages and
in English. Information dissemination in local
languages is extremely important because Sri
Lanka is home to multiple ethnic groups and a
majority of citizens communicate in local languages (Karunasena, et al., 2011). Almost all the
grass root level public services delivery entities
(divisional secretariat offices) have been linked
to the divisional secretariat Web portal counting
up to a total of 356 mini-sites. Moreover, Gov.
lk is a trilingual static portal which provides
links to individual government agency websites.
Lanka Gate was developed to fulfil the need of a
country portal (www.srilanka.lk) by providing a
single window access to government services and
information. A recent survey shows that government websites are the most used e-Government
channel in Sri Lanka (ICTA & MGC, 2008a).
A trilingual call centre operates from Monday to
Saturday to provide information to citizens about
1300 different government services of more than
90 government organizations. The purpose of the
call centre is to respond to the general inquires
of citizens such as how to get services from the
10
public sector, which government agency should

be contacted, which documents should be filled
and so forth (Karunasena, et al., 2011). This information could not be accessed by the citizens
previously unless they went to the respective
public organizations holding the information. The
call centre receives nearly 2500 calls per day and
about 85% of which are responded to successfully. The call centre service is the second most
used e-Government channel in Sri Lanka (ICTA
& MGC, 2008a).
Many e-Service projects are being implemented for providing maximum benefits to
citizens. These e-Services initiatives include (a)
the e-Divisional secretariat project for facilitating an efficient and effective delivery of public
services at grass root level public organizations,
(b) the e-Samurdhi project for maintaining upto-date data relating to income and livelihood of
low income communities, (c) the e-Population
registry for maintaining unique ID numbers and
basic information of citizens enabling the registration of life events such as births, marriages,
and deaths, and enabling access and exchange
of citizen information by other relevant agencies regardless of geographic location, (d) the
e-Foreign employment project for helping people
seek jobs overseas, (e) the e-Pension project for
developing a high responsive pension application
process system, and (f) the e-Motoring project

for maintaining motor vehicle registration and
issuing drivers licenses. The birth marriage and
death certificate issuing system is currently in
operation at selected divisional secretariat offices
for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of
issuing certificates. Citizens are now able to obtain these certificates within 5 minutes from ICT
enabled front office counters which took several
days to be issued using a manual system which
was previously used.
There are several Government to Government (G2G) and Government to Business (G2B)
services which were promised under e-Sri Lanka
initiatives. For example, Human Resources Management System (HRMS) was introduced as a
G2G application for effectively managing the
records of 40,000 public sector employees who
belong to 14 all island services and working in
public agencies scattered all over the island (ICTA,
2010a). As a G2B service, Laksala project was
initiated for promoting and protecting Sri Lankan
handicrafts. It provides opportunities and livelihoods for handicraftsmen by allowing them to
purchase and sell their items through a Web portal
(www.laksala.lk).
More than 350 government organizations
around the country are now connected to a high
speed secured network through the implementation of LGN. These organizations are supplied with
broadband Internet connectivity, computers, and
other relevant computer peripherals. Moreover,
official email accounts are supplied for public
staff. To date, these organizations have had a
tremendous opportunity of saving a significant
amount of public money through the use of VOIP
phones to communicate with other organizations.
To provide the rural and semi-urban citizens
with equal access to e-Government information
and services, 600 tele-centres (Nenasala) have
been established in those areas. Using these resources, rural and semi urban citizens can access
government information and services. Low income
people are given vouchers to access the resources
available in these centres. Some of these centres

are also being operated as e-Libraries. Some other
centres are being operated as distance learning
centres. Some of these centres also conduct ICT
training to rural children for affordable rates (about
US$2 per month). Moreover, these centres further
contributed to social and economic developments
in rural and semi-urban areas. For example, nearly
41% of Nenasala users claim that they found jobs
as a result of computer training provided in the
centres and 26% users found jobs by using the
Internet facility available at the centres (ICTA &
MGC, 2008c). Furthermore, 31% centre operators
believe the Nenasala centres help them improve
their existing business or develop new business
opportunities (ICTA & MGC, 2008c).
Skilled people with appropriate ICT skills
are essential for successful implementation of
e-Government. Therefore, the government has
taken necessary steps to fulfil the requirement
of a skilled work force, by implementing the
human resources capacity building program. As
a result of this program, to date about 450 CIOs
actively participate in various ICT-based public
sector reforming activities. Moreover, government
offers the CIOs an opportunity to undertake a
specialized Masters degree in e-Governance. Furthermore, various other staff at various levels are
also provided with trainings such as management
training, general ICT training, advanced technical
trainings, network and system administration, and
e-Government awareness. 10,000 public organizational staffs have been trained to support public
sector reform. Moreover, statistics reveal that 66%
of executive staff and 64.5% of non-executive
staff have been formally trained (ICTA & MGC,
2008d). Developing the ICT skills of citizens is
a secondary objective of this program. As result
of this program, about 3000 citizens have been
trained with ICT.
A recent study revealed that the government
staffs attitudes towards e-Government are positive. 66% of executive staff and 74.3% of nonexecutive staff strongly believe that e-Government
11
can improve organizational efficiency (ICTA &

MGC, 2008d). About 11.3% of executive staff
and 10% of non-executive staff believe that eGovernment can reduce the difficulties faced by
the public in accessing public services. About 8%
of the executive staff and 7.6% of non-executive
staff think that e-Government can improve the
quality of public service. This shows that there is
an extremely strong support from the public staff
for an effective implementation of e-Government
in Sri Lanka. Table 3 presents a summary of the eSri Lanka initiatives objectives and achievements.
The next section presents the general challenges to effective e-government implementation
in Sri Lanka.
CHALLENGES TO AN
EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION
OF E-GOVERNMENT
Sri Lanka faces numerous challenges in its pursuit to achieve an effective implementation of eGovernment initiatives. These challenges include
Table 3. High-level program objectives and achievements

Program
Objectives
Achievements
Re-engineering the
government
To improve the
efficiency and
effectiveness of
the delivery of the
public services
More than 100 central government agencies disseminate information through websites
Country portal and government official web portal provide single access to services and
information
Grass root level public service delivery entities are connect to a web portal which contains 356
mini-sites
Trilingual call centre services provide information on 1300 government services
G2C projects including, e-divisional secretariat, e-population registry, e-pension, e-motoring,
e-land database, e-foreign employment and e-NIC are being implemented
Birth marriage death certificate issuing systems help citizens obtain these certificates within 5
minutes which previously took several days
The Laksala project is developed for promoting handicraft
e-Human resources management systems are implemented
Information
infrastructure
development
To provide efficient
and effective ICT
infrastructure to
public organizations, and to
provide citizens
anywhere any time
access to ICT and
its applications
More than 350 public organizations are connected to a high speed secured network
600 tele-centres (Nenasala) have been established in rural and semi-urban areas for providing
equal access to e-Government information and services
Nenasala centres operate as distance learning centres
Low cost ICT training for rural children
41% of Nenasala users claim that they found jobs as a result of computer training provided in
the centres, 26% users found jobs by using the Internet facility available at the centres and 31%
centre operators believe that the Nenasala centres help them improve their existing businesses or
develop new business opportunities.
Policies and
institutional
development
To develop policy
and institutional
environment necessary to achieve the
overall objective of
e-Government in
Sri Lanka
Developed laws and regulations relating to electronic transactions, data protection, computer
crimes, payment devices frauds, payment and settlement, privacy and intellectual property rights
protection
Training is provided to judges, lawyers and other law enforcement personnel on e-laws
The e-Government policy is established
Local language initiatives: ICT standards for Sinhala (SLS 1134: 2004) and Tamil (SLS 1326:
2008) languages, and Unicode compliance fonts are developed.
Human resources capacity building
To develop an eleadership capability in government

staff to lead and
drive the process
of e-Government
development
About 450 CIOs were trained and they actively participate in various ICT-based public sector
reforming activities
Another 10,000 public staff have been trained to support public sector reform. 66% of executive staff and 64.5% of non-executive staff have been formally trained.
3000 citizens have been trained with ICT
Positive attitudes towards e-Government developments
e-Society
development
Social development
of most vulnerable
groups
Increased awareness among disadvantaged groups of how ICT can improve the quality of their
lives
Women and youth empowered with ICT
Economic opportunity and equity through using ICT
12
(a) ICT infrastructure related issues pertaining to

the lack of computers, Internet, telecommunication infrastructure to access e-Government, (b)
human capital development related problems
including the lack of skills to use e-Government
applications, (c) leadership issues such as the lack
of political and organizational support, lack of
motivation, and unnecessary external influences,
(d) budgetary constraints that affect investment
in e-Government at the organizational level, and
so forth (Ndou, 2004; Chen, et al., 2006; Hanna,
2007). Among them, lack of ICT infrastructure for
rural citizens to access e-Government resources,
the low e-readiness among citizens, budgetary
constraints are prominent as barriers to effective
implementation of e-Government (Karunasena
& Deng, 2009, 2010a; Karunasena, et al., 2011).
Telecommunication is a catalyst for a countrys
development (Tripathi, 2006). Sri Lanka is a country with a moderate access to telecommunication
infrastructure (ITU, 2008). The current telecommunication network comprises 16.1% fixed line
and 62% mobile phones (TRCSL, 2009). Since
fixed lines are the dominating Internet carriers in
Sri Lanka, poor telecommunication infrastructure
in rural areas means that access to the Internet is
uneven and unaffordable (Hanna, 2007; Karunasena & Deng, 2010a). Statistics reveal that 42%
of the total fixed line subscribers represent the
province (Western Province) where the countrys
capital city is located (TRCSL, 2009). As shown

in Figure 4, as of December 2009, fixed lines were
distributed unevenly throughout the provinces in
Sri Lanka (TRCSL, 2009).
Existing statistics reveal that only 11.1% of
the rural household population have Internet access (DCS-SL, 2009). This is a significant barrier to the deployment of e-Government in Sri
Lanka where the majority of the population live
in rural areas. Inability to access the available
e-Government resources due to the unavailability of connectivity for a majority of citizens can
result in the failure of e-Government (Karunasena & Deng, 2010a). The Rural Telecommunication Network project, which promises rural citizens
affordable and anytime anywhere access to the
Internet, is a viable solution to this problem.
However, this project has not been implemented.
Alternatively, there is potential to use mobile
phones as a channel to deliver e-Government
services since, as shown in Figure 5, there has
been a tremendous growth in mobile phone subscribers over the last several years in Sri Lanka
(Karunasena, et al., 2011).
The low e-Readiness of citizens increases the
challenge for e-Government deployment (Karunasena & Deng, 2009; Weerakkody, et al., 2009;
Ali, et al., 2009; Karunasena, et al., 2011). In Sri
Lanka, only 20.3% of households are IT literate.
31.1% of urban households have computer lit-
Figure 4. The provincial distribution of fixed phones in Sri Lanka
13
Figure 5. The growth in mobile phone subscribers
eracy while the computer literacy of rural households is at 19.3%, and of the estate sector (estate
sector is defined as the plantation areas, which
are more than 20 acres in extent and having not
less than 10 residential labourers) is at 8.4%
(DCS-SL, 2009). Moreover, there are significant
differences in computer awareness across the
sectors. The highest (60%) computer awareness
was reported from the urban sector households
and the lowest (15.8%) awareness was reported
by the estate sector households in 2009. In Sri
Lanka, 11.4% of households have computers.
Again, significant differences are evident across
the different sectors of the country. As at 2009,
26.3% of urban households, 9.8% of rural households, and 3.3% of estate sector households had
computers (DCS-SL, 2009). Furthermore, Internet and email usage in Sri Lanka is very low. As
statistics reveal, only 13.1% of households use
Internet and 12% use email (DCS-SL, 2009). All
these statistics show the low e-Readiness among
citizens. Due to these reasons, providing equal
opportunities to every citizen through e-Government is extremely challenging in Sri Lanka.
Delays in implementing major e-Government
projects are another problem in Sri Lanka. As noted
before, e-Sri Lanka initiative contains several eServices delivery projects such as e-Population
registry, e-Foreign employment, e-Pension, e-
14
Motoring, e-Land registry, and so forth. Although

the e-Sri Lanka initiative has been in effect for
several years, these projects are still at the early
stages of development at the time of this study
(Karunasena & Deng, 2010a). Since there is a
significant delay in implementing these initiatives,
the citizens in Sri Lanka have not yet had the opportunity of enjoying the full benefits of e-Services
(Karunasena, et al., 2011). Moreover, significant
delay in implementing RTN is further challenging
to the sustainability of Nenasala centres. The RTN
was supposed to provide connectivity for these
centres at affordable rates. Due to the delays in
implementing the RTN project, some centres have
to depend on expensive satellite connectivity,
which is not viable for long term sustainability.
Poor ICT usage in government is still a
challenging factor in Sri Lanka. As a result of
unimplemented major e-Services projects, the
ICT usage of a majority of government organizations is confined to the use of simple databases,
spreadsheets, word processors, and presentation
tools. Most of the public organizations heavily
use these software packages. For an example,
100% of ministries, departments, and statutory
boards use word processing packages (ICTA &
MGC, 2008a). Moreover, use of emails for official communications among public sector staff is
really low, being less than 10% across all public
organizations (ICTA & MGC, 2008d). Only about

13% ministries, 7% departments, 22% statutory
boards, and 3% divisional secretariat offices use
emails for official communications (ICTA &
MGC, 2008a).
Limited funding for e-Government development is another challenge faced by Sri Lanka
(Weerakkody, et al., 2009; Ali, et al., 2009).
The e-Sri Lanka initiative heavily depends on
international donor agencies including the World
Bank and the Korean EXIM bank (ICTA, 2005).
Sri Lanka has implemented a centralized funding model rather than a decentralized model for
e-Government investment. In other words, major
e-Government projects implemented at the organizational level are funded by the ICTA. Therefore,
the majority of government organizations do not
have adequate fund allocations to implement
their own e-Government projects. Only 7% of
the government organizations had a separate
budget for IT as at 2008 (ICTA & MGC, 2008a).
This creates negative impacts on e-Government
project development at the organizational level.
However, the e-Government policy introduced
in the year 2009 emphasises that all the government organizations should have an ICT budget
for implementing e-Government initiatives at the
organizational level.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

It is clear from the study that the Sri Lankan
government has invested millions of dollars in
developing various e-Government initiatives to
provide maximum benefits to citizens while facing
various barriers to the effective implementation
of e-Government. With the increasing pressure on
accountability for government investments nowadays, conducting a comprehensive and in-depth
investigation of the effectiveness of e-Government
initiatives in Sri Lanka would be a worthwhile next
step in the research in this area (Karunasena, et
al., 2011). Conducting such a study can not only

help the Sri Lankan government to understand the
effectiveness of their investment in e-Government
initiatives, but it can also facilitate formulation
of effective strategies and policies for improving
the performance of e-Government in Sri Lanka
(Deng, 2008; Karunasena, et al., 2011).
CONCLUSION
This study evaluates the progress of e-Government
in Sri Lanka and explores the opportunities generated through e-Government, and identifies the
challenges that Sri Lanka faces in implementing
e-Government. It reveals that Sri Lanka has been
progressing well in e-Government development
with the implementation of various e-Government
initiatives, including developments of government websites, call centre services, a government
wide network, tele-centres for rural communities,
building the capacity of public sector staff, and
development of a legal and regulatory framework
to support e-government.
Several challenges, however, hinder the effective development of e-Government in Sri
Lanka. Uneven access of rural citizens to the
information and telecommunication infrastructure, low e-Readiness among citizens, delays in
implementing major e-Government projects, and
insufficient funds to implement e-Government
initiatives at organizational levels are some of
the barriers to an effective implementation of
e-Government. From the results obtained in this
study, it can be concluded that a country with a
majority of citizens living in rural areas, poor ICT
infrastructure, and low ICT literacy among the
citizens faces enormous challenges in deploying
e-Government initiatives.
15
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ADDITIONAL READING
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Australia: IEEE Press.
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

CIO: Chief innovative officer.
E-Development: Use of ICT to bring about
social and economic development in a country.
E-Government: Delivery of government
information and services through the use of ICT.
e-Sri Lanka: An e-development initiative
implemented in Sri Lanka which recognizes ICT
as a key factor for achieving growth, equity and
peace through technological transformation of all
sectors in Sri Lanka. Improving the delivery of
public services, bridging the digital divide, uplifting the quality of life of citizens, improving social
development, and supporting the countrys growth
and poverty reduction are the key objectives the
e-Sri Lanka initiative.
ICT: Information and communications technologies.
LGN: Lanka government network is a wide

area network implemented in Sri Lanka which
connects public organizations across the country.
VOIP: Voice over Internet protocol.
19
20
Chapter 2
Egyptian Local Government

Website Portals:
Examining Maturity Levels and
Human Development Indicators
Hisham Abdelsalam
Cairo University, Egypt.
Christopher G. Reddick
University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
Hatem ElKadi
Cairo University, Egypt.
ABSTRACT
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch002
Egyptian Local Government Website Portals
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Electronic government, or e-Government, has
provided a means through which governments can
improve citizen interaction with their government
and at the same time change the traditional model of
government service delivery (Kraemer & Dedrick,
1997; Lenk & Traunmuller, 2000). In fact, the vital
necessity of modernization and the introduction of
enhanced business models that replace traditional
ones have been realized by governments through
e-Government worldwide (Ho, 2002; Moon, 2002).
Technology allows governments to serve citizens in a timely, effective, and cost efficient way
(Kraemer & Dedrick, 1997). The key reasons for this
public sector reform are to increase the efficiency
of government operations, strengthen democracy,
enhance transparency, and provide better and more
versatile services to citizens and businesses (Ho,
2002; La Porte, Demchak, & de Jong, 2002). Local government, being closer to citizens and their
interactions with the various levels of governments,
is in a unique position to inform the public of the
direction of future policy and to reflect the governments new vision and strategy.
Like many other countries worldwide, the local
e-Government initiatives were set off in Egypt to
improve the capabilities of enhancing service delivery to their citizens. This is especially the case
with a developing country, such as Egypt, where
e-Government becomes a mechanism for enhancing
a large population to promote further development.
When comparing the adoption of e-Government in
developed countries with developing nations, their
experiences are much different (Chen, et al., 2007).
There generally is limited research on eGovernment maturity in developing countries
(Ndou, 2004; Dada, 2006; Lau, et al., 2008). This
is especially the case for African nations, in which
the status of e-Government services is not well
documented (Heeks, 2002; Rorissa & Demissie,
2010). Developing countries, especially those
in Africa, are said to be among the last to adopt
necessary e-Government technologies for service
delivery (Schuppan, 2008). The rate of adoption

is slow because of several factors such as lack of
appropriate ICT infrastructure, limited literacy,
unbalanced economic development, and cultural
factors (Rorissa & Demissie, 2010). In addition,
there is limited research that examines the relationship between e-Government maturity and human
development (Siau & Long, 2004; Siau & Long,
2006; Singh & Das, 2007; Singh, Das, & Joseph,
2007; Siau & Long, 2009). The research that
does exist focuses on comparing countries at the
national level, while this study focuses on local
governments in a specific country, Egypt, at the
local government level.
This study expects to find a relationship between
human development and e-Government adoption as
previous research has shown (Siau & Long, 2004).
There is research that stresses the importance of
human capital of nations and e-Government development (Srivastava & Teo, 2007). As mentioned,
most of the research on human development and
e-Government has examined this issue across
countries (Kim, 2007; Cortes & Navarro, 2011), and
has not focused on human development in the local
government context. Human development might
take the form of governance and public institution
capacity which are said to promote e-Government
development in developed nations (von Haldenwang, 2004). In addition, human development has
been explored in East Africa through case studies
of this region (Kaaya, 2004). However, unlike
previous research that examines e-Government and
human development, the focus of this study is in a
developing country; examining website maturity in
the context of local governments, something that
has not been explored.
Broadly defined, e-Government is the use of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
to promote more efficient and effective government,
facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information, and make
government more accountable to citizens (Traunmuller & Lenk, 2002). E-Government systems are
becoming an essential element of modern public
21
administration (Torres, Pina, & Acerete, 2005).

Assessing the effectiveness of these systems is
becoming a necessity in order to ensure successful implementation (Gupta & Jana, 2003). Human
development is the process of enlarging peoples
choices through a long and healthy life, to acquire
knowledge, and have access to resources needed
for a decent standard of living (Ferrer, 2009).
There are two purposes to this chapter. First, it
examines the maturity of e-Government websites
in local governments in Egypt through four categories of development, namely e-Management,
e-Services, e-Decision making, and e-Democracy.
The second purpose is to examine the extent to
which the chosen 17 human development indicators explain the maturity of e-Government in
Egypt. This study is different from existing work
in that most of the studies on the development of
e-Government websites at the local level focus on
developed countries, while this study focuses on a
developing country. Second, most of the work has
not correlated e-Government maturity with human
development factors to determine which of these
explain e-Government maturity.
The chapter presents the results of a content
analysis of 25 websites of Egyptian governorates,
which act as local governments in Egypt. The
chapter then has a brief introduction providing
the context of e-Government in Egypt. Thereafter,
research methodology is presented and immediately
followed by the results section. The conclusion
summarizes the chapter and provides recommendations for future research.
CONTEXT: EGYPTS LOCAL

GOVERNMENT SYSTEM
The Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE or Egypt) lies
in the south-eastern corner of the Mediterranean,
mainly in Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula in Asia,
separated by the Suez Canal. The majority of
the country is desert across which the river Nile
flows from the south to the Mediterranean in the
22
north forming a Delta. Egypt has been a unified

country for over five thousand years, mainly due
to the river Nile.
Egypts area is 1 million square kilometers,
with a population of around 78 million living
on 5% of the total area of Egypt. Ninety-seven
percent of the population lives in the Nile valley
with up to one-third of the population living in
either Cairo or Alexandria. The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) (UNDP, 2010)
has calculated that 46.8% of the economic and
social establishments are in the governorates of
these two cities, and that 23% of the labor force
is in the same area. Most of the power is held by
the central and not the local government.
Egypt is a unitary country that comprises 29
administrative sections, called governorates (or
municipalities), of various sizes, populations,
and resources. Governorates are administratively
further divided into cities and districts which are,
in turn, divided into smaller entities called neighborhoods (in cities) and villages (in the districts).
The local entities have a certain degree of
administrative autonomy. Nevertheless, they are
financially and politically managed by the central
government. Local governmentsrepresented in
governoratesmanage their operations based on
rules, regulations, and legal requirements created
by the central government. However, they have
autonomy in how they provide their service to
citizens and how they manage their processes.
The degree of administrative autonomy, when
properly used, can result in good administration,
depending on the personality and abilities of the
governor.
EGYPTS LOCAL GOVERNMENT

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Egypt established its ICT strategy in 2001 in what
is known as the Egyptian Information Society
Initiative (EISI). EISI was built on seven pillars;
one of which was e-Government. The other six
pillars were e-learning or creating a more technology literate population. E-readiness was meant
to nurture human capital through education and
productivity. E-business was aimed at improving
industry and the skills of the workforce through
technology. E-health was targeted at creating a
more efficient health delivery system. E-culture
aimed at providing the storage and usage platform
of knowledge management to preserve the Egyptian cultural identity. ICT and export was targeted
at promoting global usage of ICT with a view of
creating a vibrant exporting industry.
This EISI initiative was put into action and,
hence, the e-Government program in Egypt
started in 2001. In 2004, program ownership was
transferred to the Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD), where the former
e-Government Program Director (Dr. Ahmed Darwish) was appointed as the minister. This reflects
the Egyptian understanding of e-Government as a
natural component of administrative development
and reform. Thus, the e-Government program in
Egypt became one of the two mandates of MSAD,
the other one being the public administration
institutional reform.
Initially, the e-Government program consisted
of four main subprograms among which came the
Egyptian Local Government Development Program (ELGDP). In turn, ELGDP has three main
projects: (1) service enhancement in municipalities
which includes automation of services provided
to citizens; (2) development of web portals for
the governorates; and (3) citizen relationship
management (CRM) systems.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Many attempts have been made to establish models
of e-Government maturity (Shackleton & Dawson,
2007). For example, the United Nations (2002)
outlined a five stage model used to benchmark
government web sites at the national level and
other models have been presented (Baum & Maio,
2000; Layne & Lee, 2001; Reddick, 2004). Local

e-Government, however, needs to offer more than
electronic replication of existing information and
services as it provides an opportunity to offer new
and enhanced services to the public, to increase
the involvement of communities in policy making
and improved service provision (Schackleton &
Dawson, 2007). Some potential shortcomings in
the stage models capacity to capture the drivers
and evolution of e-Government (Andersen & Henriksen, 2006) have derived alternative suggestions
(Quirk, 2000; Stamoulis, Gouscos, Georgiadis,
& Martakos, 2001) showing that governments
mature in various spaces rather than in distinct
linear stages (Coursey & Norris, 2008).
This section presents the local e-Government
assessment methodology and its implementation
procedure. The section begins by stating research
questions and proceeds to detail different aspects
of the methodology used in this chapter.
Research Questions
The focus of this investigation was on three principal research questions: (1) What is a well suited
model for assessing local government websites
in the Egyptian context? (2) What is the status of
local government websites maturity in Egypt? (3)
To what extent do human development indicators
explain the maturity of local government website
maturity in Egypt?
Most, if not all, available maturity models
and assessment frameworks were designed and
implemented in developed countries. The focus
of the first research question was on determining
the applicability of two well developed models
relevant to a developing country such as Egypt.
Being closer to citizens, local governments
have the majority of interactions between government and the civil society. Their websites,
thus, are expected to provideeffectively and
efficientlydifferent services needed by their
citizens. The second research question applies
an assessment framework that examined how
23
sophisticated (mature) these websites are in Egypt,

providing insights that will help Egypt and similar
countries improve the services provided through
local e-Government.
The third research question examines local
e-Government websites in relation to human
development indicators from the United Nations
Human Development Programme (2008) report
for Egypt. Correlations were run between website
maturity and the development indictors in the report. This examines whether greater development
in local government is associated with greater
e-Government maturity.
Model Used
Quirks (2000) model was the corner stone of the
research methodology of this chapter. This model
was selected for this research because it is widely
accepted and used (Nawaz, Issa, & Hyder, 2007).
In addition, it emphasizes the disparate range of
functions provided by local governments (Shackleton, Fisher, & Dawson, 2004). This model was
also used because of the inappropriateness of a
staged model approach to describe local e-Government as recognized in the literature (Stamoulis, et
al., 2001; Shackleton, Fisher, & Dawson, 2004).
Quircks model (2000) uses the term spaces to
describe the maturity level approached rather than
using a linearly ordered stages.
The original model uses five spaces. As outlined in Quirk (2000), they are: (1) E-Management:
improved management of people (2) E-Service:
includes features that assist residents to seek information about a council service or to get services
that you dont have to pay for it (interface with
customers), (3) E-Commerce: the service to be
granted with any online payment such as credit
card (cash transactions) (4) E-Decision-making:
features informing residents of governance issues
(better informed public interest decisions) and (5)
E-Democracy: is the political dialogue between
citizen and community and public officials. Published work, however, merges the last two spaces
24
into one (e.g. Nawaz, Issa, & Hyder, 2007). In this

research, the original five spaces model was used.
To assess the level of maturity of various governorates websites on each of the five spaces, a content matrix was developed and used to examine the
presence of a number of features. These features
were extracted from three sources: (1) application
of the model on Australian municipalities (Shackleton, Fisher, & Dawson, 2004), (2) MeGap-3
(Public Sphere Information Group, 2010), and
(3) the authors interpretation of the important
features of the Egyptian municipal websites. This
step extended the implementation framework presented in Shackleton, Fisher, & Dawson (2004)
by merging it with the MeGAP model. The third
version of the MeGAP (MeGAP-3), which has 68
distinct web performance dimensions (features),
was used in this study. Features in MeGAP-3 that
did not fit with the Egyptian contexte.g. pets
licenseswere excluded. The final list of features
examined is provided in Appendix A.
Scoring and Sampling

To evaluate the websites, each feature was given a
score of: 1 if it was fully implemented; a reduced
score of 0.5if the feature was partly implemented;
or 0 if the feature did not exist. The score for
each space is the total scores of its features divided
by the total number of features. This score was
multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage.
The assessment was done in two stages. Figure 1 presents the research methodology used to
reach the final evaluation of local e-Government
portals. The second assessment stage was done by
a group of postgraduate students (evaluators) from
Information Technology and Political Sciences
majors. For each governorate, the assessment
was conducted by each evaluator independently
and then results from different evaluators were
compared and discussed in groups to reach a consensus on the scores. Out of the 29 governorates,
25 (86%) had a working website at the time of
assessment in October 2010. Data was collected
Figure 1. Research approach
from a content analysis of the 25 governorates

websites. Therefore, all of the available websites
at the time of this study were represented in the
sample.
RESULTS
This section presents the result of the assessment
of local government websites. First, a comparison
of the total scores is presented followed by the
scores of different spaces, and finally the frequencies of most common and uncommon features
are presented.
Score Comparisons
For the total scores at the aggregated level, the 25
evaluated websites are shown in Figure 2 for each
governorate ranked in a descending order. As the

figure shows, the scores range from 6 to 68 with
an average of 38. Surprisingly, the capital city
(Cairo) came third with 60 while the highest score
was for Ismailiaa less developed governorate
on the northeast of Egypt.
Another surprise was the score of the second
capital of Egypt (Alexandria) which scored 54.
It is worth noting that Alexandria witnessed the
first and most famous Egyptian e-Government
project that involved automating services in all of
its councils. That project was referred to later on
as e-Alexandria and became the role model for
subsequent projects. Lower Egypt governorates
achieved the lowest three scores. Such a result
was also expected due to the specific conservative nature of these governorates. It also indicated
the relatively low attention given by the central
government for improving these governorates.
25
Figure 2. Website evaluation for each governorate
Figure 3 shows a comparison of scores of the

25 governorates with the population on the xaxis, which range from 150,000 (South Sinai) to
7.8 million (Cairo) (UNDP, 2008). In line with

Flak, Olsen, & Wolcott (2005), the figures depict
an important point that the most populous mu-
Figure 3. Comparison of scores for the 25 governorates
26
nicipalities, and presumably those with the largest

IT expenditures or the greatest need to offer services and functions have the most extensive eGovernment solutions.
However, correlation coefficients failed to
show the existence of a correlation between the
population of a governorate and the sophistication
of its website. Matrouh and Ismailia governorates
scored higher than governorates with much
larger populations such as Cairo and Alexandria.
Spaces Comparison
Governorates scores in each of the five spaces are
shown in Figure 4 through Figure 7. As expected,
all websites scored in the e-Management space
(Figure 4) are those intended to include features
that assist citizens navigation through the website. This space is also the first means to attract
citizens to use governorate website rather than
face-to-face or phone conversations. Out of the
25 governorates, 9 (36%) has a score more than
75% and 15 (60%) has a score more than 60%.
While all websites provide services, Figure 5
shows a great deal of variability in scores with
respect to the e-Services space. Some provide

only information about different services and
necessary requirements and documents, while
others provide downloadable forms and enable
the citizen to obtain the service online. This space
includes features which assist citizens to find
information regarding different services provided
by the local government. For the Egyptian context,
this space has an increased importance as it provides information related to housing projects
carried out by the government for low-income
citizens and young families.
Features of the third space, e-Commerce, were
not implemented in any of the governorates. This
space covers the transaction handling involved in
placing orders for services provided through the
website.
Figure 6 showed that all (100%) the websites
have features belonging to the e-Decision making
space. The highest score, however, is 50%. This
space provides information related to governorate operations on strategic and other managerial
levels. Finally, the scores of e-Democracy space
are shown in Figure 7. Surprisingly, a significant
majority (80%) of websites have features belong-
27
ing to this space and its average score like that in

e-Decision making space. Features that provide
means to interact directly with the citizens seem
to have a good deal of attention from the governorates.
Frequencies of Features among

Governorates Websites
Tables 1 and 2 partially list the different features
and the number of governorates websites supporting each feature. The percentage figures reflect a
28
percentage of the total number of governorates.

While Table 1 lists the most widespread features,
which are supported by at least 60% of governorates websites, Table 2 lists features found in few
(0-30%) websites.
Of the 17 features listed in Table 1, 9 fall
under the e-Management space, 4 in the e-Service
space and 3 in e-Decision making space, 1 in eDemocracy spaces, and none falls under the eCommerce space. In other words, the most common functions concentrate on informing citizens
and businesses. However, e-Service begins to
penetrate the Egyptian community where tourism
information and information for investment are
among these features which reflect the attention
given by local government to self revenue generation rather than solely depending on the national budget. As shown in Table 2, the bulk of
e-Service, e-Commerce, and e-Democracy features implemented are not very prevalent in local
governments in Egypt. This could be due to the
belief that citizens would still prefer requesting
local government services in person rather than
online. Essentially, there may not be the demand
for these features at this time.
Table 1. Most common features

Feature
Space
Basic information
E management
24
96
Website navigation
E management
23
92
Information for Businesses and investment
E Service
23
92
News and coming events
E management
22
88
Ownership of Content
E management
22
88
Tourism
E Service
22
88
Contact details for the

governorate
E management
19
67
Directions to offices
E management
19
67
Links to other organizations/businesses
E Decision
making
19
67
Hierarchy
E management
18
72
Emergency Management
E management
18
72
GIS maps
E Service
17
68
Bulletin boards
E Decision
making
17
68
Community information
E Decision
making
16
64
Sense of community
E Democracy
16
64
Searchable Directory
E management
15
60
Job opportunities and

training
E Service
15
60
29
Table 2. Most uncommon features

Feature
Space
man development indicators for each of the governorates. This study ran correlation coefficients
to determine broadly what the impact of human
development indicators were on e-Government
maturity. Existing research indicated that this
was the case for cross national comparisons, and
we wanted to determine if this was the case for
local governments.
Running correlations coefficients for all 17 of
the human development indicators in the United
Nations Human Development (2010) report, found
only four significant correlations which were
worth reporting: the number of Internet subscribers, household electricity, political participation,
and social participation in social organizations.
There was a positive correlation between the
number of Internet subscribers and total maturity,
e-Management, and e-Service delivery. The result
indicated that an increase in the level of total
maturity implied that there was an increase in
number of Internet subscribers. This indicated that
governorates that had more Internet subscribers
had more sophisticated e-Government offerings.
There was a positive correlation for these categories and households with electricity as well.
Essentially, governorates that have households
with electricity tend to go online to government websites, therefore, driving demand for
e-Government.
There was a positive correlation between political participation in the governorate and total
maturity, e-Management, and e-Service. This
implied that governorates that were in communities that had more activist citizenry demanded
Online payments
E Service
FAQs
E Service
Budget Report
E Decision making
Council minutes
E Democracy
Streaming Audio
of Meetings &
Hearings
E Decision making
Streaming Video of
Meetings/Hearings
E Decision making
Online support
E Service
Economic indicators
E Decision making
Correlations between the Different

E-Government Website Spaces
Table 3 provides correlations of the relationship
between each of the four e-Government spaces
examined. What can be noticed is that maturity
in one space is statistically significant with the
other spaces. Essentially, greater maturity for one
space can be translated over to other features;
therefore, e-Government maturity builds upon
itself. E-Government at the local level in Egypt
is all encompassing; local governments that excel
in one space normally excel in all four spaces.
Correlations between Website Space

and Human Development Indicators
Table 4 shows the relationship between website
maturity in Egyptian local governments and hu-
Table 3. Correlations between different types of e-government

E-Management
E-Service
E-Decision Making
E-Democracy
E-Management
.689**
.570**
.618**
E-Service
.689**
.742**
.736**
E-Decision Making
.570**
.742**
.817**
E-Democracy
.618**
.736**
.817**
Notes: N=25; ** sign at the 0.05 level; *** sign at the 0.01 level
30
Table 4. Correlations between e-government scores and human development indicators

Total Score for the
Governorate
E-Management
E-Service
E-Decision
Making
E-Democracy
Number of Internet subscribers (2004/2005)
0.391*
0.410*
0.484**
0.182
0.306
22
22
22
22
22
Households with electricity (%) (2006)
0.453**
0.493**
0.418**
0.277
0.355*
25
25
25
25
25
Political participation
in election voting %
Registered district in
peoples assembly 2000
0.430**
0.360*
0.541***
0.079
0.215
25
25
25
25
25
Social participation
employees in social an
personal services of
labor force (15+) female
2001
0.490**
0.457**
0.435**
0.405**
0.469**
25
25
25
25
25
Notes: * sign at the 0.10 level; ** sign at the 0.05 level; *** sign at the 0.01 level
more from their local government creating more

e-Government maturity.
The most significant correlations, across all
spaces, were found for the level of social participation; a greater level of this activity in the
governorate indicated increased maturity. This was
the most interesting finding in that with a greater
number of the labor force in social participation
jobs this would imply that the governorate had a
greater need to display information online, creating more mature government websites.
FUTURE RESEARCH
There are three avenues of future research that can
be pursued from the results of this study. First,
this study focused on e-Government maturity in
one developing country, it might be interesting
to look at other African nations and compare the
human development indicators to local government maturity. Even though it is evident that this
study did find a limited impact of a relationship
between maturity and human development, there
might be different results found at the local level

in other countries. Second, this study could extend
the analysis by looking at e-Government maturity
comparing local governments and their use of
alternative forms of citizen participation besides
websites. For instance, text messaging, and other
social media platforms, are coming into play and
should be explored in future research. Third, future
research could also explore, through interviews
of government officials in the governorates, the
factors that influence maturity of their web portals.
With a website content analysis, much of the contextual information is lost, since research is done
at the macro level, and does not take into account
the unique circumstances of the governorate.
CONCLUSION
This chapter investigated the maturity of Egyptian local e-Government web sites through a
content analysis of 25 governorates websites.
The results show a variation in maturity levels
of different governorates. Results reveal that
31
Egyptian governorates web sites are still in the

first stage of maturity: cataloguing information
(Reddick, 2004). This stage involves presenting
information about government and its activities
on the web available 24/7 to facilitate saving time
and reducing cost. This result is similar to most
developing countries. This chapter also found
that e-Government maturity was related to social
participation of employees in the governorates.
Essentially, local governments that have a greater
number of social agencies are more likely to have
more advanced e-Government websites. This
could be the result of having greater demand for
e-Government, because these social agencies
interact more with government in these local
jurisdictions. However, there was very limited
evidence for other human development indicators
impacting website maturity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is part of the research project Local
e-Government in Egypt: Integrating Lessons into
Planning, that was financed by a grant from
the International Development Research Center
(IDRC-Canada). The authors would also like to
express their gratitude to H.E. Dr. Ahmed Darwish, former Minister of State for Administrative
Development for his support of this research.
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E-Commerce: The service to be granted with
any online payment such as credit card through a
local government website.
E-Decision-Making: Website features that
inform residents of governorate so they can make
better informed decisions.
E-Democracy: Political dialogue in which
citizens, and the community in general, engage
in the political process.
E-Government Maturity: Examining the
different levels of e-Government website development, progressing in different stages such
as information dissemination, transactions, and
vertical and horizontal integration.
E-Management: Improved management of
people through providing basic operational information for the local government on a website.
E-Service: Websites that includes features
that assist residents to seek information about a
council service or to get services that you dont
have to pay for.
Governorate: Egypt is a unitary country that
is comprised of 29 administrative sections, called
governorates (or municipalities), each of various
sizes, populations, and resources. Governorates
are administratively further divided into cities and
districts which are, in turn, divided into smaller
entities called neighborhoods in cities and villages
in the districts.
Human Development Indicators: Human
development indicators measure the success of a
nation at enlarging peoples choices.
APPENDIX
Model features
No.
Space
Features
Source
Q
Basic information
E-Management
Web site navigation
Contact details for the governorate
News and coming events
Hierarchy
Ownership of Content
New features in the website
Searchable Directory
Directions to Offices/Facilities
10
Emergency Management
11
Multiple languages
12
E-Service
Service details
13
GIS maps
14
Transportation Schedule
15
Education
16
Information for Businesses and investment
17
Tourism
18
Service support/tracking
19
FAQs
20
Online support
21
Tenders and auctions
22
Information Requests
23
Housing
24
Building Permit Process
25
Business License
26
Vital Records
27
Job application/ opportunities and training
28
E-Commerce
29
E-Decision-making
Online payments
Community information
30
Links to other organizations/businesses
31
Bulletin boards
32
Economic indicators
33
Budget Report
34
Strategic Plan
35
Streaming Audio of Meetings & Hearings
36
Streaming Video of Meetings/Hearings
continues on following page
35
Model features continued

No.
Space
Features
Source
Q
37
E-Democracy
Sense of community
38
Forums
39
Scheduled E-meetings
40
Council minutes
41
Citizens rights
Source Legend Q: Quircks (Quirk, 2000; Shackleton, Fisher, & Dawson, 2004) M: MeGAP-3 (Public Sphere Information Group, 2010)
R: Authors (Research Team)
36
37
Chapter 3
A Review of e-Government
Initiatives in Tanzania:
Challenges and Opportunities
George S. Oreku
Tanzania & North-West University, South Africa
Fredrick Japhet Mtenzi
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland
ABSTRACT
Over the last few years, Tanzania has witnessed an increased usage and awareness of e-Government
services. This is welcome news to all stakeholders in ensuring that services offered by the government
and communications between the government and citizens are efficient and effective. Despite the good
news, the reality in most cases has been that the e-Government projects are implemented as technical
projects (mostly employing techno-centric approaches), ignoring other important considerations, with
the implicit assumption that they will be used by the citizens. In this chapter, the authors conducted
a study to assess the quality of provision, level of awareness, and degree of usage of e-Government
services in Tanzania. Further, the study presents the challenges and opportunities which the Tanzanian
Government faces in realizing its e-Government vision. It demonstrates that the e-Government projects
are community projects and their design and implementation must take into account contextual, cultural,
and environmental factors.
INTRODUCTION
E-Government is here to stay. Recent developments in technology, mobile devices, and Internet
communications suggest that more end users will
be connected as time goes on. It is widely accepted
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch003
that in the future, it is going to be extremely difficult to stay disconnected and staying connected
will be less of our choice. The move towards Web
Operating Systems is another interesting development. The confluence of all these developments
will make e-Government a reality in the near future
in all corners of the world. Thus, all countries
A Review of e-Government Initiatives in Tanzania
should understand the e-Government phenomenon (its conceptualization, design, deployment,

implementation, monitoring, and evaluation) and
how important it is for their survival if they are
going to become knowledge economies in the
21st century.
Several studies that have assessed the utility
and Return on Investment (ROI) of e-Government
projects suggest that a more holistic design approach which will take into account issues of
culture, context and environment factors is a
better way of ensuring the probable success
of e-Government projects (Ulrike, Rivett, &
Loudon, 2010; Rahman, 2007). These studies
clearly show that when e-Government projects
are further customized to the requirements of the
country concerned, citizens make use of them
more (Driss Kettani & Mahdi, 2008). It is also
becoming common knowledge that parachuting
these projects from other countries where they
have been implemented successfully leads to a lot
of undesirable results. An example of a successful
implementation of an e-Government project has
been the Madrid Participa initiative (Barrat &
Reniu 2004; 2005). This project has been shortlisted as finalist for the European e-Government
Awards 2007, organised by the European Commission. Another finalist in the same awards was
the ePetitions initiative e-Governmeof the UK
(http://www.epractice.eu/cases/1021). These are
some of successful e-Government projects which,
if migrated to Tanzania, might not be able to take
off successfully due to the difference in the contextual environments of the two areas.
The e-Government projects must result in
change of working habits of civil servants towards
being more responsive and efficient in their public delivery endeavors. This should include the
change in Government processes, workflow and
decision making. While these changes have been
taking place in a lot of African countries as part of
public reform programs, the changes made do not
go far enough to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for the e-Government projects
38
to be successful (Wescott, 1999). These projects

must cater for the local communities, who are
also expected to be involved in all the different
phases of e-Government project implementation
cycle: from strategy conceptualization and formation, design and implementation (Chango, 2007;
Schuppan, 2009). The challenge of involving the
local communities is significant as these communities are characterized by old age population, low
education, lower Information Communication
Technology (ICT) usage, low income levels and
resistance to change as e-Government is not one of
their priorities in order to survive (TGNP, 2006).
The literature is full of supply side of eGovernment projects but very little research has
been done on the demand side. Although this
chapter probed a limited sample space, it intends to
highlight what has been done on both the demand
(the participation of citizens and businesses in the
e-Government hierarchy) and the supply side (eGovernment interventions in Tanzania). Despite
global endeavors to encourage proliferation of
e-Government applications towards an improved
overall public delivery, a majority of citizens in
some countries still prefer the traditional mode of
government. For example, a study aimed at investigating the demand for e-Government services in
Australia and New Zealand found that most people
still prefer non-digital communications with the
government (Gauld, et al., 2010). This is currently
the case in Tanzania. The reasons for this state
of affairs can be attributed to the perception that
one can get a better deal in government services
by availing him/herself to a face-to-face meeting.
Other reasons include corruption, e-Barriers to
participation, and unavailability of e-Government
in most parts of Tanzania. For e-Government to
succeed, there is a need for policy inducement
including its implementation and the putting in
place of various funding models (such as using
the Public-Private-Partnership [PPP] model and/
or getting the financial industry onboard) so
that there are smooth and appropriate payment
options for e-Government services. Significant
discounts may be offered when citizens use the

e-Government services.
Therefore, this chapter presents the challenges
and opportunities which the Tanzanian Government faces in its pursuit to realize its e-Government
vision. Specifically, the chapter explores how Tanzania, with its poor ICT infrastructure, can leverage
on existing mobile phone network to realize the
e-Government initiatives in the framework of a
mobile form of e-Government (m-Government).
The chapter demonstrates that e-Government
projects are community projects and their design
and implementation must take into account the
contextual, cultural and environmental factors.
Level of Usage and Participation

E-Government is a new ICT usage and paradigm which is essentially a multi-dimensional
phenomenon depending on a variety of factors
to develop. Just like any technology that has
just been introduced for the first time for possible adoption by people, e-Government passes
through different phase of transformation (UN
e-Government Report, 2003, p. 13). For the eGovernment project to be successful, especially
when it reaches the transactional phase, Government collaboration with financial institutions
must be fostered. The success of e-Government
also depends on the levels of trust in the different
e-Government systems that can be brought about
by putting in place privacy mechanisms to enhance
citizen data privacy and security. Efforts which
are in place and currently taking place by Apple,
Google, PayPal and Amazon towards secure Internet payment systems may be used to develop
country specific e-Government payment systems.
Tanzania may introduce payment for government
services using mobile devices as part of a much
wider strategy for fighting corruption. The Bank
of Tanzania has been leading the efforts together
with other stakeholders in developing online and
mobile payment systems which are relevant to
the Tanzanian environment.
There have been a lot of studies which have

tried to explain why e-Government projects in
Africa fail (Bwalya & Healy, 2010; Ndou, 2004;
Dada, 2006). Most of these studies have consistently come up with the same reasons such as lack
of funding, poor network infrastructure, poverty,
illiteracy and lack of ICT skills. Other reasons
which are more subtle but have been found to
have significant impact on e-Government projects
such as in the case for Rwanda are a conducive
policy environment, committed political leadership, creative involvement of the diaspora and the
returning home of citizens from the diaspora and
a relative under contested political environment
(Mwangi, 2006).
As efforts to adopt e-Government projects
gather momentum in the quest to offer better services to the citizens and business, the issue of how
to measure the delivery and quality of services must
be paramount. Currently, there are several metrics
which are used to measure and rank countries eReadiness. While these measures have provided a
source of comparative analysis between different
e-Government projects, they are far from being
perfect. Most of these measures are diverse and
difficult to compare, since they assume one size
fits all and ignore environmental, cultural and
contextual factors. The other criticism of these
measures is that they are the first generation metrics
and were designed for the developed countries. For
example, the UN e-Government ranking is based
on a countrys e-Readiness (capacity dimension)
and e-Participation (willingness dimension) and
captures the potential for e-Government that is
already realized (Koh, et al., 2008; United Nations,
2008). The UNs three indicators of e-Readiness are
web measure, telecommunication infrastructure
and human capital. The Web measure captures
the sophistication of a countrys online presence.
Human capital is a composite measure of education derived from the combination of weighted
ratio of adult literacy and academic enrollment
from elementary to tertiary levels. The index on
telecommunications infrastructure includes a
39
variety of indicators such as access to personal

computers, telephone lines, and online population
(Mwangi, 2006). In this research, we recommend
that African e-Government researchers should
work to develop new e-Government metrics which
will encompass African environmental, cultural
and contextual factors.
State-of-the-Art in e-Government
E-Government is defined as a process of reform in
the way governments work, shares information and
delivers services to external and internal clients
(Bhatnagar, 2004). E-Government is one element
in e-Governance; defined as the application of
electronic means in (a) the interaction between
government and citizens and government and
businesses, as well as (b) in internal government
operations to simplify and improve democratic,
government and business aspects of Governance
(Backus, 2001). E-Governance rests on three
complementary elements: Improving government processes: e-administration: Connecting
citizens: e-Citizens and e-Services; and building
interactions with and within civil society.
Thus, e-Government relates not only to the
provision of public services (e-administration), but
also directly to questions of democracy because
it makes new forms of participation in the governance and democractic hierarchy. This can include
new information, consultation, or communication
possibilities regarding the proposed legislation or
planning processes (Schuppan, 2009). Because
these new forms of participation are based on the
usage of ICTs in its broader sense (Internet-based
applications, networking technologies, databases,
electronic workflow systems, and Web 2.0 applications) which lender themselves to all possibilities
of innovation and creativity. Further, it makes
it possible to reduce or eliminate government
fragmentation of public administration because
citizens can have access to public services from
one location. This enables different government
sections to re-organize and integrate their func-
40
tions to provide a one stop shop. Therefore, the

main objective of the e-Government projects
is changing the underlying processes, decision
making structures and procedures by using ICTs
to raise the overall efficiency, effectiveness, and
legitimization of administrative structures and
decisions.
E-Government projects must embrace the
principle of using open source software whenever
possible in order to be successful and reach the
masses. This has the ability of enabling citizens
or private vendors to build or innovate on top of
existing applications. The trajectory of technological development is littered with examples
of ideas which changed the foundations of ICT
because they provided the platform, which allowed other innovative applications to be built
on top. Examples of successful platforms include
apples iPhone, the Web, and the Private Computer
(PC). Once this becomes the core objective, then
e-Government projects will lead the citizens and
businesses in using, creating, extending and innovating more e-Government value added services.
Government 2.0 is not a new kind of government as it encompasses the traditional approaches
of government with an advantaged position of
utilising ICTs to provide a platform for government stakeholders interaction. Government 2.0 is
the use of technology, especially the collaborative
technologies at the heart of Web 2.0, to better
solve the government problems. While these
technologies have the potential to provide a lot of
creative and innovative e-Government solutions,
the solutions may need to be re-designed in order
to leverage on the usage of existing infrastructure
such as low mobile broadband bandwidth and
low-end mobile phone devices. As the role-out of
fiber optic backbone continues in Tanzania, there
is going to be an urgent need to have a strategy that
will prioritize training in Web 2.0 technologies.
In this model, government is a convener and an
enabler rather than the first mover of civic action.
When the government 2.0 provides a platform,
the platform must be littered with innovation and
creativity from as many civilians and businesses

as possible. This is possible because the entry
level bar is lowered to allow mass participation.
When the necessary and appropriate platform is in
place, it is no longer a requirement that citizens be
geeks in order to add value to the e-Government
solutions. Therefore, the spirit of self-reliance and
taking ownership of their e-Government projects
will be nurtured. The social networking platforms
provide a vivid example of what can be achieved
when the barriers to participation are lowered. It
is important to note that open standards must be
used in all government 2.0 platforms so as to foster
innovation. The initiative like the Whitehouses
Data.gov (2010), which is a portal for open APIs
to government data, takes the whole idea of government 2.0 to a new level.
There are a number of lessons government can
learn from the success of computing platforms
as it tries to harness the power of technology
to increase the citizen participation and reduce
social exclusion in the e-Government projects.
The lessons include (OReilly, 2010):

Use Open Standards to spark innovation

and growth
Build a simple system and let it evolve
Design for participation
Learn from your hackers
Data mining allows you to harness implicit
participation
Lower the barriers to experimentation
Lead by example
These lessons are meant to focus government

efforts in creating simple, reliable and public
accessible platforms that transparently exposes
the underlying data for the common good. All
other players should use the platform to create
and constantly re-innovate e-Government solutions. As the platform will be created using open
systems, all players will be able to compete in a
level playing field. The government 2.0 platform
must be designed to facilitate global participation,
transparency and collaboration. This is so because

participatory systems are simple and clear rules
for cooperation and interoperability must be put
in place.
Advantages and Disadvantages

of e-Government
The e-Government projects are not expected to
solve all the ills of government services in the
society. They will create a new participatory
government. These projects can transform the
relationships between government and citizens
(G2C), government and businesses (G2B), and
within and between governments (G2G).
The major advantages that will result from
the development and use of e-Government will
include (Gauld, et al., 2008):
1. E-Government will be a tool for fostering
greater efficiency and better management,
and to enhance transparency and accountability in the delivery of government services
through the use of ICTs.
2. E-Government improves government coordination and collaboration and to make it
more citizen-focused.
3. E-Government will enhance public participation in the affairs of the government and
the democratic process and bring people and
government closer together.
These advantages assume that the use of Internet services such as the Web and e-Mail will be
prevalent. It also pre-supposes that computers will
be easily available and if possible computers will
be found in most of the homes. All these assumptions are farfetched when it comes to developing
countries with poor ICT infrastructure, lack of
reliable electricity, poverty, and lack of political
will and leadership regarding e-Government.
Tanzania has realized and recognized the many
advantages that e-Government has to offer. This
can be substantiated with the recent establishment
41
of the e-Government Agency (eGA) mandated

with the responsibility for the coordination, oversight and promotion of e-Government initiatives
in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies and
Local Government Authorities. The functions of
the Agency are an integral part of the Public Service Reform Programme that aims at improving
service delivery to the public throughout government (Utumishi, 2011).
The Integrated Tax Administration system
(ITAX), which the Tanzania revenue authority
under the ministry of Finance introduced with
the support of the German agency for technical
cooperation, is an example of a successful eGovernment project. The main objective of the
project was to increase and enhance efficiency
in tax income collection. The project managed to
reduce corruption and enabled citizens to go to
one-stop tax offices created as part of the project
(Schuppan, 2009).
Another e-Government project which has
been successfully implemented by the ministry
of higher education through the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) is the Central
Admission System (CAS). The CAS has been
established in order to streamline the admission
of students into higher education institutions in
Tanzania. Through the central admission system,
applicants can submit their applications either
through the Internet or by using the mobile phone
Short Message Service (SMS) system.
Thanks to e-Government initiatives in Tanzania, almost 5,000 government employees have
received computer training through Public Service
Reform Program (PSRP). The Presidents Office
through the Public Service Management was given
the mandate to formulate an e-Government plan
aimed at mainstreaming ICTs in the public service
delivery platforms to enhance work efficiency
and improve service delivery in order to meet the
needs of the public in a responsive and transparent manner. This strategy was aligned with the
National Vision 2025. Under this strategy, the
following systems were implemented:
42
Financial
Management
System,
Management of Land Information and
Survey Registration; Systems (MOLIS)
under the Ministry of Lands and Human
Settlements;
Financial Management System (IFIMS)
under the Ministry of Finance;
Parliamentary Online Information System
(POLIS) under the Parliament; and
Human Capital Information System
(HCMIS).
Being the single most user of ICT, the government determination to utilize ICTs would have
significant impact on the uptake of these technologies in the country. Thus, government set out to
develop the e-Government institutional framework, improve human resource capacity, build
government-wide e-Infrastructure and shared
systems as well as raise awareness of the benefits
of e-government to the public (Shame, 2009).
It is clear that due to the differing administrative characteristics, cultural and economic
environment in Tanzania, a simple transfer of
e-Government concepts would be neither sensible nor successful. Therefore, it is necessary
to take a holistic approach by considering other
factors. Otherwise, there is an inherent danger
that IT solutions may be merely implemented in
existing organizational structures and abused by
bureaucratic elites for their own interests. The
result could mean then that e-Government leads
to more corruption, centralism, and hierarchy, and
to less efficiency in government service (Schuppan, 2009).
THE E-GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVES IN TANZANIA
In this section we discuss in detail e-Government
initiatives in Tanzania. In general, there have been
a lot of e-Government activities taking place in
Tanzania. These e-Government activities are well
designed and have contributed significantly to

national development. Most of the e-Government
webpages in Tanzania contain useful and relevant
information, which citizens may like to know from
time to time. These websites have been designed
at different levels of the government hierarchy,
including the central government, ministries, government agencies, regional authorities as far as the
local governments. However, it is also important to
acknowledge that in most cases, they are a result of
direct implementation of technologies developed
elsewhere and proved to work successfully in a
different environment with different contextual
settings. Generally, these technological solutions
lack the consideration of the local context, culture
and environment character. Therefore, their usage value is suspect at best and the analysis done
in this study clearly demonstrates that very few
individuals use them.
It is common knowledge appropriate usage of
the Internet makes finding and managing information an easier task. By using a standard look
and feel, you know where to find specific types
of information on a webpage, such as contact information, download forms and send comments.
This is the major role of most e-Government
websites built and used in Tanzania. Most Web
sites have no search function to enable users search
for information within the Web site. Almost half
of these Web sites use the private Web portal
because many users can quickly access information in one place.
While English and Swahili are official languages of Tanzania, it was surprising to find out
in our research that most of the government Web
sites were written in English. Some Web sites offer
the ability to change from English to Swahili and
vice versa. However, there were still elements of
English even in webpages written in Swahili. If the
e-Government project is to gain momentum and be
globally used by the majority of Tanzanians, then
deliberate efforts must be made to ensure that Web
sites offer the choice of using English or Swahili
and where possible, the use of tribal languages
must be encouraged. The e-Government portal

for the old city of Fez, which was designed to
provide a graphical user interface accessible to the
majority of citizens especially those who cannot
read and write can serve as template for Tanzania
in its quest for design for all (Imane, et al., 2007).
An example of efforts towards facilitating global
usage of e-Government applications can be seen
in the case of South Africa. Pretorius and Bosch
(2003) describe research efforts being done by
the South African government in enabling computer interactions in indigenous languages. Other
techniques for building e-Government portals for
illiterate people include augmented screen reader,
augmented browser and recordings and speech
synthesis (Powa, 1997).
The Canadian example could be an ideal model
for Tanzania to follow. The Canadian government
was one of the first administrations to adapt to
an online service delivery model and was distinguished early on as one of the most innovative in
the development of e-Government tools. As people
started to connect to the information highway,
they wanted to be able to access more and more
of the important resources required to conduct
their businesses online. These desires were first
answered by the private sector, as companies made
more of their information and services available
to the public through online systems (Roy, 2006;
Accenture, 2005, 2006). As citizens around the
world began experiencing these new possibilities
for easy and convenient information dissemination
and retrieval, they began to expect their governments to provide similar information and services
via the Internet (Roy, 2004). The government of
Canada expressed a goal of becoming a model
user of information technology and the Internet
(Government of Canada, 2008) for its citizens,
and attempted to achieve this goal by making all
governmental information and services available
online.
For the case of Tanzania, our research has
shown that a large number of government websites
are not updated regularly. Therefore, information
43
being provided is either out of date or not relevant

at the time of seeking information. The inability
to keep these websites updated leads to another
problem of dead links. In some cases, these dead
links require re-pointing to the current Web site
but in other cases it may mean that the website
has been decommissioned or suspended for not
paying domain fees.
It is evident that there is enough expertise
available to the Tanzanian government to design,
implement, and maintain the Web sites for the
e-Government initiatives. During our research,
we found Web sites offering different services
to citizens, ranging from publishing Web sites
to near transactional Web sites. For example, the
new Tanzania e-Government Agency is a step
in the right direction towards ensuring that the
benefits of e-Government are realised. The eGovernment Agency (eGA) has the responsibility
for the coordination, oversight and promotion

of e-Government initiatives in the Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and Local
Govemment Authorities (LGAs). The functions
of the Agency are an integral part of the Public
Service Reform Programme that aims at improving
service delivery to the public, throughout government in Tanzania.
One of the most important challenges which
must be solved for Tanzania to move to the next
level/phase of e-Government revolution is online
payment system; Figure 1 illustrates the current
Tanzania e-Government status. In this research, a
number of government Web sites insist on taking
only cash payment. This is counter intuitive in
e-Government because the type of services being offered and advocated are remote. Therefore,
Tanzania has no option apart from working with
Figure 1. A summary of e-government initiatives in Tanzania and future opportunities
44
its financial institutions and either designing a

new payment system or adopting an existing one.
Most of the e-Government Web sites provide
the e-Mail address of the senior person in the
organisation. This is a legacy hang-up where all
official communications must be addressed to the
most senior civil servant. This generation communications tools such as e-Mail or instant messaging must be accompanied with an organisational and cultural change. Because citizens want
services delivered to them as fast as possible and
directing e-Mail communications to the Principal
Secretary of the ministry will not be able to achieve
this objective. The implementation and usage of
the e-Government Web sites are one of the clear
criticisms of the inadequacy of the parastatal
reform programme which was carried out in the
90s.
This research acknowledges the good work
that has been done by private companies in Tanzania in terms of developing mobile solutions and
citizens for embracing the mobile technology.
There are a lot of companies developing mobile

solutions that are offering services which may be
classified as e-Government services. Even if at the
moment they cannot be classified so, they provide
a firm foundation for developing these services
in e-Government initiatives. For example, Table
1 shows some of mobile solutions developed by
DataVision International in collaboration with different ministries and agencies (DataVision, 2011).
The use of mobile phone services such as SMS
is prevalent in Tanzania. Customers use SMS to
communicate with friends, families and work
colleagues. We are now witnessing a huge increase
in the use of SMS to perform work or business
related transactions. These interests are reflected
even in the mobile phone operators who have
developed and rolled out mobile payment schemes.
Table 2 shows examples of mobile phone payment
schemes which use SMS as a core protocol. These
and other mobile payment schemes allow unbanked customers to avail to basic banking services, which are generally called mobile banking.
Table 1. Mobile services used for e-government in Tanzania

Ministry or agency involved
Mobile Service for e-Government
Comments
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development
Check using SMS the appropriate owner of the plot

Check using SMS the Land rent
Increase information access

Saves cost and reduces corruption
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional

Affairs
Check using SMS the court location and date/time

of the case hearing
Improve and increase information

access
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
Check using SMS the list of specialists

Using SMS patients can access specialists weekly
schedule and make appointment
Improved information access

Addresses the problem of specialists
shortage
The National Election Commission

(NEC)
Voters can query the Permanent Voters Registration

Book (PVRB) to confirm their polling station
Improved information access

Improve voters experience
Ministry of Home Affairs Immigration Services
Check the status of passport application using SMS
Improve service
Saves time and money of passport
applicants
Ministry of Infrastructure Development Surface and Marine Transport

Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA)
SMS are used to improve the awareness of passengers on the bus fares. This will help fight fare hiking
during holidays or peak seasons
Increase awareness
Prevent passengers from being
ripped-off by unscrupulous bus operators.
Ministry of Education and Vocational

Training
Access the examination results for form IV and VI

using SMS from NECTA.
Using SMS check the selection status to the Universities from TCU
Improve information access

Exam results can be obtained on
demand
(Source: Authors)
45
Table 2. Mobile payment services offered by mobile operators

Mobile Operator
Name
Technology
Service Description
Vodacom
M-Pesa
Service for sending and receiving money using SMS

It is also being used for political parties fund raising, contributing to football teams
etc.
Airtel (formerly Zain)
ZAP
Service for sending and receiving money using SMS

It is also used for providing M-Banking services
Zain is working with merchants who move around large amount of money
Zain has interlinked with several banks that will allow customers (either merchants
or individuals) to move the virtual money from the Zap platform directly into their
bank accounts.
Tigo
Tigo-Pesa
It is a mobile money transfer service
Zantel
Z-Pesa
Service for sending and receiving money
(Source: Authors)
The Tanzania government also provides a one

stop shop where citizens can communicate with
the government (civil servants). Some of the
services provided in this Web site include the
ability to post opinions, complaints and be able
to track their queries sent to the government via
the Wananchi Portal (Wizara-ya-Habari, 2011).
TV and Radio stations have embraced mobile phone technology services for most of their
programs. The services they provide include
competitions, instant voting and feedback, live
requests, mobile content purchase and interactive
advertising (Push, 2011). It is clear that these are
initial services and it is expected in the future
that more innovative services will be available.
Tanzania TV and Radio stations are using the
Internet (including blogs) and most of them can
be accessed online.
Many companies in Tanzania are now using
mobile phones as a new form of marketing to
enhance brand awareness and increase sales effectiveness. Customers use their phones to search
for products and in few cases purchase the products and services. A lot of advertisements which
customers receive from businesses in Tanzania
are in the form of SMS, MMS and phone calls.
It is convenient and cost-effective for businesses,
and the public gets the benefits of easy access to
the most current information available without
46
having to spend time, energy, and money. These

uses and the growth of mobile technology has
led to the rise of citizen journalism, which is the
act of individuals playing an active role in the
process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and
publishing news.
E-Government Initiatives
and Policies in Tanzania
Public administration in Africa is characterized
by low performance, a weakly developed local
administration, corruption, high levels of overstaffing with low pay scales, as well as unmotivated and unqualified staff (Wescott, 1999). There
is no consensus on the causes of administrative
deficits. However, weak administrative structures
have plagued African efforts in e-Government.
It has resisted meaningful public administration
structural changes which are necessary for the eGovernment to be a success. As a result the political will and the e-championing of e-Government
projects is non-existent in most cases.
In Tanzania, e-Government initiatives are
being taken under the auspices of on-going
cross-sectoral public service reforms, which are
overseen by a Steering Committee chaired by
the Chief Secretary. The Public Service Reform
Programme located at the Presidents Office for
Public Service Management and headed by the

Permanent Secretary for Establishments does
the overall co-ordination of these reforms. The
e-Government Strategy, as approved by Cabinet
in April 2004, is a fast-tracked component among
the ten components of the National ICT Policy,
which Cabinet approved in March 2003. Under
the e-Government Strategys preliminary implementation, a budget of nearly 60 million dollars
was secured for building a countrywide network
infrastructure to link up all key Government offices
on a consolidated platform. Additionally, a new
institutional framework for the infrastructures
governance is to be developed in the near future.
Further, the Tanzania Commission for Science and
Technology (COSTECH) has adopted a strategic
plan 2004; to promote the development and application of ICTs that include the establishment of
regional ICT based networks. The present thinking
on e-Government in Tanzania is about a government using computer technology, software and the
Internet to manage and deliver services in three
overlapping focal points: external interaction,
connecting citizens, and process improvement.
The e-Government strategies typically aim to
generate improvements in one or a combination
of these focal points.
Nevertheless, for the medium-term, the majority of citizens will remain on the wrong side of
the digital divide. They create a substantial need
for a third modelof those who are neither direct
owners nor direct users of ICTs. To benefit from
e-Government, thee citizens will have to rely on
re-intermediation models that insert a human intermediary between the citizen and the growing
digital infrastructure of e-Government (Wilson
& Heeks, 2000).
The Process Improvement and External Interaction focal points, on the other hand, would
appear to be far more promising. Given the large
amounts of money that the government spends on
international procurement and the high levels of
corruption that pervade public institutions, the potential to lower transaction costs whilst increasing
transparency is undoubtedly high and desirable.

The government faces considerable difficulties
in delivering quality services internally (financial
management and control, human resources and
payroll management, providing policy information, standardizing procedures, and so forth),
and opportunities exist in initiatives to enhance
process efficiencies.
Tanzania has launched an integrated Human
Resource (HR) and Payroll systems covering
about 280,000 public servants, reducing ghost
workers and improving control and accuracy.
The government has embraced e-Governance as a
major driving force behind efficient and effective
business transactions in government departments,
particularly in financial procedures and making
the government machinery more transparent to
the public.
Pointing at government financial auditing,
the Chief Secretary said: We are creating a
government that will be operational soon and it
will drastically change the way we do things and
manage our resources. He was addressing the
annual auditors meeting attended by auditors
from government ministries, departments and
related institutions audited by the Controller and
Auditor General. The National Audit Office has
adopted TeamMate software and Audit Command
Language and will be rolled out in all ministries and
regional headquarters. The process is expected to
be completed by the end of 2012. However, given
the high demands placed by e-Government on a
multitude of foundational pillars (which include
prerequisites of infrastructure, appropriate policies, capacity development, ICT applications, and
relevant content that need to be in place to fully
implement e-Government services), progress is
slow. For example, the language of Internet content
poses a significant challenge, underscoring the
importance of having Internet content in languages
that ones citizens can read. It is desirable that
an e-Government portal in Tanzania must be in
Swahili and English.
47
Challenges, Opportunities, Lessons,

and Insights from Some of the
Recent e-Government Projects
Implemented in Tanzania
Central to e-Government success and failure is
the amount of change between where we are
now and where the e-Government project
wants to get us. Where we are now means
the current realities of the situation. Where the
e-Government project wants to get us means
the model or conceptions and assumptions built
into the projects design. e-Government success
and failure therefore depends on the size of the
gap that exists between current realities and
design of the e-Government project. The larger
this design-reality gap, the greater the risk of eGovernment failure. Equally, the smaller the gap,
the greater the chance of success. The Analysis
of e-Government projects indicates that seven
dimensionssummarized by the ITPOSMO
acronymare necessary and sufficient to provide an understanding of design-reality gaps
(e-Government for Development, 2010):

I nformation
T echnology
P rocesses
O bjectives and values
S taffing and skills
M anagement systems and structures
O ther resources: time and money
E-Government has already arrived in Tanzania, though it is essentially an imported concept

based on imported designs. There are growing
numbers of e-Government projects, some of
which are contributing to public sector reform and
delivering gains of efficiency and/or effectiveness. However, this positive picture must be set
alongside significant challenges. E-Government
is only slowly diffusing within Tanzania because
of a lack of e-Readiness for e-Government that
can be charted along seven dimensions indicated
48
above. There is widespread recognition that this

challenge must be met by strategic building of
national fiber-optic infrastructure.
There is another school of thought that attributes the failure of e-Government projects to their
concentration on technology at the expense of social, political, and economical factors (Leela, et al.,
2005). Governments had set very ambitious goals
and are running programmes with considerable
funding for implementation of electronic services
delivery in the public sector. However, quality and
cost of public services and administration have
indeed become important issues. Every citizen
and organization encounters frequent interactions
with public agencies throughout their life cycle;
public service quality affects quality of life, business activities, and political legitimacy; choice of
delivery has to match the already widespread use
of the Internet in private life and business; service
quality counts as an increasingly significant factor
in decisions on business locations; and the costs
and efficiency of public services and public administrations have become key concerns to public
sector reform with pressure to reduce fiscal deficits
and to consolidate the public budget.
From the research done, it has been found that
funding mismanagement still remains the greatest
threat to the attainment of sustainable development
and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in
Tanzania. It inhibits socio-economic development
and denies equitable distribution of wealth and
makes sure some sections of the country remain
worse off in the distribution of national resources.
E-Government is no different when it comes to
funding mismanagement. It is a much big problem
because a significant amount of e-Government
funding is coming from foreign aid. A lot of this
funding is lost through corruption by the civil
servants and e-Government projects end up not
being implemented or not to the required quality.
Analysis of the Performance

of the e-Government
Initiatives and Policies
This study conducted a research which measured
the responsiveness of the government to citizen
and business queries. The rationale of conducting this research was based on the work done by
West (2004) and Gauld (Gauld, et al., 2008). An
e-Mail was sent to all ministries in Tanzania and
measured the time it took to obtain a reply and
the quality of the response.
Evidence from the survey on response rates
from the government was not good. In some cases,
the ministry Web sites did not have e-Mail or
postal addresses. To make matters worse, it was
extremely difficult to arrange a meeting with some
of the ministry or government agencies. One of the
reasons for these difficulties may be the current
state of the government, which is a consequence
of the complex nature of the socio-technical
system represented by the central government.
The structure of governance is complex, with
roles and responsibilities shared between central
government and the local authorities operating by means of a hierarchy of authorities. The
provision of services might thus be shared by a
number of very different entities. The delivery of
e-Government requires significant organizational
and technological transformation in ministries.
Further, it also requires significant procedural and
cultural change within the ministries involved, by
civil servants and citizens.
How are the e-Government

Initiatives and Policies addressing
the Question of Social Inclusion
and Poverty Reduction?
Through capacity building sessions and the launching of an e-forum for knowledge and experience
sharing among practitioners of e-Government in
developing countries in the area of regional and
local development, this initiative works to facilitate
the exchange of information, technologies, and

experiences on innovative e-Government strategies and initiatives. These exchanges and projects
are all community-centered; local participation is
the key approach for involving people in efforts to
improve access to, and quality of, e-Government
services in the region.
Specific strategies need to articulate how
poverty alleviation will occur. For instance,
through enterprise development, micro-credit programmes, social mobilization, pro-poor tourism,
and HIV/AIDS awareness. Priorities reflecting
needs that have been articulated by poor people
themselves usually result in implementation that
is more effective at alleviating poverty than those
that are decided by governments or their advisers.
Access to technologies has to be planned,
organized, and well managed. This is likely to be
some form of shared access, perhaps through existing institutions such as libraries or post offices,
or through the creation of new institutions such
as multi-purpose community telecentres. Sharing
access implies organizational arrangements that
are not present when access is predominantly oneto-one, as in the rich countries, which means that
modalities for shared access will be exclusively
generated in the countries.
Governments typically control half of the ICT
assets in many developing countries. They are a
major employer and a major supplier of public
services. Their role as users of ICTs is critical to
the national response to ICT-based opportunities
and the rate of ICT adoption. They are also responsible for actually implementing policy, which
is different from merely stating it.
The physical infrastructure is concerned primarily with the diffusion of telecommunications
to rural and under-served populations, usually in
some form of universal service scheme. Information infrastructures include existing media that
serve to mobilize information within the country.
E-Government opens opportunities for new forms
of information delivery that can be complementary
to existing flows, without rendering them obsolete.
49
Measures which Tanzania may

consider taking to ensure its
e-Government Initiatives and
Policies are Successful
The level of participation of citizens in government activities can provide one of the measures
on the extent of e-Government in a country. This
can be measured simply as the ability of citizens
to leave comments on a Web site, provide specific
information that may lead for street lights to be
fixed to holding brainstorming sessions between
citizens and government officials.
Our research shows very little evidence on
the use of open standards in Tanzania such as
the Open311 standard (Open311, 2010). This is
a standard used for creating APIs to city services
such as FixMyStreet (2010) and SeeClickFix
(2010), so that third-party developers can create
applications that will work in any city that uses
open standards. Existing communication channels
such as e-Mail and SMS are normally used to
communicate with the local government through
these applications.
The e-Government projects should re-kindle
the spirit of self-reliance (Do It Yourself) by
enabling citizens to undertake projects that the
government may take longer to implement or not
get time at all. The challenge is designing appropriate e-Government projects to achieve the social
inclusion aspirations and at the same time accord
citizens the sense of ownership of their destiny.
The net result of these projects is the appreciation
that everyone in the society has got something to
offer. This can further culminate into increased
citizens involvement the responsiveness of the
government.
Provision of appropriate and robust ICT infrastructure is a key enabler to e-Government projects. Initiatives such as the fiber-optic backbone
which are currently being laid out in Tanzania,
the extensive mobile broadband and work that
have been done by the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) on Internet
50
and broadband services. However, teledensity

for fixed-line has remained extremely low, with
only around 300,000 lines installed and many of
them out of service. The TTCL offers Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) with Basic Rate
Interface, Primary Rate Interface, as well as ADSL
broadband services. Until July 2009, the TTCL
operated a countrywide IP network for local and
international connectivity to the Internet, using a
140Mb/s digital microwave backbone to extend
Internet links and CDMA wireless to reach fixed
services. The Ministry of Finance and Economic
Affairs reported the contribution of the communications sector to the GDP in 2007 to be as high
as 20.1% (Materu & Diyamett, 2010). Since the
connection of the country to the international
fiber-optic cable (SEACOM), new services and
products have been introduced. Currently, the
TTCL offers voice services which include Bongo
Phone, Prepaid Services, Prepaid Calling Card,
Post Paid Services, Rafiki Public Phone, and TTCL
Mobile. Data communication services include
broadband, wireless broadband, Mobile Internet,
Virtual Private Network (VPN) providing dedicated end-to-end connectivity to multiple sites in
different geographical locations with scalable and
guaranteed bandwidths of 64Kbps to 100Mbps,
and leased digital and analogue circuits.
The mobile telephone market is the fastest growing sector, with more than 17 million
subscribers in a population of about 43 million,
has the potential to significantly contribute in
the provision of e-Government services. The
major operators are Vodacom, Zain, TiGO and
TTCL-mobile, Zantel-mobile, and Sasatel. The
penetration level is only around 30%, implying
that there is still room for growth (Materu &
Diyamett, 2010).
Human resource training at all levels involving
e-government projects must be undertaken at the
university level, technical level, secondary school
level, and vendor specific vendor. There are a lot
of institutions offering ICT training in Tanzania,
ranging from primary schools to universities.
This kind of training provides an awareness and

understanding to e-Government implementation
issues. We are not aware of any specific institutions in Tanzania that offer e-Government design
and implementation courses. It is also important
to note that, some of the ICT trainings (especially
vendor specific such as CISCO or Microsoft) are
too expensive for the majority of Tanzanians to
afford. It is the responsibility of policy makers
and regulators to enact policies and laws which
will alleviate this problem.
As mentioned above, m-Government is an
extension or supplement of e-Government and
presents itself as a potential framework for advancing the e-Government agenda. M-Government
is entails the provision of information and other
public services to government employees, citizens, businesses, and other organizations through
mobile device platforms. M-Technology has
emerged as the next wave in the IT revolution as
its advantages come from two unique characteristics: mobility and wireless. Other services
that make it so useful are location based services
and personalized services as mobile devices are
usually used by one person. The phenomenal
growth of mobile phone usage in Tanzania makes
m-Government a serious contender in offering
e-Government services to the masses. Finally,
m-Government can open up additional channels
for citizen participation, thus increasing constituent participation.
The term m-Government is considered by
some to be old and they ascertain that people
should strive towards ubiquitous government
(u-Government) which will be able to connect
everyone and everything, anytime, anywhere
(Silvana & Sheng, 2008). Is it worth mentioning,
though, that the concept of ubiquity is embedded in m-Government as the mobility platform
brought about by its usage also comes with it
pervasiveness and ubiquity. Despite its great potential and positive expectations, m-Government
is still in its earliest stage of development and its
applications are limited. Challenges of using m-
Government include the difficulty of integrating

and interoperating with public legacy systems,
security and privacy concerns, broadcast signal
over public airwaves that can be hacked, and the
size of the mobile devices, which makes them
easy to be stolen. In Tanzania, the mobile phone
infrastructure has reached its utilization capacity
and unless deliberate measures are taken attempts
to innovate services on top of this space will fail.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
OF E-GOVERNMENT
PERFORMANCE ON EAST AFRICA
COUNTRIES (EAC) STATES
E-Government implementation, in different
countries, implies different objectives and levels
of transformation in public services (Weerakkody,
et al., 2007). In our comparison, we will be focusing on a holistic framework for e-Government
implementation and initiatives in East African
Community (EAC). This comparison was synthesized from the literature review and a ground
survey was taken.
Apart from the few articles sited in this chapter, very little research has been published on
e-Government level and status in East-Africa
and Tanzania in general. The UN annual eGovernment readiness survey has been published
at regular intervals since 2003. The Survey aims
to identify and help address disparities among
countries around the world; especially, in support
of a move towards a more inclusive information
society, as envisaged in the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS). The Survey tracks
the progress of the member states in implementing
e-Government programmes. It compares their state
of e-Government readiness via a benchmarking
tool and measures the use of the Internet and
the World Wide Web (WWW) for the provision
of information, products, and services; plus the
level of telecommunication and human capital
infrastructure development; yet this did not give a
51
clear picture of the state of the art in e-Government

as far as EAC counties are concerned.
Another survey, also with a supply side focus is presented by Kaaya (2004). The research
conducted a content analysis study to determine
the status of government Web sites of three East
African countriesKenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The results were matched with a four-stage model
of e-Government growth based on the status of
Web sites from simple to sophisticated features.
The study identified 98 government Web sites
including 33 for Kenya, 37 for Tanzania and 28
for Uganda. More than 83% of the identified Web
sites were established between 2000 and 2003, and
their creators were still in 2004 undergoing the
learning experience. The study concluded that all
of the East African Web sites are at the first and
second stages of Web site development and correspondingly e-Government maturity. One of the
theoretical and practical implications of the study
is a move toward a standardized use of the Web site
evaluation attributes among various researchers
to gauge stages of e-Government implementation.
These attributes can also serve as indicators for
individual governments to strive toward advanced
stages of e-Government implementation.
Cellular phones and other mobile devices
have the potential to transform the public service offering if governments are able to come
to terms with the changing face of technology
and innovate with a citizen-centric mindset.This
technology usually comprises sub-categories
of e-Government, such as m-Government, uGovernment, and g-Government (GIS/GPS applications for e-Government). For the Tanzanian
case, the m-Government seems to pick up with
the increase number of the use of mobile phone
users in the country. According to the Tanzania
Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA),
the total number of mobile phone subscribers was
to reach 18 million by June 2010, which is said
to generate the average revenue per user surged
to $66 during the second quarter of the yeara
figure that means that subscribers spend an average
52
of $16 per month. According to official statistics

from TCRA, Tanzanian subscribers spend the
second highest amount on mobile phone use in the
region, behind Kenya where the average revenue
per user is pegged at around $18. In Uganda, the
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) stands at $10,
with an estimated 10 million users (http://www.
cn-c114.net/576/a523982.html).
E-Government portals and platforms are also
exiting in Tanzania. In the development of the public sector or private sector portals and platforms, a
system is created that benefits all constituents. To
develop these public sector portals or platforms,
governments have internally developed and
managed, and some have outsourced, or signed
a self-funding contract from private sectors. The
self-funding model creates portals that pay for
themselves through convenience fees for certain
e-Government transactions, known as self-funding
portals. Tanzania early players in this space include
www.tanzaniagateway.org and www.erepublic.
org/egovincountriest/tanzania.html.
Social networking is also an emerging area
for e-Democracy in Tanzanian society. This
is through news papers which may be online.
The social networking entry point is within the
citizens environment and the engagement is on
the citizens terms. Proponents of e-Government
perceive government use of social networks as
a medium to help government act more like the
public it serves.
Some of institutions and colleges have attempted putting some e-Government courses in
their syllabi. The training has been going on at
different universities such as the University of
Dodoma (UDOM), Institute of Finance Management (IFM), St. Augustine University of Tanzania,
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), and
Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC). Courses
such as Understanding e-Government for public
servants, planning, designing, and evaluating
citizen-centered e-Government initiatives: approaching decisions and developing e-Government services for citizens are being taught. The
aim is to introduce the Tanzanian e-Government

initiative which will build a Community of Practice
for developing, sharing, and applying concrete
solutions for e-Governance, with specific focus
on Tanzanian society. The emphasis is as much
on solving concrete Tanzanian problems as it is
on establishing best practices in the field
Elsewhere in the EAC, the government of
Kenya recognized the importance of ICT by
launching an ambitious three year (2003-2007) eGovernment strategy. The e-Government strategy
was designed to achieve the following set of goals
and objectives: to efficiently deliver government
information and services to the citizens; to promote
productivity among public servants; to encourage
participation of citizens in government; and to
empower all Kenyans in line with development
priorities outlined in the 2003 2007 Economic
Recovery Strategy for Wealth Creation (Waema &
Mitullah, 2007). When the first national ICT policy
was approved in March 2006, the overall goal of
e-Government was to make the government more
result-oriented, efficient and citizen-centered.
On the development of e-Government Strategy,
Kenya published her e-Governance Strategy in
March 2004, while Uganda secured a grant of
US$ 318,000 from the United States Trade and
Development Agency to undertake a feasibility
study for an Integrated ICT Network for government related functions (e-Government).
Kenya has been implementing a broad-based
public reform program partly founded on an
e-Government vision, which was officially
articulated in 2004 (GOK-EGS, 2004), 2006
(GOK-NICT, 2006), and 2007 (GOK-FIP, 2007).
The policy documents detailed a number of initiatives aimed at improving communication within
government agencies, between government and
business, and between government and citizens.
The national ICT policy suggests that the focus
should be on re-defining the relationship between
government and citizens with the objective of
empowering them through increased and better
access to government services. This will have
the effect of making the government more result

oriented, efficient, and citizen centered. The
other policy document, the 2007 Draft Freedom
of Information Policys explicit vision is to make
Kenya a knowledge-based society. This is to be
partly achieved by ensuring maximum access
by all Kenyans to information held by public
authorities to enable the country to transition to
a knowledge-based society (GOK-FIP, 2007).
ICT units in each ministry are charged with the
responsibility of customizing and overseeing the
implementation of the e-Government strategy
at ministry level. The Government of Kenya
has allocated approximately US$ 50 Million in
its national budget for operationalisation of the
e-Government strategy for a period of 5 years.
The Uganda e-Government readiness draft
report was discussed by core stakeholders in
2004 including the Uganda National Council
of Science and Technology, National Planning
Authority, Office of the President, Ministry of
Works, Housing and Communications, Ministry
of Local Government, the Academia, Private Sector, and Development partners. The Ministry of
Works Housing and Communication Department
commissioned an e-Government strategy and action plan that aims at government agencies to
separately and collectively lift their performance
and deliver better results in the E-Government
Strategy and Action Plan (2004).
Participation should be taken in the strictest
sense of e-Government project only. Not the broad
sense of involving everyone and ending having
the progress bogged down by lack of consensus.
The rationale of investing in e-Government must
substantiated with regard to priority between
competing projects, which may be more relevant
to the country in the quest to reduce poverty.
For example, one of the shining examples of
e-Government in Eastern Africa is Rwanda. Its
success is a confluence of four factors associated
with the presence of a relatively under contested
policy environment, an activist political leadership
at the highest levels of the government, emigrants
53
and refugee returnees, and networking with

strategic epistemic communities. The Rwandan
political elite made deliberate decisions to make
the country regional communication hub. The
other factors which exist in Rwanda are more or
less the same in most of the sub-Saharan countries
(Mwangi, 2006).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
FOR E-GOVERNMENT
IMPLEMENTATION IN TANZANIA
The problem noted with EAC countries is that
there is frequently a mismatch between the current and future systems, due to the large gap in
the physical, cultural, economic, and various other
contexts between the software designers and the
place in which the system is being implemented.
These are summarized below:

Hard-Soft Gaps: the difference between

the actual technology (hard) and the reality of the social context (people, culture,
politics, etc.) in which the system operates
(soft).
Private-Public Gaps: the difference between the private and public sectors means
that a system that works in one sector often does not work in the other, due to gaps
between systems designed for the private
sector and the reality of the public sector
into which the system is transferred.
Country Context Gaps: the gap that exists when trying to use the e-Governmentsystems for both developed and developing countries, which arises from the gap
between a system designed for one country
and the reality of a developing country into
which the system is transferred.
It is this idea of gaps, as conceptualised by

Heeks (2002), that can be seen as a framework
upon which almost all available literature on the
54
failure of e-Government in developing countries

is based.
Taking the EAC context, the partner states do
not have the necessary infrastructure to provide
all the desired services electronically to all the
citizens living in every nook and corner of the
states. Higher bandwidth is a constraint due to lack
of funds to invest in robust ICT infrastructures.
The power supply is erratic and hardly reaches far
away rural areas making it difficult, especially for
local government offices. Though most of the government offices have telephones, expensive call
charges restrict their use. Computers are mostly
stand-alone and not networked in government
offices. However, some ministries in the partner
states with necessary enthusiasm and access to
funds have gone well ahead in networking and
providing the intra-office electronic communication. Internet access is limited to a few individual
officers in the government offices, and it is not
preferred as a regular mode of communications,
with most official communication still done in
the conventional paper-based system. Some point
out the lack of necessary legal framework (like
suitable amendments in the evidence Act) as a
hindrance to large-scale use of e-mail as a valid
mode of official communication.
A successful e-Government initiative demands
favorable policies and legal environments, and
the EAC partner states are in dire need to create
such an environment. A situational analysis of
e-Readiness in terms of the aspects discussed
in Oreku et al. (2009) indicates a number of
strengths and weaknesses that exist in these
countries. While a country like Uganda has one
of the most deregulated telecom markets in Africa
with a highly rated regulator (UCC, 2004), other
partner states need to take a number of steps to
harmonize the e-Government enabling climate in
the EAC region.
Schuppan (2009), addresses the different
institutional and cultural contexts which must be
considered when implementing e-Government
in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although e-Government
is a global phenomenon, simply transferring IT

solutions and related organizational concepts from
developed to developing countries seems inappropriate. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) model can be adopted as an example for
EAC initiatives of a successful e-Government
implementation.
The following actions and policy options are
identified as potentials for cooperation in promoting e-Government in Tanzania:
a. Developing a future work program to seek
the commitment of e-Government initiatives
and to facilitate talks and activities on e-Government in partnership with private sectors,
non-profit organizations, and many other
international and regional organizations;
b. Performing stocktaking activities on relevant
projects and programs in Tanzania, and
leveraging the results, developing a reference model for Tanzania in implementing
e-Government.
c. Developing research programs for feasibility
studies to enhance information infrastructure, especially in developing economies
within Tanzania;
d. Forming active research groups to study the
obstacles of e-Government implementation,
particularly paying special attention to digital
divide, equal opportunities, and capacity
building when designing Tanzania-wide
e-Government initiatives; and
e. Selecting areas of government services that
are common to all members and designate
them as priority e-Government applications
to be jointly developed for implementation.
Within the context of the Tanzania parliament,
an e-Parliament initiative will strengthen the
networking between the legislators in the country
and facilitate exchange of information on various issues. Besides supporting the harmonizing
efforts of Tanzania with respective national legal
provisions, e-Parliament will provide a platform
for pro-poor development advocacy across the

country. The Parliamentary Online Information
System (POLIS) is a well system, which provides
an e-Parliament system of the proceedings and
publications of the Parliament of Tanzania and it
includes the full text of Parliamentary motions.
The system also provides flexible and user-friendly
forms to facilitate the searching of contents. The
Parliament of Tanzania ensures timely updating
of the contents of the POLIS so as to ensure that
different stakeholders and the general public are
well informed of the activities of the National Assembly (Polis, 2010). Table 3 shows the different
factors that determine effective e-Government
development.
The major strategies leading to successful
launching of the Tanzanian e-Parliament will need
an action plan to:
1. Provide Web portals for each of the members
where their constituents make access information on development programmes and
interact with their Members of Parliament
(MPs).
2. Provide a common discussion network to
reach consensus on various national and
regional issues.
3. Encourage and support inter-parliamentary
cooperation in pursuit of country integration
with increased awareness and knowledge of
Tanzanias objectives, protocols and procedures. This in turn will facilitate sharing of
information and building of a knowledge
base of the parliamentarians and staff.
4. Facilitate implementation of Tanzania initiatives through advocacy and awareness
building among citizens by mobilizing civil
societies such as women, youth, academia,
as well as the private sector.
5. Develop training programmes for parliamentarians and their staff on the use of ICT
tools such as e-mails, e-Discussion, Web
sites, and online polling.
55
Table 3. Factors for being e-government ready/determinants (total population 43,187,823 [NBS projection for 2010])
Potential determinants
Percentage number of citizen
Comments
Fixed telephone lines
300,000 lines
The domestic fixed-line telephone network is

less than 1 connection per 100 persons
Mobile cellular phones
three operators control more than 87% of Tanzanias mobile market
Tanzania is full of cell phone companies. Tigo,

Zain, and Vodacom are the big
three along with Zantel.
Computer access
Availability of personal computers is still very

low in Tanzania: less than 1%
Access is not
only for home computer currently. One thing
that separates
Tanzania from others is the low rate of accessibility to the rest of the world
Internet access
Tanzania has only 1.3 percent telephone and

Internet user
Penetration as compared to 6.7 for Africa.
limitations of ICT and Internet is that there is

a low level of Internet penetration and patterns
of use
Tariffs
Internet tariff
as %
of GNI
501.4
With the coming of new Telephone companies

internet tariffs have been lowered bu50 per cent
for customers who wish to access the Internet
anywhere in the country.
ICT literacy
It is from 2.5% in 2008
Is fairly big even though Teachers and Colleges,

has been challenged in improving English
literacy and improving general
education of its students.
Internet usage
According to figures provided ITU in 2010,

there were 676,000
While the female share of the Internet caf users

is close to 40% in the urban areas, it is only
25% in rural areas, indicating that there is a
gender digital divide.
Digital opportunity index (DOI)
2005/2006: 0.15 (ITU)
extremely low
Digital access index (DAI)
0.5
extremely low
Backbone access
At present, the Internet penetration in Tanzania

is only 1%; therefore we assumed only 0.2% of
the population would receive home broadband
after the ICT backbone is established.
The growing market for telecommunication

equipment and services, coupled with the growth
of information technologies, has resulted in tremendous growth of the ICT sector in Tanzania.
In order to implement the Tanzania e-Government strategy, Tanzania should adopt a Protocol
or directive on the promotion of e-Government
within the country. The directive will set out to
create a framework that will facilitate, in the medium term, a significant increase in investment
on ICT infrastructure at the national level. This
will constitute an important milestone in shaping the regulatory framework for e-Government
in Tanzania. The protocol or the directive on the
promotion of e-Government is important because
Tanzania is coming from a very low base in terms
of the necessary and sufficient conditions as summarized in Table 3.
56
The application of ICT to government may

encounter legal or policy barriers. The government must ensure that national laws are updated to
recognize electronic documents and transactions.
They must take proactive steps to ensure that policies support rather than impede e-Governance.
Policy makers implementing e-Government must
consider the impact of law and public policy. Otherwise, any initiative will encounter significant
problems. The main objective of the law must be
to define and specify the basis necessary for the
successful development of e-Government legal
regulation in order to ensure legal stability and
continuous state policy on the process of creating

e-Government.
It is quite evident that with such a wide disparity
in access to technology throughout the world, a
solution in a country with high levels of connectivity will not necessarily work in a country with
extremely low levels. This lack of infrastructure
can cause problems if an e-Government model
from a developed country is adopted in its entirety
by a developing country. In situations such as this,
it may be more appropriate to look at low-tech
solutions that fit in with the existing infrastructure
(Cecchini & Raina, 2004). The Digital Divide is
ever present, and there is a large gap between the
educated elite who can afford technology and the
uneducated poor who cannot (Basu, 2004). The
ability to participate in e-Government is not just
within countries but between the developed and
developing regions of the world, as is illustrated
by the following examples.
Proposed Implementation Plan

for a Public Centric e-Government
Project for Tanzania
At the end of the day, government as an e-Government platform provider will be stripped down
to the bare essentials. It will build the essential
infrastructure, create core applications that demonstrate the power of the platform and inspire
developers and other power users to develop
innovative applications. At this stage, the role of
the government changes to the one of maintaining the rules that affords developers to keep on
innovating. It is important that the government
does not end up competing with the developer
community, as doing so will result in the innovation being suffocated.
The Internet is the public space in the modern
world, and through it governments now have the
opportunity to better understand the needs of their
citizens and citizens may participate fully in their
government. Information becomes more valuable as it is shared, less valuable as it is hoarded.
Open data promotes innovation, increased civil

discourse, improved public welfare, and a more
efficient use of public resources. By embracing
the eight principles, governments of the world can
become more effective, transparent, and relevant
to citizens lives (OpenGovernmentData, 2007).
Government data shall be considered open if it is
made public and follows the following principles;
it is complete, primary, timely, accessible, machine
processable, non-discriminatory, non-proprietary,
and license-free.
As the use of e-Government matures in Tanzania, the government will be required to enact
favourable policies that will encourage the financial industry to invest in appropriate e-Payment
models. Robust and effective e-Payment models
are an integral part of a transactional oriented
e-Government, and they will encourage the private sector to develop robust e-Government applications to advance appropriate e-Government
development. The ripple effect of e-Payment
would rub off in other areas such as education,
social responsibility, and democracy.
Most local authorities face a number of challenges in realizing the potential of e-Government.
The challenges include: delivery of infrastructure
and services, financial management, institutional
and legal framework, human resource capacity,
and managing rapid growth (Waema & Mitullah,
2007).
There is ample evidence of extensive usage of
ICTs in the 2010 general election. It is impressive
to note that ICT was utilized in innovative ways
such as reaching out to voters using the Web, fund
raising, tallying and announcements of election
results, and mobilization and conducting voters
education.
The e-Government focuses on the utilization
of ICTs to deliver government services such as
reducing the communication costs with citizens,
reducing government publication and distribution costs through online publication; greater
sharing of data within government and between
governments and other such stakeholders as
57
NGOs, international agencies, and private sector firms. E-Government is part of other closely
related efforts in digital government. The term
e-Governance characterizes efforts to use ICTs for
political purposes and the organization of political
activity in a country. The challenges and issues of
implementing e-Government systems will also be
relevant to implementing ICTs to build systems
to support e-Governance.
PPP is an approach which has worked in a
lot of areas where the government does not have
enough capital or skills to undertake a project. In
the case of Tanzania, there are several PPP projects
in e-Government.
During the first phase of the e-Government
implementation, the services can be offered free of
charge. Moreover, this can be extended to giving
significant discount on government services that
will encourage citizens to use them. For example,
offering significant discount on all taxes or licenses
paid using any of the e-Government services. It
is important here to develop innovative applications which can be used by citizens using mobile
phones or basic Internet access.
E-Government projects can be successful
provided there is a buy-in from the political elite.
In this case, politicians should take a lead and
be the e-Champions. E-champions can be at the
political, organizational, and community levels,
which will facilitate smooth implementation of eGovernment projects. This approach is expected to
allow the identification of local needs to be taken
into account in the design and implementation
of e-Government projects. The positive effect of
this approach will be the increased use of local
resources such as personnel and equipments.
One way for Tanzania to accelerate the roll-out
of an e-Government project is to develop a set of
best practice implementation scenarios, such that
projects can jumpstart their implementation. For
this to succeed, the use of open standards and
templates must be encouraged. The need for different projects to foster the sharing of information
58
and expertise would enhance and speed up the

learning process.
The establishment of the Tanzanias e-Government Agency (eGA) is an important step in
achieving the e-Government dream. The eGA is a
body that will constantly monitor, provide capacity, advocacy, offer advisory services, leverage best
practices, both locally and internationally, build
connections and establish partnerships (especially
PPPs), provide mentoring, engage in research,
and provide a platform for others to do so, and
consult the government. The eGA must be able to
garner support and work with all stake-holders.
Its formation has provided a single one-stop shop
on e-Government which will greatly help in addressing to challenges faced during design and
implementation of e-Government projects.
When e-Government projects are implemented, the assumption is that of a more responsive
government. That means citizens are able to get
answers from their queries in an efficient and
timely manner. There are several measures which
have been proposed in measuring the response
rate of the government. In this study, government
Web sites were visited and checked if they had an
e-Mail address for citizen to submit their queries.
We noted that the use of blogs, social networking
such as Facebook was not widespread. For the
government and its agencies to be responsive
we checked if they had an e-Mail address, postal
address, telephone number, use of blogs, and incorporation of social networking services in their
webpages. The quality of responses is an important
parameter which warranties future research.
The concept of communities of practice
groups whose common interest and regular
interaction result in shared learningprovide a
lever to understand success in multi-stakeholder
e-Government projects. Productive engagement
takes time; relationships must be built, and trust
must be established slowly in diverse groups. Tanzania should start thinking about e-Government
projects as communities of practice rather than
individual contracts. Crucially, this will enable
Tanzania to move away from a situation in which

the reality of financing is based on delivering a
one-size-fits-all system, which assumes a homogenous user base (Rivett & Loudon, 2010).
The information that is available and provided
by the e-Government projects must be current and
relevant to the target population. For example, at a
local government level, the information provided
can range from news items to market analysis of
available food produce. In order for the information to be current and relevant, users must be
allowed to add content in a variety of ways, such
as wikis and blogs.
METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS

This research was first based on a survey of papers
that focused on e-Government implementation
and were published in scholarly or refereed proceedings, as well as policy and implementation
reports produced by government and other institutions. Published journal articles and conference
papers were identified through search of pertinent
electronic databases. We reviewed important
e-Government policy documents. It was found
that there are policy documents that have specifically been designed to encourage e-Government
development in the EAC. A further review of the
documents revealed that the approach and status
of e-Government implementation is different for
each of the individual countries.
The other research instruments used for this
work were questionnaires, in-depth interviews,
observations, and analyses of Web sites. The
questionnaires were sent to government officials
and parastatal organizations who are dealing
with e-Government or Information Technology
(IT). Specifically, respondents included IT/Information Systems (IS) Directors, IS Managers,
Departmental Heads, consultants, and other eGovernment experts. The Survey questionnaires
incorporated more information about the demand
side of government to citizen interactions (G2C).
It also included some aspects of government to

businesses interactions (G2B), as well as the
issue of e-Government leadership. A total of 78
questionnaires were sent out.
In order to measure the response rate when
citizen request government services, we composed
e-mails and letters, which were sent to ministries
and parastatal organizations and measured the
amount of time it took to get a reply. The response
rate to our e-mails and letters was very low. For
example, some could not even return the e-mails
claiming not to have a department involved in eGovernment after physical follow up. One of the
plausible explanations may be the e-mail addresses
given to the public are the e-mail addresses of
senior officials, such as permanent secretaries. We
noted that civil servants were always suspicious
that the information they were providing would
have gone to incriminate them or have a negative
effect in their work.
We visited and carried out analyses of the Tanzania government central website, all ministries,
and parastatal organizations. We also visited and
analyzed the Web sites of Tanzania embassies
abroad and regional administration websites. The
total number of websites we visited was 127. Most
of these Web sites were characterized by lack of
update information, dead links, blank webpages,
and in some cases webpages have been hacked or
suspended because they had not paid the annual
fees to the hosting company. Our analysis showed
that most of the Web sites were at the publishing
stage, with very few offering interactive services.
The Tanzania Revenue Authority Web site was one
of the very few which offered basic transaction
services. The Kenya and Uganda government
central websites were analyzed as well and found
that they also faced similar problems to Tanzania.
In-depth interviews with key personnel at the
Ministry of State involved with the e-Government
initiatives were conducted. We also conducted an
interview with three officials of the newly established Tanzanias e-Government Agency (eGA).
We carried out an interview with one staff at the
59
e-Government Academy of Tanzania (eGAT),

which is a training program aimed at providing
comprehensive knowledge and skills to enhance
successful implementation of ICT projects in public sector at the Institute of Finance Management.
Other interviews were carried out at the Tanzania
Public Service College, Magogoni with officials
involved in e-Government initiatives.
In the private sector, we carried out in-depth
interviews with IT managers and heads of departments of the four Tanzanian mobile phone
operators: Airtel, Tigo, Vodacom, and Zantel.
The role of mobile phone operators in a country
like Tanzania, where the telecommunications
infrastructure is poor, is very important. These
companies are going to form the backbone of a

successful e-Government venture in Tanzania.
At the moment these companies are developing
mobile applications, which may form the basis
of developing full fledged mobile e-Government
applications. Some of the applications on offer
now include ring tones, mobile business advertisements, and religious songs download. Two
employees of DataVision International, who have
been developing e-Government mobile applications (Table 1), were interviewed.
Higher learning institutions are important in
the preparation of future employees who will
implement the e-Government initiatives. Therefore, several IT and Computer Science curriculum
Table 4. Example of e-government web projects implemented in Tanzania

Project Name
Kinondoni e-Government project
Aligning Records Management

with e-Government and Freedom
of Information in East Africa
Local Government Service Commission (Phase 2), Tanzania
Problem
Employees tend to feel uncomfortable about ICT or fear it since they

might
feel inadequately prepared for the
change
Not stipulated
to improve the utilisation of public

sector resources in local government
through the provision of in-service
accountancy and financial management training to accounting and audit
staff and also to Executive Directors
e-Government
solution
The approach followed was to

involve user groups in early and
designing phase.
Judicial records management

within e-government and freedom
of information
local government support
Implementation
The active participation of user

groups definitively contributed in a
fundamental way to the success of
the overall project.
Project Duration was suppose to

be (months)12 but it has been Extended to (6 months). The planned
completion date is now 2011/09/01
This is the second phase of the project assistance to the Local Government Service Commission, Tanzania
(LGSC).
Results
This has proved to be very successful, reaching a good resonance

between the employees
None
None
Wider development impact
Wider development impact: A policy

of openness and transparency
The Central Government did recognise the importance of an independent ICT
unit and the Information, Education and Communication Unit of
PORALG was
established at the beginning of 2005.
It will allow International Records

Management Trust together with
African researchers to assess the
current status of judicial records
management within e-Government
and freedom of information initiatives, and provide East African
governments with guidelines for
incorporating best practices in records management into current and
planned e-government, information
and communication technology
(ICT) and freedom of information
initiatives.
Principal elements of the Project are:

i) corruption surveys and diagnostics
(in countries where these are not
already underway); ii) support to
the formation of broad civil society/
government/ parliament/private
sector coalitions and action planning,
using corruption surveys, workshops
and seminars as a catalyst; and iii)
applied research and dissemination
in selected areas (e.g. parliamentaryexecutive relations, public outreach
campaigns) based on lessons learned
from World Bank and other agency
experience.
60
from five universities in Tanzania were reviewed

to see how their courses are geared in preparing
their students in modules that will enable them
to design and implement the next generation of
e-Government applications for Tanzania. In all
the curricula that were reviewed there is no eGovernment module being taught, but they teach
modules which offer skills students will require
to implement e-Government applications.
Table 4 presents the parameters looked at when
analyzing e-Government projects implemented in
Tanzania and reported in this chapter.
It is expected that contributions from all users
of the e-Government projects will be respected.
In this research, the strong negative criticism
which has been coming from the academic research
was taken note of. While it is agreeable that
criticism from the academic community is welcome, it may end up doing more harm than assisting to improve the status quo. Academic research must be geared towards providing solutions
that are practical and relevant to the society.
The Tanzania government administrative
structure is top-down; meaning that every action
must get an approval from the centre. There is a
strong perception of power at the centre, which
makes decentralization an enemy. E-Government
is supposed to break bureaucracy, which is not
desirable to many government workers. To many
of them, bureaucracy means power, not mentioning the extra income that comes with it.

In order for the e-Government projects to be a
success, more Tanzanians must have the means
to access high speed broadband Internet connections. The current state of play shows that Tanzania
has fewer Internet subscribers when compared to
Kenya and Uganda is disappointing (Athumani,
2010). Clearly, the numbers show that Tanzania
was unprepared to take advantage of the arrival of
the fiber optics broadband. There is an urgent need
to carry out research to establish the number of Internet subscribers. This culminates into designing
favorable policy interventions that will encourage
private sector investors to take part in the role out
of Internet and the whole e-Government project.
The implementation of e-Government projects
in Tanzania assumes that citizens have or can
access ICT equipment at a reasonable cost. This
is not the case to most Tanzanians. Therefore, it
may be plausible to adopt the idea of Community
Information Centers (CIC) from India and Ghana
(Schuppan, 2009). In these two countries the CIC
are equipped with PCs connected to the Internet,
printers, fax machines, photocopiers, phones,
televisions and radios. A mobile version of the
CIC can provide more or less the services and be
used to raise awareness among citizens.
The current practice, in which Web sites are
being developed and maintained, as they are without any plans to continuously update the contents,
should come to an end. Research efforts must be
devoted to developing standard templates which
can used as reference points when developing
e-Government Web sites and/or platforms with
minimum amount of effort. Specific developer
tools must be customized to lower the skill level
required to develop and maintain a Web site.
With the entry level of Web site development and
maintenance lowered, end-users can take part in
providing content for e-Government applications.
The next generation of e-Government projects
is going to be based on Web 2.0 and therefore will
be data driven. This generation of applications
will have the ability to further forge the PPP by
enabling the private sector to develop applications
on top of the government 2.0 platforms. Because
these applications will be data driven, it will be
imperative for the Tanzania National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) to provide the data. A significant
amount of re-development and research will have
to be done to make these data available in the
format that can be used in e-Government projects.
The use of open standards must be encouraged
to ensure interoperability and put in place a level
61
playing field for all who wish to be involved in

the development of e-Government applications.
The chapter has highlighted the challenges
of e-Government Web sites accessibility by
the targeted population. We found out that most
webpages in Tanzania do not use local languages.
While using local languages in webpages may be a
noble cause, it is not clear if these local languages
when written can be read and understood by the
end-users. Therefore, using speech syntheses
technologies may provide e-Government services to all users regardless of their IT literacy.
Efforts must be made to make sure that research
and investment are made in incorporating local
languages in e-Government projects using natural
language processing techniques.
The Tanzania e-Government strategy must
not be technically oriented. It must be holistic
and fully utilize the existing infrastructure. Thus,
must leverage on the mobile phone technology
whose network penetration is very good. The eSolutions for the mobile space must be innovative
and home grown to reflect the context, culture,
and sustainability.
CONCLUSION
It is not easy to understand and explain the nature
and failure of e-Government projects in Africa
through the lenses of published material. A plausible explanation for this is based on the fact that
most of the published materials fail to take into
account the culture, context and environmental
factors, which are unique in Africa. The same line
of reasoning applies when it comes to metrics,
which are littered in a lot of publications and
emphasize the use of technology as a priority for
ranking. This chapter highlights the need for the
design of new metrics, which are Africa-oriented.
The effect of colonialism in confidence and
decision making for the common good among
civil servants should not be underestimated. A
lot of civil servants either shy away from making
62
decisions for the common good or just care about

themselves too much. This is a big problem to
initiatives such as e-Government, which requires
a champion from the civil service to succeed.
For government 2.0 to be accessed correctly, we
must ask ourselves the following questions. How
does government become an open platform that
allows citizens inside and outside government to
innovate? How do you design a system in which
all of the outcomes are not specified beforehand,
but instead evolve through interactions between
government and its citizens, as a service provider
enabling its user community? It is expected that
the government in this paradigm will end up being an enabler/provider for citizens to show their
creativity and innovate. The number and variants
of projects to be built on top of the government
2.0 depends on the creativity and innovation of
its citizens. The importance of open data is that
the same openness that enables transparency also
enables innovation, as developers and other players
build applications that re-use government data in
unexpected ways. The whole point of government
as a platform is to encourage the private sector
to build applications that either the government
didnt consider beforehand or do not appropriate
resources to create. Open data is a powerful way
to enable the private sector to do just that.
A strategic, well designed implementation
of the e-Government project has the potential
of providing government services faster and efficiently to the citizens. This in turn increases
social inclusion and participation of the citizens
in governance. Because citizens own the projects,
their contributions are going to have a significant
effect in their personal and national development. For a paradigm change to take place in the
e-Government projects, it may be reasonable to
change/break all the rules which have worked in
other projects. The case of the likes of Microsoft,
Google, and eBay illustrates that for seismic
changes most or all of the rules must be broken
in order to move forward. There is potential that
the government 2.0 will shake up and re-shape

the Tanzania e-Government projects for the better.
Since e-Government projects are very complex
initiatives, in the case of Tanzania we propose that
local government be used as pilot projects. The
lessons learned from these projects will be scaled
up to implement similar projects at a regional
and national level. The Tanzanian government
has taken a top-bottom approach in its current
e-Government strategy. By taking a bottom-up
strategy, the level of risk is minimized and more
projects can be implemented, leading to skill levels
being accumulated in the society. This raises the
e-Government project awareness at the local level
and the ability to use and benefit from it.
This study opines that the public reform program which Tanzania undertook a few years ago
did not go far enough in preparing Tanzania for
the acute implementation of e-Government. As a
result, it did not provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for the e-Government projects to
succeed. It was used as an exercise to reduce the
size of the public sector, without proper thought on
the redesign of the new public sector, which was
supposed to be pro-service to citizens, inclusive,
and participatory in nature.
Tanzania should spend its meager resources in
its e-Government projects. This can be achieved
by acquiring computers and infrastructure equipment from China, where they are cheapnot
mentioning the trade-off that has to be incurred
regarding quality. The current trend in which a
significant portion of investment in e-Government
comes from donors will not lead to improvements
in the area. The government should change the
priorities and invest in e-Government projects.
It is common knowledge that the government
will willingly fund projects which seem to have
a major impact in as far as benefiting the general
public is concerned. It is the duty of e-Government
practioners and researchers to substantiate the
overall society benefits to guarantee investment
in e-Government by the government.
Tanzania should learn from the experience of

the Diaspora in its e-Government strategy, look
at the examples of Rwanda and Ireland. The eGovernment project must lead to the creation of
a shared vision between the government and the
citizen.
At the end of the day, it is imperative to realize the barriers, such as resistance to change,
absence of opportunities for e-Participation and
e-Consultation, and lack of awareness that is
characteristic of citizens. In light of these barriers,
it is vital to probe whether Tanzanians are ready
to effectively adopt e-Government. The answer is
that Tanzanians are not ready to use e-Government
services despite all its advantages. However, the
chapter has proposed practical ways of bringing
the citizens and government closer together, such
as initiatives identified in the realm of social inclusiveness and the up-take of e-Services.
The Web sites which have been visited in this
research, starting from the central to local government, ministries, agencies, and other semi-state
organizations all would have benefited from having a common template. This means there is need
for a template that can outline the information that
must be present on the webpages of government
departments. This can act as a blueprint to aid
design of e-Government Web sites amongst the
different government departments. Governments
must also provide alternative access methods to
the Web sites such as encouraging universal access
using mobile devices, audio, television and speech
synthesis for Tanzanians who cannot read and
write. The information provided in these webpages
must be current and relevant to citizens. Citizens
must be made aware of and encouraged to access
these Web platforms. The webpages must serve
as agents of cultural change; otherwise it is hard
to see how they will be used when it is possible
to get information and better services without
using the webpages.
The main contributions of the chapter have
been the highlighting of the challenges and
opportunities of implementing e-Government
63
projects in the Tanzanian context. The chapter

posits that this can be achieved using a variety
of innovative communications mechanisms to
reach citizens and provide modalities for their
voices being heard. However, one of the major
challenges is how to stimulate demand from
citizens. Thus, for any successful e-Government
implementation, the following questions must
be asked and answered: Will they go looking for
e-Government solutions? Will they realize what
they are missing when they access public services
without e-Government? How is demand created,
nurtured, and maintained? These are some of the
major challenges that countries must start to address as soon as possible.
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Digital Citizen: Refers to a person that participates in different socio-econoic frameworks
using ICTs. To qualify for the unofficial title of
digital citizen, a person must have the requisite
ICT skills and knowledge to interact with private
and organizations through means of digital tools
such as computers or mobile phones.
E-Democracy: Refers to the use of ICTs and
strategies in political and governance processes.
Democratic actors and sectors in this context
include governments, elected officials, the media, political organizations, and citizens/voters.
E-Democracy aims for broader and more active
citizen participation enabled by the Internet,
mobile communications, and other technologies
in todays representative democracy, as well as
through more participatory or direct forms of citizen involvement in addressing public challenges.
E-Participation: Is the use of ICT-supported
participation in processes involved in government
and governance. Processes may include administration, service delivery, decision making and
policy making.
E-Payment: Is any digital financial payment
transaction involving currency transfer between
two or more parties.
E-Readiness: Is the ability to use ICTs to
develop ones economy, to foster ones welfare,
69
and better participate in the global socio-economic

value chains..
E-Services: Refers to deeds, efforts or performances whose delivery is mediated by ICTs.
Government 2.0: Is the use of technologyespecially the collaborative technologies at the heart
of Web 2.0to better solve collective problems
at a city, national, and international level.
M-Government: Is the extension of eGovernment to mobile ICT platforms, as well
as the strategic use of government services and
applications which are only possible using mobile devices and wireless Internet infrastructure.
The government services are available anytime,
anywhere and that the ubiquity of these mobile
devices mandates their utilization in government
functions.
70
Mobile Payment: Also known as Mobile

wallet is an alternative payment method to the
traditional payment systems where cash, cheques
or credit cards are the medium of payment. Mobile payment entails a consumer utilizing mobile
phone or any other convertible mobile ICT gadget
to pay for goods and services. Models for mobile
payments may include premium SMS based
transactional payments, direct mobile billing, and
Contactless Near Field Communication (NFC).
Web 2.0: Is associated with Web applications
that facilitate participatory information sharing,
interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.
71
Chapter 4
A Snapshot Overview of
the Digital Divide:
e-Inclusion and e-Government
in the Zambian Context
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya

University of Botswana, Botswana & University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Tanya Du Plessis
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Chris Rensleigh
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
ABSTRACT
It can arguably be stated that the digital divide, e-Inclusion, and successful e-Government development
are inseparable. The concept of e-Inclusion is an a priori phenomenon to understanding the concept
of the digital divide. This chapter provides a theoretical background on the linkages of information
access, the digital divide, e-Inclusion, and e-Government. This exploratory study aims to discuss the
intricacies of the digital divide and present a snapshot discussion of initiatives taken in Zambia to bridge
the divide in the context of e-Government. The discussion presents the likelihood of the realisation of
e-Government inclusion in the Zambian context and how this can impact e-Government development in
its totality. From the discussion, it is evident that e-Government depends on multi-dimensional factors
(such as individual and institutional e-Readiness, relevance of e-Government applications, local culture,
propensity to change, and managerial and technical capabilities) to succeed, and this entails that any
robust e-Government strategy should incorporate a multivariate approach in its design.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch004
A Snapshot Overview of the Digital Divide
INTRODUCTION
The motivation of e-Government implementation
can be traced back to the exemplar performance
of e-Commerce in the public sector. With this
in mind, governments and other stakeholders of
e-Government saw the importance of implementing e-Government in expectation of increases in
efficiency, productivity improvements, and cost
savings similar to those that have been experienced
in the private sector (Stamoulis, et al., 2001;
Clark, 2003; Tassabehji, 2005). This importance
cannot be over-emphasised as will be discussed
in this chapter.
There are many factors that have prompted
individual countries to implement e-Government.
Many researchers have outlined the ultimate need
for governments to implement e-Government
by detailing the many benefits that come with
successful e-Government implementation. EGovernment not only provides a platform through
which the citizens and different businesses can get
in touch with the government, but also enables
them to participate in decision making on issues
of national importance (Bwalya & Healy, 2010).
In addition, it reduces the cost of public service
delivery, encourages and enables participatory
democracy and social inclusion (where citizens,
regardless of their socio-economic status, may participate in decision making and will keep abreast
of government information and policies), reduces
corruption, and facilitates an efficient public
service delivery system (Bwalya & Healy, 2010;
Navarra & Cornford, 2003; Heek, 2004; Kumar
& Best, 2006). Service delivery improvement in
e-Government is brought about by its provision of a
platform where different departments can network
and integrate their services by mainstreaming
ICTs in their business value chains (Ngulube,
2007). Further, other countries are motivated to
implement e-Government out of their desire to
belong to the social club of countries that have
implemented e-Government in their public service
delivery value chains (Iqbal & Seo, 2008).
72
Not only promoting civic engagement, Information and Communications Technologies

(ICTs) in the framework of e-Government can
also facilitate government to business or civil
society engagement by augmenting the capacity
of different e-Government stakeholders to work as
organised networks (Hamel, 2010; Norris, 2001;
Sutinen & Tedre, 2010). For example, Infonet,
created by the Social Development Network of
East Africa, and FarmSubsidy.org, a non-profit
project in Sweden, have been built on the principle
of freedom of information (TTC, 2009).
Despite the aforementioned benefits, successful e-Government implementation is still
a complex phenomenon influenced by a multidimensional set of factors. This entails that for
these benefits to be amassed; there is need that a
robust e-Government strategy be designed with
due reference to the contextual environment in
which e-Government will be implemented. Not
only that, the different intrinsic factors such as
individual factors (Perceived Usefulness [PU] and
Perceived Ease Of Use [PEOU], ICT skill levels),
and organisational factors (resistance to change,
mainstreaming ICTs into various organisationss
business value chains, technological buy-ins)
should be addressed.
For most of the emerging countries, especially
those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there are many
principal e-Government challenges that prevent its
proliferation. This is because preliminary requirements to effective e-Government implementation
are not evident in most of the cases (Ngulube,
2007). Some of the key challenges are the lack
of basic ICT skills on the part of government
employees and citizens who may want to engage
(adopt and use) in e-Government applications,
lack of appropriate ICT backbone infrastructure
especially in the rural areas, lack of political will,
and inadequate legal and regulatory frameworks.
Another contentious issue that has been negatively impacting e-Government uptake has been
the digital divide (in its various forms). It is common knowledge that differences in information
content, representation, lack of interoperable eGovernment applications, limited content in local

languages, limited ICT skills and literacy amongst
the general citizenry, limited ICT infrastructure,
and limited usability of e-Government platforms
exacerbate the extent of the digital divide in emerging countries. The digital divide limits access to
different e-Government applications and therefore
translates into electronic exclusion (e-Exclusion).
This means that any appropriate e-Government
strategy should aim towards suggesting how the
digital divide will be practically reduced for the
proliferation (positive adoption and continuous
usage) of e-Government applications. The recognition of the multi-dimensionality and multiplicity
nature of e-Government and its spanning beyond
only technology is cardinal to effective implementation and development of germane e-Government
strategies. E-Government does not only evolve
around technology but requires re-organisation,
appropriate change management strategies, new
skills and training, and strategic insights into user
needs (Codagnone, 2008). Codagnone (2008) has
identified standardised common infrastructure,
new organisational model, back-office re-organisation, governance, and social inclusion as the key
pillars of a connected government. Further to the
above mentioned pillars, Sorrentino and Niehaves
(2010) opine that any e-Government initiatives
should incorporate social-awareness by making
sure that it is delivered through multiple delivery
channels so that the heterogeneous demand side
is accorded the choice of which service alternatives (physical and electronic) to explore. Further,
Abrahams and Newton-Reid (2008) suggest that
the key components of e-Government include an
enabling contextual environment, public sector
reform, good governance and appropriate mainstreaming of ICTs in the different government
business value chains. These different facets of
e-Government should be incorporated into the
design of any robust e-Government strategy.
Many studies in e-Government have posited
that its adoption can only happen when individual
factors affecting adoption such as PEOU and PU

are taken care of (Bwalya & Healy, 2010; Davis,
1989; Choudrie & Dwivedi, 2004; Warkentin, et
al., 2002). This might not necessarily be the case
given the multi-dimensional nature and complexity of the terrain in different locations of the world
where e-Government might be implemented. A
robust e-Government initiative should incorporate all the different factors enshrined into the
implementation model and strategy.
This chapter presents an exploratory study
that has relied on published material and the
authors individual experiences to advance its
arguments. The major aim of this chapter is twofold: to present to the reader a balanced discussion
of digital inclusion, information access and the
digital divide as linked to e-Government; and to
give indications of the likelihood of success of
e-Government implementation in Zambia. The
chapter gives an appropriate background on the
conceptualisation of e-Government strategy in
emerging countries. In this regard, the argument
brought forward in this chapter is straightforward:
there cannot be any meaningful e-Government
penetration if the concepts of digital divide, and
correspondingly e-Inclusion or e-Exclusion, are
not espoused in the context of adoption of ICTs
and their applications. According to Mutula
(2010), the principal lacuna of any contemporary
e-Government policy and strategy should hinge on
incorporating principles of community informatics. In essence, e-Government policy and strategy
should be community-centred.
The chapter is organised as follows: the next
section presents the background which outlines
the theoretical fundamentals linking the digital
divide and e-Government. Thereafter, the status
and prospects of e-Government implementation
in Zambia is discussed by presenting the different
ICT initiatives that are being currently put in place.
Following this, the recommendations and future
research directions especially on what should be
done regarding the development of e-Government
in Zambia are presented. In conclusion, the chapter
73
summarises the Achilles heel of e-Government

in the Zambian context.
BACKGROUND
As mentioned above, there are many factors
that affect e-Government penetration and these
should adequately be addressed if meaningful eGovernment developments were to be achieved.
These factors depend on which environment
(local context) e-Government is implemented.
Empirical evidence from studies done elsewhere
show that context determines peoples attitudes
towards information sharing and privacy (Lips,
et al., 2010). For example, in a study done in a
public housing community in the United States
of America (USA) and aimed at addressing the
adoption of e-Governance, public Internet access
was found to be the most important factor affecting the use of online government services (Sipior
& Ward, 2005). This may point to the fact that
e-Government cannot take place if there is no
defined ICT infrastructure, affordable costs, and
easy access to the Internet. Access is one of the
most important facets of e-Government development as it translates into e-Participation. The recent
growth of ICT usage, Internet in particular, has
exacerbated the digital divide as a socio-economic
problem which needs to be given attention (Gonzalez, Adenso-Diaz, & Gemoets, 2010).
The digital divide is not a new phenomenon.
James (2002) acknowledges the fact that the
digital divide was evident in the world as far back
as 1970 where it was referred to as international
technological dualism which meant unequal developments in science and technology between
rich and poor countries. Almarabeh and Abu Ali
(2010) assert that with the unprecedented growth
of the adoption of ICTs in various socio-economic
setups, the world has moved from the industrial age
(resource-based) to the information age. It is clear
that encapsulation of the information age presents
challenges of the digital divide where discrepan-
74
cies in the levels of access to information is a big

issue. It is to be stated that the rapid proliferation
of utilization of technology may further exclude
poor countries of the world from appropriately
participating in the global socio-economic value
chains. According to Singer (1970), this fact is
evidenced in the monopoly of research initiatives
and development expenditures which directly
author decisions on where knowledge frontiers
should be. For example, the emergence of ICT
utilisation on the political landscape may result into
the exclusion of individuals from online voting;
and other interactive opportunities will weaken
the voice of those who are techno-disadvantaged
(Althoff, 2004; Sipior & Ward, 2005).
The concept of the digital divide has been associated with social stratification which is usually
applied to studies of any systematic inequalities
between groups of people (Scott & Marshall,
2005). People are classified into social strata in
a superior or inferior position, which has given
way to the understanding of the differences in access and utilisation of ICTs, culminating into the
notion of inclusion/exclusion which is a spatial
concept pointing to the idea of being inside or
outside. The digital divide has always been looked
at as a problem of ICT access which is generally
approached with political navet, since interpretation of ICT adoption has always been looked at
from the economic viewpoint. The digital divide
(gaps on digital literacy and broadband access)
presents itself as a deterrent to appropriate civic
engagement, community network, educational
methods and outcomes, and overall economic
development of the community (Wynne, Perry,
& Cooper, 2007).
As aforementioned, to understand the constructs of the digital divide, how it impacts on
e-Inclusion and correspondingly e-Government,
there is need to look at the standard definitions
and characteristics of these terms. Table 1 gives
the different definitions of digital divide from
different researchers.
From Table 1, it is evident that the digital divide

has many constructs which should not only be
looked at as the haves and have-nots. Contemporary definitions of the digital divide have
evolved to include the socio-economic implica-
tions of the same. The digital divide centres on

access to information through ICTs. When the
digital divide has been reduced, there will be eInclusion of individuals regardless of their socioeconomic standing. For the case of Zambia, unac-
Table 1. Defining the digital divide

Source
Definition
Wynne and Cooper (2007)
Denotes the gap between information technology haves and have-nots.
Haddon (2004)
Differences between those who have access to digital technologies, namely the Internet, and
those who do not.
Mancinelli (2008)
Gap between those who can effectively use new ICT tools, such as the Internet, and those who
cannot.
Sahraoui (2007)
The differential access to ICT.
Helbig, Gil-Garca, and Ferro (2005)
It is not just about access but more about other social, political, educational, and economic issues such as demographic attributes including race, ethnicity, income, and geography and is seen
as a mirror of social inequality.
Cullen (2003, p. 247)
Defined as a metaphor used to describe the perceived disadvantage of those who either are unable or do not choose to make use of information technologies in their daily life.
Digital Divide Network (2004)
Defined as the gap between those who have access to communication tools, such as the Internet
and those who have not.
American Library Association

(ALA), Office for Information Technology Policy (2000)1
Disparities based on economic, status, gender, race, physical abilities and geographic location
between those who have or do not have access to information, the Internet and other information
technologies and services.
Mariscal (2005, p. 410)
The gap between individuals, households, business and geographic arrears at different socioeconomic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information technologies and
to the use of such technologies for a wide variety of activities.
Compaine (2001)
The perceived gap between those who have access to the latest information technologies and
those who do not.
Mossberger, Tolbert, and Stanbury

(2003)
The restriction of digital divide to the problem of access to technology is insufficient. They
broaden the scope of the issue to include four major aspects: access, skills, economic opportunity and democratic divides.
James (2003, p. 25)
The strikingly differential extent to which rich and poor countries are enjoying the benefits of
information technology.
James (2009)
Described as the differentiation that comes about with benefits leaped from use of ICTs by both
the rich and poor countries.
Campbell (2001)
Defined as a situation in which there is a clearly identified gap in the access or use of ICT
gadgets.
Wilson (2006, p. 300)
An inequality in access, distribution, and use of information and communication technologies

between two or more populations.
OECD (2004)
Posits that the digital divide also includes factors such as education and literacy, income, ICT
skills, marker structures, institutional frameworks, and competition.
Warschauer (2002)
Apart from associating the digital divide with the provision of computer connections and the
Internet, it also encompasses a complex array of factors such as human, digital, physical and
social relationships.
ITU (2005, p. vii)
Highlights the uneven distribution, differences or gaps that exist in opportunities to access and
use of ICTs amongst diverse population groups, be they individuals, households, businesses or
geographical areas.
75
ceptable levels of the digital divide imply that

many people are not included in the decisionmaking value chains. With Internet access penetration at 0.7% of the Population Zambias
levels of ICT penetration are very low showing
a high level of e-Exclusion (cf. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm). Not only that,
many people do not have access to information
and hence are not abreast with what is happening
in various socio-economic value chains.
The concept of the digital divide involves not
only access to physical ICT platforms, but goes
further to include the concept of e-Inclusion. EInclusion entails engagement and participation in
different socio-economic frameworks using ICTs.
This reasoning has been supported by several
researchers (Fortunati, 2008; Mancinelli, 2008;
Salman, 2010). It is also worth mentioning that
cultural homogeneity in most emerging countries
(where behavior towards ICTs consumption and
adoption is influenced by experiences from a few
individuals) may cause a disharmonious behavioural pattern towards ICTs adoption and use, let
alone to accessing public services.
Petrauskas, Bileviien, and Kikien (2008)
have attempted to define e-Inclusion as an activity
or an instrument which is a prerequisite for the
creation of an information society. They further
assert that e-Inclusion has many benefits when
pursued correctly; such as decreasing the risk of
digital disjuncture and securing that marginalised
individuals such as disabled or elderly persons are
involved in the development of e-Government.
This is made possible by avoiding new forms
of disjuncture caused by information illiteracy,
limited ICT skills and poverty of access to the
Internet. Petrauskas, Bileviien, and Kikienc
(2008) have defined e-Inclusion with emphasis
on its characteristic of outlining the extent to
which ICTs have been employed to equalise and
promote participation in society at all levels of
the socio-economic hierarchy by enhancing social
relationships, facilitating economic opportunities for work and entrepreneurship, developing
76
cultural aspects of society, and encouraging civic

participation. Thus, from the above definition, it
is clear that e-Inclusion centres on using ICTs to
remove obstacles which limit (or in other instances
prevent) people from meaningful participation in
the knowledge economy. E-Inclusion aims to overcome the known barriers to access to ICT products
and services that would otherwise translate into
another form of exclusionthe digital exclusion.
Mancinelli (2008) posits that social exclusion
principles need to be re-drafted so that they can
take into consideration the fact that the digital
divide is essentially about social access to digital technologies as distinct to the idea of mere
access to the technical kit. It is important to
be clear about the role of e-Inclusion in the eGovernment development. Sahraoui (2007) posits
that e-Inclusion should be advocated as a socially
inclusive strategy for e-Government planning and
not erroneously be considered as a further stage
of e-Government development.
With proper understanding of the different
tenets of e-Inclusion, new digital opportunities
for marginal individuals and other traditionally
excluded social groupings to participate in the
information and knowledge economy are found.
Wynne and Cooper (2007) posit that those who
have online access coupled with digital literacy
(and adequate and appropriate ICT skills) may be
more likely to be economically secure and at less
risk than those who do not have these attributes.
This, although not empirically tested, may hold
sense since lack of these attributes may result into
less participation, and realisation of the benefits
and/or opportunities that come with the information and knowledge economy. Salman (2010) has
outlined three key themes that should be pursued
when designing and delivering projects that aim
to tackle social exclusion. These are appropriate
awareness campaigns, universal access to ICTs,
and correspondingly information which are prerequisite to making sure relevant ICT skills and
appropriate literacy levels are attained.
Fortunati (2008) has carried out a detailed study

of how the issue of e-Inclusion and/or e-Exclusion
should be approached. The study unearthed four
different factors that should be considered when
an e-Government strategy is being drawn. These
factors include the following:

recognition of the fact that the discussion

of e-Inclusion and/or e-Exclusion takes
cognisance of digital divide as an a priori
phenomenon that needs to be understood;
e-Inclusion is not a universal aspiration;
debate on e-Inclusion and/or e-Exclusion
seems to lack not only a robust sociological and political vision, but additionally, an
anthropological awareness which leaves
wide gaps in our reading of cultural differences; and
e-Inclusion must be related to the notion of
administrative burden, which measures
time and costs required from citizens in order to use online information and services
provided by public administration.
It can arguably be stated that the digital divide

has acute impacts on the major sectors of the
socio-economic hierarchy. For example, the digital
divide has an underlying impact on contemporary
education systems with ICTs being extensively
utilised in employment, crime, and health. Pilling and Boeltzig (2007) conducted a study that
investigated how the digital divide can be reduced
so that marginalised individuals have the chance
to use the Internet as the first step to accessing
e-Government services. This study came up with
strategies that could be employed in the USA and
United Kingdom with much emphasis to the local
contextual setup. The key strategies emanating
from this study are the following: 1) putting in
place robust and people-driven e-Government
strategies, 2) promotion of local relevant content on government Web sites, 3) engaging the
business and private sector communities to fund
e-Government initiatives in the Public-Private-
Partnership (PPP), and 4) sensitizing both the

citizens and businesses on the potential benefits
of effective e-Government usage.
In any given situation, it cannot be denied that eGovernment and the digital divide are intertwined
(Helbig, Gil-Garcia, & Ferro, 2005); thereby the
need to understand how the two impact on one
another as complementary social phenomena
cannot be over-emphasised. As mentioned above,
e-Government is a tool for government administrative reform (Heeks, 1999; Kraemer & King, 2003)
and has potential not only to improve quality of
service in the public service delivery value chains,
but also enhance cost savings, effectiveness and
efficiency in the public service delivery value
chains (Garson, 2004; Grnlund, 2001). With
this in mind, it is important to understand how the
digital divide impacts on e-Government so that
relevant e-Government strategies are put in place.
In developing any e-Government agenda, there
is need to put in place strategies that encourage
trust of citizens in the e-Government applications and services. This is because trust has been
identified as one of the most important ingredients
for a successful e-Government implementation
agenda since it comes with wider engagement
and participation and therefore wide-scale inclusion of the different constituents of the society
(Lauer, 2004; Tassabehji, 2005). It is worth noting that e-Government strategy is not entirely a
national IT plan or policy but a separate strategy
for social inclusion through e-Government platform (Sahraoui, 2007). Effective e-Government
should find a balance between technological and
community-centric e-Government approaches.
Salman (2010) has articulated the importance of
an affluent ICT policy in encouraging the proliferation of e-Government initiatives. The ICT policy
should delineate the role of the private sector, Civil
Society Organizations (CSOs) and Government
and provide a road map for harnessing the ICT
for addressing the development problems being
faced by the country (Joseph, 2002).
77
Karunasena and Deng (2010) have been investigating the penetration of e-Government in Sri
Lanka, and have found that, just as in other emerging countries (Kelly, et al., 2002), the public value
of e-Government initiatives is not clear. Studying
the possibility of e-Government penetration by
investigating its public value is a new concept
which is being widely followed by e-Government
practitioners (Talbot, 2008). Several methodologies have been proposed for measuring public
value of e-Government implementation. One
of these methodologies is the Golubeva (2007)
methodology which concentrates on usability,
transparency, interactivity, citizens centricity of
e-Services, and level of e-Services development.
Another is a multi-dimensional framework proposed by Liu et al. (2008), which emphasises the
importance of evaluating the e-Government value
and the stakeholder satisfaction.
Current research practice suggests that there
is an inextricable link between ICTs and socioeconomic development and that development
informatics can be used to help bridge the digital
divide in developing countries (Mutula, 2010).
Development informatics centres on the provision of ICT systems that are relevant to the social
setups of the communities. It is anticipated that
most e-Government strategies will be communitycentric so that individual citizens can have a sense
of ownership of the different e-Government applications.
The next section presents a contextual overview
of the extent of the digital divide in Zambia and
the different initiatives that have been taken in a
bid to bridge it.
ZAMBIA ICT PENETRATION

INITIATIVES
Zambia has not been spared from the effects of
the digital divide and corresponding negative impacts of e-Exclusion with regards to information
access. Lack of appropriate access to information
78
systems entails that citizens cannot effectively

participate in the various socio-economic endeavours in the country. Looking at the disparity of
citizens access to ICTs, the impact of the digital
divide in Zambia is immense. Lack of access to
information is compounded in situations where
there is unequal access, adoption, and usage of
ICTs. For the case of Zambia, this is prominent as
the country is faced with poor ICT infrastructures
(especially in the rural areas), lack of a properly
regulated ICT sector, and low ICT literacy levels.
Zambia follows a trend of low ICT penetration
levels evidenced throughout most of the SSA
countries (Ngulube, 2007).
The existence of the digital divide is regrettable
on the part of Zambia as most of its citizens will
probably not be participating in the knowledge
economy. The digital divide may further exclude
the already marginalised and disadvantaged
citizens and present a further barrier to entry to
productive careers, active participation in the
economys socio-economic value chains, and
civic engagement. This assertion is confirmed
by Sarkar (2001) who posits that the knowledge
economy may further widen the digital divide
especially between the rich and the poor. Another
negative impact on the socio-economic platform of
Zambia is that it may further exclude it from the
global exchange processes, restrict its intellectual
capital development, and contribute to the lack of
understanding between cultures and civilizations
(UNDSF, 2005).
For demonstration purposes, Table 2 illustrates
the extent of the digital divide in Africa by showing
the percentage of people who have access to the
Internet and therefore the Internet penetration rate
as a percentage of the whole population.
Compared with other parts of the world, Table
2 shows that the African region represents a mere
5.6% percentage of all the users of the Internet in
the world. This indicates that there are rampant
levels of digital divide in as far access to the Internet is concerned. Specifically, Table 3 shows
the ICT use and penetration status in selected
Table 2. Internet users and population statistics for Africa

REGION
Population
(2010 Est.)
Internet Users,
Latest Data
Pop. %
Penetration
(%) Population
Use Growth
(2000-2010)
% Users
in World
Total for Africa
1,013,779,050
14.8%
110,931,700
10.9%
2,357.3%
5.6%
Rest of World
5,831,830,910
85.2%
1,855,583,116
31.8%
420.5%
94.4%
WORLD TOTAL
6,845,609,960
100.0%
1,966,514,816
28.7%
444.6%
100.0%
Penetration
(%) Population
% Users
in Africa
(Source: Internet World Statistics: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm)
Table 3. Internet users and population statistics for specific countries

Population
(2011 Est.)
AFRICA
Internet Users
Dec/2000
Internet Users
Latest Data
Algeria
34,994,937
50,000
4,700,000
13.4%
4.0%
Botswana
2,065,398
15,000
121,600
5.9%
0.1%
Malawi
15,879,252
15,000
716,400
4.5%
0.6%
South Africa
49,004,031
2,400,000
6,800,000
13.9%
5.7%
Zambia
13,881,336
20,000
816,700
5.9%
0.7%
Zimbabwe
12,084,304
50,000
1,422,000
11.8%
1.2%
(Source: Internet World Statistics: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm)
individual countries of Africa, Zambia inclusive

and the growth in Internet users from 2000 to
2011.
Compaine (2001) and Norris (2001) predicted
that with time, the digital divide would decrease
as more and more people will have access to ICTs.
Their reasoning was premised on Moores law
stating that the number of transistors on integrated circuits and hence processing power
doubles every 18 months while the costs do not
increase. But unfortunately, the trend has been
the exact opposite. Instead of the digital divide
reducing with evident novel ICT innovations; it
is unfortunately growing exponentially everywhere in the world (Wolfensohn, 2000). In the
case of Zambia, this is made worse as more and
more people still cannot afford the new technologies and therefore cannot access the information
that is disseminated using these platforms.
With appropriate fiscal policies being advocated by the government and other stakeholders
in the ICTs market, the level of the digital divide
is slowing going down. The telecommunications
sector is highly liberalized in Zambia and this has

enabled many telecommunications companies
(such as MTN, ZAMTELs CellZ, and Airtel
[formerly Zain]) to come on board culminating
into healthy competition and improved quality
of the telecommunication service provided to the
telecom consumers. With these developments,
many people are now able to access the Internet,
and correspondingly, information on their mobile
phones (many of the mobile phones are Internetenabled). A look at Figure 1 shows that roughly
10 years ago there were a negligible number of
people utilizing mobile phones in Zambia. This
has since changed with close to 5 million people
now owning a mobile phone (about 40% of the
population). A further look at Figure 1 reveals
that the number of people accessing the Internet
has not changed substantially. This could be attributed to lack of useful applications (relevant
online applications which are designed with full
consideration of the local context) on the Internet. The growth in the number of people owning
and utilizing mobile phones (and the possibility
79
of many of these mobile phones being Internetenabled) may be an opportunity to try to promote
mobile government (m-Government). This will
subsequently culminate into effective e-Inclusion
in the government value chains regardless of status or socio-economic standing of an individual.
This will further facilitate ubiquitous (anywhere,
anytime) access to public services and interaction
with the government agencies and organs. It is
worth mentioning that the m-Government model
has a lot of potential for Zambia given the higher
mobile penetration rates to bridge the gap that
traditional Internet platforms (such as Internet
access through stationary personal computers)
have regarding Internet access.
To arrest the situation of high levels of the
digital divide in Zambia, there are several initiatives that are being put in place. The following
list details some of the initiatives that have been
put in place in the context of reducing the digital
divide, promoting e-Inclusion and e-Participation,
and e-Government on the social, technical, and
policy fronts (Coates & Nikolaus, 2011; Habeenzu, 2010; Weerakkody, et al., 2007; Bwalya &
Healy, 2010):
The Japanese International Cooperation

Agency (JICA), working in cahoots
with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), has assisted Zambia
on the formulation of a National ICT policy which aimed to give a roadmap of how
ICT implementations are to be pursued in
the country. The ICT policy was approved
by the government in 2001, and subsequently launched in 2006. The launch of
this policy shows governments and other
stakeholders commitment in fighting the
digital divide and promoting universal access to information through ICTs.
The Telecommunications Act of 1994 provided the legal framework for the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in
Zambia. As a result of this Act, the Posts and
Telecommunications Corporation (PTC)
disintegrated into two commercial entities,
namely; the Zambia Telecommunication
Company (ZAMTEL) and the Zambia
Postal Corporation (ZAMPOST). The
Act also saw all the regulatory functions
which were vested into PTC to be trans-
Figure 1. Mobile, fixed and internet customer growth trends
80
ferred to a newly formed independent

regulatory agency, the Communications
Authority of Zambia (CAZ) which was
later to be called the Zambia Information
and Communication Technology Authority
(ZICTA).
CAZ was established by an Act of
Parliament, the ICT Act of November 2009
to act as the main ICT regulatory body in
Zambia. CAZ (now ZICTA) was established with a view that it would spear-head
the implementation of the different principles and objectives of the National ICT
Policy so as to establish a new institutional, legal and regulatory environment.
The ICT Act of 2009 provides for the economic and technical regulation of ICT; facilitates universal access to ICTs; protects
the rights and interests of service providers
and consumers; and regulates and manages radio spectrum.
To reduce the digital divide, ZICTA
has commissioned a Universal Access
Programme (UAP) which aims to ensure
that ICTs are deployed in remote, rural and
under-served areas of Zambia. This programme aims to put in place appropriate
and robust ICT infrastructure, such as communications towers, that are aimed at improving access to information and serving
as platform for citizens to participate in the
digital and knowledge economy. This will
in turn reduce the levels of e-Exclusion and
increase e-Participation. Also, there have
been the establishment of Multi-Purpose
Community Telecentres (MPCTs), and
Internet Points of Presence (PoPs).
The Postal Services Act of 2009 provides for the regulation s of the postal and
courier services by ZICTA. Previously,
this was the mandate of the Ministry of
Communications and Transport.
The Electronic Communications and
Transactions (ECT) Act of 2009 aims to
provide an environment which was safe,

secure and effective for consumers, businesses and the government to utilise electronic communications for efficient exchange of information in their day-to-day
activities; promote legal certainty and
confidence and therefore encourage investment and innovation in the electronic
communications industry. It also aimed at
creating secure communications systems
and networks.
Within the public sector, there are a number of projects that are being undertaken
to promote the integration of ICTs into
both the backend and frontend e-Government systems. For example, the Integrated
Financial
Management
Information
System (IFMIS) Project being pioneered
by the Ministry of Finance, the Payroll
Management and Establishment Control
Project, the Justice Case Management
System, and the building of Local and
Wide Area Networks linking public sector institutions to promote the integration
of the different government departments.
These projects, and many others, are being
implemented as pilot building blocks before full-scale e-Government implementation is rolled out.
ICTs are being utilised in the framework of
e-Health to allow appropriate management
of health information. To this effect, the
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Patient
Smart-card system is being promoted with
co-operation from the Ministry of Health
and the Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention.
On the e-Commerce and online banking
platforms, some banking institutions in
Zambia have started offering electronic
payment systems, Short Message Service
(SMS)-based mobile banking and Internet
banking platforms. With such platforms,
the onus is on the individual citizens on
81
how they should manage the information.

Examples of such services are the following (Habeenzu, 2010):
a. Celpay is one of the worlds first mobile banking systems which provide
mobile banking and payment solutions
for banks looking to offer access to
financial transaction services to their
customers.
b. The Zambia National Commercial
Bank (ZANACO) offers a transformative mobile banking solution, namely
XAPIT, which has been introduced on
the banking scene to offer a low-value,
low-risk banking account and comes
with an Internet-enabled VISA debit
card combined with SMS-banking.
c. Bayport Financial Services, which
is one of the leading microfinance
institutions in Zambia, has launched
the Kwacha Mover which is a basic
money transfer system. This service
has enabled people to electronically
transfer money easily between two or
more points.
In the agricultural sector, emerging mobile
applications have made it possible for information to be shared. Some of the examples on how
farmers, even those located in rural areas, have
benefitted from crop prices and weather forecasts
using ICTs include the following:
a. The Zambia National Farmers Union
(ZNFU) houses a Commodity Price System
which is an information service available by
SMS to anyone with a mobile phone. This
services aims to link the farmers, especially
small-scale farmers, with the potential buyers of their produce and the recommended
prices for the commodities.
b. The market information service, agri-trade,
accessible via mobile phone and the Internet
by small-scale farmers and agri-produce
82
buyers. Its main aim is to bring farmers

and buyers to the same market conditions,
provide up-to-date market information, and
facilitate transactions between small-scale
farmers and suppliers of agricultural inputs.
It is thought that the emerging extensive use
of ICTs in the agriculture sector promotes social
inclusion and e-Inclusiveness because even
marginalised farmers can be in a position to gain
access to agriculture information and participate
in agriculture forums.
The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has
launched an improved revenue collection mechanism called the Customs e-Payment system. The
launch of the customs e-Payment system is aimed
at improving its systems for information processing and revenue collection for the benefit of all
stakeholders. The customs e-payment mechanism
will be officially launched with Access Bank
Zambia Limited will have benefits such as reducing queues for customs payment, a 24/7 payment
platform and will also allow importers to pay via
Internet from anywhere (cf. www.zra.org.zm/
zranews.php?subaction=showfull). Further to
the initiatives mentioned above, financial institutions are actively pursuing direct debit banking
systems which are usedfor direct payment of
utility bills and salaries through the banking system and ATMs. Recently, banks such as the First
National Bank (FNB) have introduced mobile
phone banking which is anticipated to revitalize
banking and payment options. Correspondingly,
this will allow citizens and businesses to pay for
government services online in the framework of
e-Government.
With all these initiatives, it is evident that there
is some level of commitment on the part of the
Zambian government and the different e-Government stakeholders to e ensure that an environment
conducive to the development of e-Government
is put in place. However, the absence of strategic
roadmaps in the implementation of these initiatives
and programmes has resulted in many people not
being aware about these e-Government activitiesbeing pursued in Zambia. In the ICT policy
designed with sponsorship from JICA and UNDP,
e-Government is only mentioned as one of the 13
pillars of the ICT policy but does not provide a
defined strategy for its implementation.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND
FUTURE RESEARCH
As mentioned elsewhere in the chapter, the digital
divide can be reduced by encouraging e-Inclusion
so that individuals, regardless of their social status, can participate in the various socio-economic
frameworks. Effective e-Inclusion translates into
desired e-Participation which is the backbone of
value-creation e-Government implementation. To
encourage wider e-Participation from across all
the socio-economic value chains, the following
recommendations may serve as starting points:

There is a need to encourage universal access to ICT platforms and other information platforms. Universal access to ICT
platforms promotes citizens access to the
different ICT innovations and applications
regardless of their socio-economic standing or physical condition of their body.
With this platform, every citizen and business entity is accorded chance to actively
participate (e-Inclusion) in the government
processes and other public decision-making opportunities;
Because the digital divide and e-Government is multi-dimensional, there is need to
ensure that there is a diverse range of ICT
access points and opening hours including
evenings and weekends;
There is utmost need to incorporate a customer-centric approach for assisted and
unassisted access for the use of equipment
that avoids forms and a sequence of qualifying actions. This is because most of the
people who form part of the demand side

of information may not be in possession of
relevant ICT literacy skills;
There is a need for an esthetic, well-designed environment and infrastructure
with access points conveniently located in
multi-purpose and multi-use centres such
as community buildings;
All the ICT and information access points
should be user-centred rather than technology-orientated facilities. The emphasis in
the design of the community ICT points
should strive to incorporate the characteristics of the variety of users (physically
challenged persons such as the blind, shortsighted, lame) to allow universal access and
success of e-Government implementation;
It is important to develop appropriate ICT
skills and training for people to be able to
access relevant information in their daily
lives. Learning should be encouraged by
the so-called learning by stealth method
which entails the use of ICT for hobbies
and everyday activities rather than structured and formalised training programmes;
There should be deliberate plans and
awareness campaigns for information
through ICTs to reach the critical mass of
the citizenry and appropriate change management plans to overcome institutional
rigidity;
There should be ready support for users
when they need it. End-user support should
be given by the e-Government implementation team so that citizens and businesses
effectively utilise e-Government applications. This can be in a form of special short
training programmes that are tailor-made
for people with specific needs. To supplement the efforts of the e-Government implementation team, there should be deliberate initiatives to make use of community
volunteers as trainers; and
83
Provide a user-friendly ICT infrastructure

for supporting widespread use of e-Applications by the general citizenry. This can
be achieved by encouraging development
of content which is locallyrelevant (in tune
with the cultural orientation of the community) or entirely in local language so that
citizens with limited English capability can
appreciate the e-Government platforms.
These recommendations can be incorporated

into the e-Government agenda and strategy aimed
at promoting comprehensive e-Inclusion (brought
about through appropriate e-Participation) and
social inclusiveness.
Future research in this field should include
investigating how the social inclusiveness should
be incorporated into the e-Government agenda
bearing in mind the local context. As has been
established that e-Exclusion is the focal-point
of the digital divide, there is need to ensure that
the strategy for e-Inclusion is devised. Future
research should concentrate on how this can be
realised. Also, since e-Government development
initiatives should be community-centric, there is
need for future studies to concentrate on understanding how community informatics should be
incorporated into such initiatives especially for
the emerging economies.
CONCLUSION
It cannot be denied that the digital divide and eExclusion have been the Achilles heel of many
e-Government initiatives throughout the world,
and especially amongst the emerging countries.
The digital divide has limited the anticipation rate
of e-Government growth in emerging economies
resulting into e-Exclusion. E-Exclusion comes
about when there is no universal access to information because of lack of access to various
information management platforms such as ICTs
and the Internet. Reducing the different kinds of
84
divides amongst the citizenry entails that people

are going to participate in various socio-economic
platforms and in the consolidation of the knowledge economy concept which most emerging
countries vie for.
From the discussions in this chapter, it has been
shown that the digital divide and e-Inclusion/eExclusion share an inextricable link which may
result in less e-Participation and correspondingly
low e-Government penetration and/or social inclusiveness. Zambia has paid particular attention
on putting in place multi-dimensional initiatives
of reducing the different gaps brought about by
the digital divide. This has also included putting
in place some applications which target to pilot
e-Government initiatives. Although this has been
done in good faith, the only limitation is that there
is no deliberate e-Government strategy that aims
at outlining the e-Government implementation and
development roadmap. When an all embracing eGovernment strategy is absent, it is very difficult
to realise effective e-Government implementation
as it does not succeed by chance.
The chapter emphasises that any interventions
to accelerate adoption of technology (ICTs) in
any socio-economic value chain, it should first
target reducing the digital divide. For the case of
Africa (see Table 2) many countries have very
low ICT penetration rates, hence unacceptable
digital divide levels which should first be reduced
if ICTs are to have the desired effect on the people
of the continent. The starting point for reducing
the digital divide involves training the general
citizenry in ICT basics so that they have basic ICT
literacy skills to access information from various
ICT platforms. It is also, desired that Internet
costs are subsidised so that individuals in communities can afford them. There is also need to
ensure that there is adequate ICT infrastructure to
reach all the citizens. Other interventions should
be community-centric so that individuals at the
community level buy-into these ICT applications
and are comfortable to participate in the information society.
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Digital Divide: The disparity (and/or gap) in
the access to ICTs and correspondingly to information resources resulting into social exclusion.
E-Exclusion: This is a situation when people
are not able to access ICTs and therefore are susceptible to missing opportunities that come with
appropriate access to ICTs.
E-Government: Is a platform through which
the government (government line ministries,
branches and organs) interacts with its citizens
and business entities for the sake of exchange
of information, public services and participatory
democracy through the use of ICT platforms.
E-Government Strategy: A set of rules that

guide the implementation of e-Government with
sufficient reference to the local context.
E-Inclusion: This is a situation when citizens
are able to access ICTs and engage in e-Applications. This is synonymous to e-Participation.
E-Participation: This entails engaging
citizens in various aspects of the socio-economic
arrangement by providing conducive environments where citizens are able to engage with the
government using ICTs.
ICT Infrastructure: It encompasses all the
devices, networks, protocols and procedures that
are employed in the telecoms or information
technology fields to foster interaction amongst
different stakeholders.
ENDNOTES

ALA. (2011). Books studies. Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/
oitp/publications/booksstudies/Public_%20
Library_Conn.pdf.
OECD: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
TTC: Tactical Technology Collective
UNDSF: United Nations Digital Solidarity
Fund
89
90
Chapter 5
E-Documents and
E-Signatures in Tanzania:
Their Role, Status, and the Future
Ubena John
Stockholm University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the use of e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania with a view of establishing their legal status, applicability, and the future of such technologies in e-Government systems. That
is important as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is widely employed in Tanzania.
Moreover, the development and application of information systems is influenced by law. Therefore, the
problem investigated is twofold: First, legal status, validity, and admissibility of e-Documents and eSignatures in evidence in Tanzania are questioned. Second, the challenges facing the establishment of
e-Government in Tanzania are explored. The chapter is a qualitative study, i.e. library- and desk-based
research. Various literatures focusing on e-Documents and e-Signatures are reviewed, analysed, and evaluated so as to draw a conclusion on the relevancy of e-Documents and e-Signatures in the e-Government
projects in Tanzania. The literature analysis conducted found that there is a lack of legal framework to
recognize e-Documents and e-Signatures compounded with poor ICT infrastructure in Tanzania. This
scenario puts e-Government endeavours at risk. It is recommended that the government should enact
the laws to recognise e-Documents and e-Signatures to boost e-Commerce as well as e-Government.
INTRODUCTION
The development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for e-Commerce,
e-Government, e-Justice, e-Procurements, etc. in
Tanzania like other countries is generally enabled
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch005
by law. This is true for two reasons: first, the design and realization of information systems must
observe statutory law and case law. That means
the law is a framework for information systems
(Schartum, 2010). Any information system that is
contrary to the law is likely to be illegal. Second,
any government scheme, including e-Government
projects, must be supported by the law (Schartum,
E-Documents and E-Signatures in Tanzania
2010). This chapter explores the legal status of

e-Documents and e-Signature in Tanzania. Since
transactions in the online world revolve around
trust and reliability, establishing legal recognition
of e-Document and e-Signature is necessary. The
central questions therefore are: How reliable is
e-Document? How can the identity of parties
be established? Is e-Document and e-Signature
admissible in evidence? (Sjberg, 2005a, 2005b;
Mambi, 2010). Although, e-Signature may technically be used to achieve information security, it
does not mean that the law recognises it (Norden,
2005).
In investigating the central problem of the
chapter, a qualitative approach involving library
and desk based research method was adopted.
In this context, various literatures focusing on
e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania were
reviewed, analysed, and evaluated so as to draw
on a conclusion on the relevancy of e-Documents
and e-Signatures in the e-Government projects
in Tanzania. Moreover, in attempting to evaluate the status of adoption of e-Documents and
e-Signatures, a comparison was made between
Tanzania and its neighbouring countries, together
with developed countries as well. The methodology therefore proved to be worthwhile as several
lessons were observed in particular on legal recognition of e-Documents and e-Signaturesand its
usefulness to overall e-Government development.
The chapter is organized as follows: first
background of ICT application and its relation
with e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania
is provided. The second part explores the legal
status of e-Documents and e-Signatures. The third
part focuses on changing the legal landscape.
Under this section recommendations are offered
on what the legal system should do to recognize
e-Documents and e-Signatures. The final part
highlights some areas for future studies.
BACKGROUND
Generally, the development of ICT systems for
e-Commerce and e-Government, depend on legal
validity of the e-Document and e-Signature (Schartum, 2010; Sjberg, 2005b). The legal validity
of e-Documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania is
linked with the emergence of commercial banking and liberalisation of the telecommunications
sector. The sections below provide a short history of ICT application including e-Documents,
e-Signatures, e-Government, and e-Commerce
and their related laws in Tanzania. In addition,
the chapter blends the views of other scholars
to support or refute the assumptions put forward
while simultaneously demonstrating authors own
position on the topic.
ICT Applications and Their

Relation with e-Signature and
e-Documents in Tanzania
The development and use of e-Documents and
e-Signatures in Tanzania can be traced from the
history of ICT application in Tanzania. Notably,
the Tanzanian government received the first computer in 1965. That computer was installed at the
Ministry of Finance in Dar es Salaam (Mgaya,
1994). During early 1970s Tanzania sought to
computerise government accounting systems.
However, the project collapsed in 1974 (Mgaya,
1994; Dinar, 1994). The project failed because
the software was not updated, the hardware was
equally obsolete. In addition, there were no sufficient computer literate personnel. On top of that
there was neither any ICT policy nor legislation in
place (Dinar, 1994). The whole project was ambitious endeavour without concrete framework to
guarantee its sustainability. Following the failure
of that project the government banned importation of computers and related equipments in the
country under Government Notice (GN) 142 of
1974 (Mgaya, 1994; Dinar, 1994). Due to scepticism against ICT the government established an
91
Ad hoc Computer Advisory Committee in 1980

to scrutinize applications for computer importation in Tanzania (Dinar, 1994; Mgaya, 1994). As
a result, the Ad Hoc Computer Advisory Committee delayed ICT development and its policy
framework in Tanzania (Mgaya,1994). Thus
information security and e-Evidence issues were
never prioritised in Tanzanias legal system. In
fact, nobody contemplated the challenges that ICTs
would bring in terms of the legal landscape, e.g.
evidence, jurisdiction, and reliability of transactions generally.
The economic liberalisation policies in the
1990s liberalised the banking industry and telecommunications sectors. In order to implement the
liberalisation of telecommunications, an ICT legal
landscape had to be put in place. As a result, the
ban on importation of ICT-related equipments was
finally lifted in 1993 (Moshiro, 2005; Maitland,
2007). Moreover, new policies were adopted and
new laws were passed (Mambi, 2010; Telecommunication Policy, 1997; ICT Policy, 2003; Communications Act, 1993; Prevention of Terrorism
Act, 2002; Tanzania Communication Regulatory
Authority Act, 2003; Fair Competition Act, 2003;
see Table1). Furthermore, the telecommunication
liberalisation legalised private telecom operators
in Tanzania. Thus in 1993, Mobitel (Tigo) became
the first mobile(cellular) operator followed by
Tritel, which was later followed by Vodacom
(in 2000), Celtel (Airtel) in 2001, etc. (Moshiro,
2005; Maitland, 2007)
It is important to note that by 1993, there was
no publicly accessible Internet in Tanzania (Dinar,
1994). Internet access became public around 1995.
And CyberTwiga became the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Tanzania. It was followed
by Raha ISP in 1996 (UNECA, 2002). Although
Internet density is low in Tanzania, from 2000
onwards the number of mobile communications
subscribers has increased exponentially (TCRA
Report, 2009). Moreover, the ICT infrastructure
has improved steadily. Since 2009 the government
has managed to link the country to the global
92
Internet infrastructure via the fibre optic cable

extending from the Republic of South Africa to
Tanzania. These changes brought challenges to the
Tanzanian legal system, in particular on the legal
status of e-Signatures and e-Documents and their
admissibility as electronic evidence (hereinafter
referred to as e-Evidence).
The coming of private telecom operators
meant that IT security and e-Evidence issues
were brought to the fore. Adding to that problem,
Internet came to Tanzania with its cyber worlds
challenges. Tanzanias ICT Policy 2003 notes this
problem and intimated, among other things, that
the government would enact the law to address
among other things cybercrimes. This is yet to
be done. However, one exceptional example is
section 30 and 31 of Prevention of Terrorism Act
which recognises cybercrimes. Thus e-Document
could be admitted as evidence in Terrorism cases.
Under that law telecom operators (ISPs) are
obliged to assist law enforcement agencies in
retrieving evidence from their systems and hence
prosecuting criminals.
The Genesis of e-Signature,

e-Document, and
e-Evidence in Tanzania
All along with the developments of ICT in Tanzania as shown above, there was no amendment
of evidence and procedural laws to recognise eDocuments and e-Signatures. Actually, the matters
of legal validity of e-Document and e-Evidence
never arose until the year 2000. It was in 2000
when the Trust Bank Tanzania Ltd vs. Le-Marsh
Enterprises Ltd, Joseph Mbui Magari, Lawrence
Macharia (2000), (herein referred to as Le-Marsh
Case) was filed before the High Court, Commercial
Division in Dar es Salaam. This was the first case
to entertain the question of e-Evidence in Tanzania.
The issue that raised preliminary objection in the
proceedings of this case was whether electronic
bankers entries are part of the bankers book.
The court admitted electronic bankers entries as
bankers book and therefore admissible in evidence

(see the next section for details).
Nevertheless, the matter of legal recognition
of e-Signature has not been raised in any court
in Tanzania up to now. However, the technical
issues of e-Signatures have been there from the
moment telecom (mobile) operators, ISPs, and
bankers (e-Banking) began to operate in Tanzania (Beder, 2010). Due to the absence of a legal
framework to governance issues of e-Documents
and e-Signatures, the matter has been handled
by the good will of system operators without
involving the courts of law, particularly in maintaining information security including Critical
Information Infrastructure (CII) such as financial
information systems and power plants and the
information they relayed. In this perspective,
cryptography technologies such as e-Signatures
have been deployed as a technical measure to
guarantee information security (confidentiality,
integrity and authenticity) in Tanzania (Chaula,
2006; Mambi, 2010; Beder, 2010).
Despite such lag, the trend indicates that there
are some positive developments are taking place
with regard to ICT law in Tanzania. They include
the Le-Marsh case and several legislations that
have been passed (Table 1). Nonetheless, the Act
No. 15 of 2007(e-Evidence Act) neither defines
the e-Document nor does it mention e-Signature.
Later, in 2010 Parliament enacted Electronic
and Postal Communications Act (No. 3 of 2010)
to reflect the changing ICT world by making some
modifications that define some new crimes such
as those related to Subscriber Identity Module
(SIM) card and communication interception, alteration of computer data, etc (see part VI of Act
No.3 of 2010). Unfortunately, this Act like other
Acts in Tanzania does not define e-Document or
e-Signature. Besides that, the definition of document under section 3 of Tanzania Evidence Act,
No.6 of 1967, Cap 6 RE 2002 (hereinafter referred
to as TEA) despite being amended several times
does not include e-Document (Makulilo, 2006).
Probably this is due to the fact that the Evidence
Act of 1967 was compared to the e-Document

concept, which is of recent origin. Nevertheless, to
keep pace with technology development that Act
ought to be amended to incorporate e-Document
concept. Moreover, the definition of sign under
Interpretation of Laws Act 1996 though it appears
to deal with signature, that definition does not
seem to reflect electronic signature.
Table 1 shows ICT laws in Tanzania. From
the table, it is conspicuous that e-Signature and
cyber crimes legislations are missing.
Before highlighting ICT application it is worth
mentioning that in matters of legal validity and
recognition of e-Document and e-Signature,
Tanzania lags behind in comparison to most
other EAC countries as shown in Table 2.
Application of ICTs in Tanzania

The Ministry of Finance can be singled as one of
the earliest ministries to deploy ICTs in Tanzania
in the public sector. Its history goes back to the
coming of the first computer in the country way
back 1965 (Dinar, 1994). By 2011, the Ministry
has succeeded in computerizing the government
accounting system in the country. In addition,
in July 2010 the Tanzania Interbank Settlement
System (TISS) was introduced (Bank of Tanzania,
2011). According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT),
any person or company can use TISS facilities as
long as his or her bank has TISS. It is equally commendable that new driving licences with electronic
data recording system have started being issued
in Tanzania (Tanzania Revenue Authority, 2010).
Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority (TCRA) are other government agencies
that have embraced e-Government. TANESCO
Customers can pay electricity consumption bills
online (see TANESCO, 2011), while TCRA
permits electronic communications consumers
to file complaints online (TCRA, 2010). These
examples reveal that e-Government has already
been embraced in Tanzania. All these in one way
93
Table 1. Summary of ICT laws in Tanzania

Act and functions
Year Enacted
Case Reported/Application
Tanzania Evidence Act (TEA)
1967
Le Marsh Case 2000, e-Evidence admissible in civil proceedings
Written Laws Miscellaneous Amendment

Act No. 15 (e-Evidence Act)
2007
Cyber Money laundering cases, Tanzania Interbank Settlement System

(TISS)
Electronic and Postal

Communications Act
2010
No case reported
Prevention of Terrorism Act
2002 section
30 and 31
No case reported
Anti Money Laundering Act
2006
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) TISS-cyber money Laundering

case 2011
Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority Act (TCRA) Act
2003
Juma Mpuya vs. Celtel Tanzania Ltd Appeal No.1 of 2007 Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT)
Fair Competition Commission (FCC) Act
2003
The Director of Municipal Council V.MS Alliance Media Appeal No.5

of 2009 (FTC) (pending).
Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Act and Banking

and Financial Institutions (BAFIA) Act: eBanking, mobile banking, EFTs, TISS, etc
2006-
TISS- cyber money Laundering case; Several cybercrimes e.g. computer fraud cases e.g., stealing money on ATMs has been reported see
Mambi 2010:122-132 see also pp. 179-184. see a
Labour Law Acts and Commission for Mediation and Arbitration (CMA)
2004
Communication or filing of various document by e-mails & facsimile

(fax) is permitted
Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act
1999
Protection of both digital and non-digital literary and artistic works and
rule against circumvention of technical means of protection
Arbitration Rules 1957
1957
Tanzania Cotton Marketing Board vs. Corgecot Cotton Company

SA [1997] TLR165-registered post include modern communication
systems
or other deploy e-Documents and e-Signatures,

but what is e-Government and what might be
holding back Tanzania e-Government projects?
E-Government in Tanzania
Schartum (2010) shows how e-Government is
connected with e-Document:
E-government handles electronic documents

as sources of information; they communicate by
means of ICT; they execute automated operations
by means of programs developed to execute their
specific tasks; and they are typically electronic
track of activities (by means of logging, etcetera)
(p. 128).
Table 2. Status of ICT related laws in East Africa (adapted from Mwesigwa, 2009, p. 14)
e-sign
and
e-doc
Consumer
Protection
Privacy
ICT
Crimes
e-Evidence
Copyright
of digital
materials
Electronic
Transac-tions
Online
Dispute
Resolution
Burundi
None
None
None
None
None
No
None
None
Kenya
Yes
Draft
Draft
Draft
None
Yes
Yes
None
Rwanda
Draft
Draft
Draft
Draft
None
No
Draft
None
Tanzania
None
Yes
None
None
Yes
Yes
None
None
Uganda
Yes
Draft
None
Draft
Yes
Yes
Yes
None
94
Section 3(1) of Kenya Communications

(Amendment) Act 2008 provides a definition of
e-Government applications:
e-Government services means public services
provided electronically by a Ministry or Government department, local authority, or anybody
established by or under any law or controlled or
funded by the Government
This definition provides some insights on
development of e-Governance, in particular
ICT-based applications, government actions, and
generally government role in steering participation
and societal advance (Krassmira, 2004).
However, how e-Government is perceived in
various sectors differs. For instance, for the financial sector e-Government brings in among other
merits: Efficient transactions, transparent taxation,
e-banking, secure online trading, Micro-credit
online and International payments (Sawe, 2007).
As for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
e-Government means Access to wider markets,
reduced production costs, improved competitiveness, Supply-chain integration, Access to knowledge, e-Business opportunities (Sawe, 2007).
For the Telecom sector in particular Mobile
technologies, e-Government implies: Community
oriented communication services, locally relevant
information, shared/pooled facilities, wealth creation options, support via peering, opening the hinterlands (Sawe, 2007). Above all, mobile phones
are increasingly operating as banking terminals
(Vodacom M-Pesa in Tanzania: Vodacom Ltd,
2010). National Microfinance Bank (NMB) has
introduced another system where its mobile bank
customer can transfer money to a recipient who
does not have a bank account and that recipient
can withdraw cash from its ATM without using
ATM card (NMB, 2011).
Despite its merits, e-Government faces a
variety of impediments, such as legislative and
regulatory barriers, policy inconsistencies, institutional traditionalism, bureaucracy and lack
of action, budgetary frameworks, digital divide,

and government and citizens inability to take
advantage of the advance of ICT (Yonazi, et al.,
2010), especially now that many citizens have
mobile phones.
The legislative impediments to e-Government
and e-Commerce include among other things:

Absence of law defining e-Document. The

document definition found under section
3 of TEA 1967 (Cap 6 RE 2002) does not
include e-Document.
Moreover, there is no provision in the law
defining e-Signature. However, Tanzanias
neighbouring countries of Kenya and
Uganda have enacted laws that recognise
e-Signatures and e-Documents. The Kenya
Communication (Amendment) Act 2008
under sections 83S provides that e-Signature can be used by the government agents
in their discharge of functions in particular
when deploying e-Government systems.
To address the above matters, the legal recognition of e-Document and e-Signature ought to
be established (see Table 3). To appreciate the
validity and legal status of e-Signature and eDocument in Tanzania, one has to explore the
contributions of various stakeholders decrying
the lack of legal recognition of e-Signature and
e-Document. They raised alarm to reform the
legal framework. The section below elaborates
the groups and their respective contribution.
Role of Government and

Legislators in Changing the
Legal Status of e-Signature
and e-Document in Tanzania
It is explicit that the government and legislators
in Tanzania have played a significant role in
changing the ICT legal framework. Examples
include telecommunication liberalisation under
Communication Act 1993, Telecommunication
95
Table 3. Status of e-signatures and e-documents legislations in East Africa

Country
e-Signature and e-Document legislation
Associated with e-Government
Kenya
Yes, Comm. Amendment Act 2008
Yes see s.3(1)&83S
Tanzania
No
No
Uganda
Yes, e-Signatures Act 2010
Yes
Policy 1997, ICT Policy 2003, TCRA Act 2003,

and others (see Table 1). However, these efforts
are inadequate because in Tanzania, e-Signatures
and e-Documents still lack legal recognition
despite supporting prospects for successful eGovernment and e-Commerce. Besides, trust in
the online world can be guaranteed by deploying
e-Signature (Kenya Communication Amendment
Act, 2008; Mambi, 2010). Thus, denying legal
recognition of e-Signatures and e-Documents is
a serious anomaly.
Judicial Role in Filling the

Gaps left by Legislators
The Le-Marsh cases ruling that e-Evidence is
admissible and that definition of bankers books
extends to electronic ones proves that the judiciary
at least in common law countries like Tanzania
fill the legislative gaps. The court cannot manage
to shut its eyes when it sees that there are new
technologies such computers that have a significant role in evidence, commerce, and government
(Mambi, 2010; Makulilo, 2006).
Role of Lobby Groups in Legal

Recognition of e-Signature and
e-Document in Tanzania
Many groups have played a role in reforming ICT
legal framework in Tanzania, but a great contribution came from eThinkTank. That group since
2000 has played a significant role in formulating
National ICT Policy 2003 (Ntiro, 2000). Another
group is the East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EA IGF) catering for Internet governance
96
in EA. The EAC Cyber Law Task Force is yet

another group working on harmonization of ICT
laws in East Africa. The EAC Task Force on Legal
Framework of Cyber Laws in EAC has proposed
harmonization of ICT Laws in 2 phases:

Phase 1: Electronic Transactions,

Electronic Signatures and Authentications,
Data Protection and Privacy, Consumer
Protection and Computer Crime.
Phase 2: Intellectual Property Rights,
Domain Names, Taxation and Freedom of
Information. As a result, the Task Force
has made an initiative to establish in each
country among the EAC member states the
Computer Emergency Response Teams
(CERT) (Mwesigwa, 2009; Kisambira,
2010).
And finally is the Law Reform Commission of

Tanzania (LRCT). The LRCT has been instrumental in pushing for the enactment of the Electronic
Evidence Amendment Act No.15 of 2007, EPCA
Act No.3 of 2010 and in reforming various other
laws in Tanzania.
These groups have been in the frontline persuading the government of Tanzania to enact
e-Signature and e-Document legislation (Mambi,
2010; Mwesigwa, 2009; EA IGF 2009).
Despite the efforts of some actors as indicated
above, still e-Signature lacks legal recognition and
validity in Tanzania. The section below explores
this problem in details.
LEGAL STATUS OF E-DOCUMENTS

AND E-SIGNATURES IN TANZANIA
The legislation in Tanzania has neither defined
e-Document nor e-Signature. The value of eDocument or e-Signature in evidence may thus
be disputed. Documentary evidence is provided
for under the TEA, which was limited to paper
based documents (Makulilo, 2006; Mambi, 2010;
See also TEA 1967 s.64, 66 and 67). However,
sections 33 and 34 of Written Laws Miscellaneous
Amendment Act, No. 15 of 2007 (e-Evidence Act)
amended section 76 TEA 1967 and established new
sections 40A and 78A. The amendment provides
for admissibility of electronic evidence in criminal
proceedings. However, that Act does not provide
for the admissibility of e-Signature. Nor does it
provide for admissibility of electronic evidence
including e-Documents in civil proceedings.
Although the problem seems to have been
addressed in the Le-Marsh cases ruling to the effect that electronic evidence is admissible in civil
proceeding in Tanzania, it must be stated that the
case did not address the question of admissibility
of e-Signature as evidence. Considering the central
role of ICTs in e-Government and e-Commerce
one may argue that specific legislation ought to be
enacted to provide for legal status of e-Signature
in Tanzania.
The law ought to define the limits and framework as to how e-Document and e-Signature
can be used. In case of dispute, the law must
stipulate parameters on which and how the same
is to be admitted before the court of law (Napier,
1992). Parallel to that is the question of privacy,
how is citizens privacy secured when using eGovernment system? This is in view of the fact
that e-Government and e-Commerce involve processing of personal data. Privacy law delimits collection; processing and dissemination of personal
information (see also EU Data Directive, 1995).
Presumably, it will not be a problem to Tanzania
as there is no privacy legislation. Nevertheless,
there must be a law establishing rights and duties
of actors in the e-Government environment. That

law must set parameters under which the government can facilitate citizens privacy (see Article 16
of the United Republic of Tanzania Constitution
1977 as amended).
With regard to ICT security measures, the
sectors (banking, commerce, and government)
normally deploy technical measures to maintain
trust, confidence and security in the digital world
(Beder, 2010). Such measures include deploying
e-Signature in particular Public Key Infrastructure
(PKI) and encryption technologies e.g., Secure
Electronic Transactions (SET), and Secure Socket
Layer (SSL) protocol (Beder, 2010). It is important
to note that up to the time of writing this chapter, e-Signatures still lacked legal recognition in
Tanzania.
Confirming the problem above, the Tanzania
National ICT Policy 2003 under section 2.4.2
states inter alia that:
the legal framework does not provide adequate
safeguards to create an environment of trust for
e-business transactions to take place
Indicating how important legal framework is,
the 2003 ICT Policy under section 3.5.1 adds that:
For secure electronic transactions to occur,
an environment of trust must be created and sustained through the legal and regulatory apparatus.
Cybercriminals around the world are constantly
seeking loopholes through which to perform illegal or illicit businesses. Any country that has
inadequate cyber law is essentially offering a safe
haven for cyber criminals to act with impunity
The policy had envisioned the possible problems that might arise if Tanzania keeps on adopting
ICT in commerce and government without any
legal framework. The policy emphasized that:
Tanzania needs to create and sustain a secure
cyber law environment in addition to already
97
existing legislation, before any significant new

developments can emerge in ICT related service
(ICT Policy, 2003, Section 3.5.1).
The ICT Policy 2003 recommendations have
partially been implemented. However, there are
only four important legislations passed to date,
i.e. TCRA Act, Fair Competition Act, Electronic
Evidence Amendment Act (2007) and Electronic
and Postal Communication Act (EPOCA) (EPOCA, 2010). It has been 8 years since the ICT
Policy was adopted but there is neither cybercrimes
legislation nor any legal framework to recognize
electronic documents and e-Signatures in Tanzania
(Mambi, 2010). This is quite opposite to Uganda,
where the Parliament on 7th October 2010 passed
Computer Misuse Bill into Law.
Writing and e-Documents in Tanzania

This subsection focuses on the questions relating to paper and e-Documents (European Forum
Gazette, 2007, p. 4):
1. What is the relation of the electronic version
to the paper version of the document?
2. What kind of technical tools are available for
the authentication of electronic documents?
3. What kind of reliable processes are necessary in the production and distribution of
electronic documents?
4. What is the quality control in the production
chain?
5. Which tools and methods of authentication
are generic and are used in other countries?
6. What level of reliability and authenticity is
sufficient?
To start with, what is writing? The definition of
writing in Tanzania presumes that writing either
handwritten or typesetting, etc. is generally in a
paper or tangible form (see definition of document
under s.3 of TEA; Mambi, 2010, pp. 105-106).
98
The Interpretation of Laws Act of 1996 defines

writing broadly, which might be interpreted to
include electronic record/document (see section
4 of that Act);
Writing and any expression referring to writing include printing lithography, typewriting,
photography and other modes of representing or
reproducing words in visible form;
Moreover, the emphasis is on visible form
as opposed to tangible and permanent form as
required under TEA. Nevertheless, the Kenya
Communication Amendment Act provides that
where there is a requirement for writing then
electronic records suffice (See section 83G dealing with legal recognition of electronic records).
However, there are exceptions to this general rule.
These exceptions are found under section 83B
and they include Wills, Negotiable Instruments
and Document of Title. These three aspects have
been exempted from electronic transactions and
therefore are not covered under the Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2008.
Section 83J of that Act provides for validity
and enforceability of contracts including electronic
contracts. In contrast, Tanzanian laws e.g., Law
of Contract Act (Cap 345 RE, 2002) and Sale of
Goods Act (Cap 215 RE, 2002) do not recognize
electronic contracts (Mambi, 2010, pp. 105-106).
On the other hand, the situation in Uganda is
somewhat similar to Kenya, that a digitally signed
document is equivalent to paper document with
a handwritten signature (section 15 of Uganda eSignatures Act passed on the 22nd October 2010).
The Act provides further that a digitally signed
document shall be deemed to be original document
(section 16 of Uganda e-Signatures Act 2010).
What is a document? The Tanzania Interpretation of Laws Act 1996 under s.4 provides that:
document includes any publication and any
matter written, expressed, or described upon any
substance by means of letters, figures, or marks,
or by more than one of those means, which is intended to be used or may be used for the purpose
of recording that matter...
Section 3 of TEA provides that:
document means any writing, handwriting,
typewriting, printing, photostat, photograph, and
every recording upon any tangible thing, any form
of communication or representation by letters,
figures, marks or symbols or by more than one of
these means, which may be used for the purpose of
recording any matter provided that such recording
is reasonably permanent and readable by sight
The controversial part of that definition which
seems to ignore e-Documents is recording upon
any tangible thing and permanent form (Makulilo, 2006).
Section 3 of TEA provides further that
documentary evidence means all documents
produced as evidence before the court The
document in this context means paper documents
(Mambi, 2010; Makulilo, 2006).
Electronic document is defined as data that
is recorded or stored on any medium in or by a
computer system or other similar device and that
can be read or perceived by a person or a computer system or other similar device. It includes a
display, print out or other output of that data
(European Forum of Official Gazette, 2007, p.
11; Eriksson, 2005, pp. 246-248).
Another definition provided by Sjberg
(2005b, p. 415) says:
A document has three parts (a) layout (style), (b)
structure, and (c) contents. Layout means how the
information is presented on a screen or on paper;
Structure means, document components such as
chapters, headings, paragraphs, etc. Content is a
label for the information associated with a document represented in the form. Therefore, document
in a textual context is described as meaningful

collection of data.
Nevertheless, the value of a document (paper
document or e-Document) is attached to its authenticity and its admissibility in evidence.
Authentication of Documents
The European Forum of Official Gazette (2007,
p. 9) defines the issues of authenticity as follows:
Authentic implies being fully trustworthy
as according with fact and with regard to documents in law, authenticity (Greek: ,
from authentes=author) is the truthfulness of
origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, and
intentions; not a copy or forgery Authenticity refers to the quality and credibility of the
electronic document. It has something in common with genuineness, legitimacy, undisputed
credibility, believability. It goes on to say that:
A reliable document or an authentic document
is a document endowed with trustworthiness.
Specifically, trustworthiness is conferred to a
document by its degree of completeness and the
degree of control on its creation procedure and/
or its authors reliability... (p. 9).
Authentication of Paper
Documents in Tanzania
There are various methods of authenticating paper
documents in Tanzania including the following:

Signature: where a document is required

to bear a handwritten signature-, e.g., in
contracts, land disposition, mortgages,
marriage certificates, etc.
Headed paper: some companies in their
transactions use headed paper to authenticate their documents.
Official stamp: for some companies, unless the document bears the company seal
99
or official stamp, their paper documents

cannot be legally valid. For example, the
judgment of any court must bear a signature
and a court seal (Tanzania Civil Procedure
Code Act, 1966; Cap 33 RE, 2002).
Specific form: Some documents to be authentic they must be in a special form (e.g.
Tanzania land registration Act, Cap 334
RE, 2002).
Notarized by notary public and commissioner for oaths: (See Notaries Public and
Commissioners for Oaths Act, Cap 12 RE,
2002; Advocates Act, Cap 341 RE, 2002).
For example, affidavits must be signed by a
commissioner for oaths. Also, photocopies
of official documents have to be notarized.
Authenticating e-Documents
in Tanzania
The methods of authenticating e-Documents are
different from those of paper-based documents.
As a result, this affects even the definition of
authentication in an electronic environment. It is
fair to point out that ...the authenticity of electronic legal documents has to be analyzed in the
framework of information security and general
security attributes of electronic documents. The
relevant security attributes of electronic legal
documents are:

Integrity
Authenticity
Availability
Utility (usefulness)
Control... (see European Forum of Official
Gazette, 2007, p. 5).
The European Forum of Official Gazette (2007,

p. 9) defines authentication of e-Documents as a
process of verifying that a document or message
is authentic and that it had not been altered in
route from the producer of the document to the
recipient(s) Authentication systems have become
100
an essential part of electronic commerce and

e-Government. Based on a range of encryption
techniques, digital signature systems allow organizations and individuals to electronically certify the
authenticity of an electronic document. Another
meaning of authentication is the authorization of
a person to access an electronic system.
It adds further that, Authenticity in the digital
world means that the digital material is what it
purports to be (European Forum of Official Gazette, 2007, p. 8).
Similarly, the International Standards Organization (ISO) standard on records management
(ISO 15489) defines authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability in the following terms. (ISO
15489 as cited by European Forum of Official
Gazette, 2007, pp. 5-6):

An authentic record is one that can be

proven to be what it purports to be; to have
been created or sent by the person purported to have created or sent it; to have been
created or sent at the time purported.
A reliable record is one whose contents can
be trusted as a full and accurate representation of the transactions, activities or facts
to which they attest and can be depended
upon in the course of subsequent transactions or activities.
The integrity of a record refers to its being
complete and unaltered.
A useable record is one that can be located,
retrieved, presented and interpreted
On the other hand, the Kenya Communication

(Amendment) Act 2008 s. 3(1) provides as follows:
electronic record means a record generated
in digital form by an information system, which
can be transmitted within an information system
or from one information system to another and
stored in an information system or other medium;
Section 83G of that Act provides for legal recognition of electronic records. The section provides
inter alia that:
Where any law provides that information or other

matter shall be in writing, then notwithstanding
anything contained in such law, such requirement
shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such
information or matter is:
a. rendered or made available in an electronic
form; and
b. accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent
reference.
Notably, e-Signature is often used for authenticating e-Documents because it possesses Confidentiality, Integrity, and Authenticity qualities
(see Kenya Communications Amendment Act,
2008; Uganda E-Signatures Act, 2010; Mambi,
2010; Norden, 2004). The e-Signature in particular
PKI is a commonest technology for guaranteeing
security and trust in an online environment. The
section below explores the concept of e-Signature
in Tanzania.
Electronic Signatures in Tanzania

A signature is a mark whose purpose is to bind
the signor to the information he or she is signing.
(Reeds, 2000; MacCullagh, 2001; Norden, 2005;
Mambi, 2010, pp. 101-105). Signature in the context of contract law was devised for purposes of
proving the content and parties to the agreement.
However, e-Signature cannot serve that purpose.
Signature also plays a role in evidence. This is
important considering the fact that disputes may
arise in any particular contract. It must be remembered that a contract can be valid but rendered
unenforceable for failure to meet some procedural
requirements set by law such as a signature. For
example, in Tanzania the sale of goods has to be
in writing (Sale of Goods Act, Cap 215 RE, 2002;
LRCT, 2003). In other instances, the law stipulates
that, for validity purposes, certain documents must
be signed by hand e.g., Title deeds.
In Tanzanian legal system, the term sign is

defined under the Interpretation of Laws Act of
1996 Cap 1 RE (2002), to mean a mark authenticating a document or contract, etc. However, it
is important to note that the Tanzania Interpretation of law Act of 1996 does not define what is
signature but it defines sign under section 4 of
that Act as follows:
Sign with its grammatical variations and
cognate expressions, includes with reference to
a person who is unable to write his name, mark,
with its grammatical variations and cognate
expressions
The definitions above do not include digital
signature. However if sign means a mark then it
implies that the definition may be extended to
scanned copies of handwritten signature. But this
depends on how the court will interpret the term
signature. What is clear though is that the definitions above ignore electronic signature, which is
based on algorithm such as PKI.
What is e-Signature?
The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act
2008 s.3 (1) defines e-Signature as:
electronic signature means data in electronic
form affixed to or logically associated with other
electronic data which may be used to identify the
signatory in relation to the data message and to
indicate the signatorys approval of the information contained in the data message
Thus, e-Signature signifies all methods through
which one can legally sign electronic data (Norden,
2008, p. 150; Mambi, 2010). To achieve equal legal
significance between ordinary and e-Signatures
there must be functional equivalence.
Functional equivalence means that e-Signature should be accorded the same evidential weight
as hand written signature. E-Signature should
101
not be discriminated or should not be inadmissible simply because it is e-Signature. For that
reason, the Tanzania legal systems should enact
legislations to cater for functional equivalence
philosophy of signature (UNCITRAL, 2001). In
elaborating the signature concept, one may add
the rationale of signature.
Rationale of e-Signature
The e-Signature rationale is to secure authenticity,
integrity and non-repudiation. Such rationale is
useful for both e-Government and e-Commerce
(section 83P of Kenya Communication Amendment Act 2008 provides for legal recognition of
electronic signature-but it limits application of
signature to Advanced electronic signatures).
Authenticity in digital environments means
a guarantee that the data is from the purported
source, while integrity, on the other hand, means
that the data has not been changed or altered after
it was signed, and non-repudiation ideally means
that the signor of the document or data is barred
from falsely denying the message (Norden, 2005,
p. 150; see sections 83P, see also s. 83O of Kenya
Communication Amendment Act).
The benefits of using digital signatures are that
it is easily transportable, not easily repudiated,
cannot be imitated by someone else, and can be
automatically time-stamped (European Forum of
Official Gazette, 2007, p. 10).
E-Signature is used as a method of authentication. The EU e-Signatures directive (Directive
1999/93/EC) defines an e-Signature as Data in
electronic form which is attached to or logically
associated with other electronic data and which
serves as a method of authentication
Electronic signature is also used as a method
of identification. For that matter, it is used to identify the sender of a message or of the signatory
of a document. It can also be used to ensure the
integrity of the original content of a document or
message. UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic
Signatures (2001) defines e-Signature as data in
102
electronic form affixed to or logically associated with, a data message, which may be used
to identify the signatory in relation to the data
message and to indicate the signatorys approval
of the information contained in the data message
(See also s. 3 and 83P of Kenya Communication
Amendment Act, 2008).
Despite advantages of e-Signature, there is
divergence in legal and technical notions of eSignature as indicated in Table 4.
Legal Enforcement of e-Signatures

It is the duty of a particular legal system to ensure
that e-Signature based on particular criteria meets
requirements set by the law. Hence e-Signature
in electronic environment satisfies the purpose
similar to handwritten signature. In addition to
that, there is non-discrimination rule. It means
e-Signature should not be denied its legal validity
simply because it is in electronic form. Similarly,
the e-Signature should be admissible in evidence
before the court of law (EC e-Signature Directive,
1999; UNCITRAL, 2001).
It is for this reason that we emphasize that
Tanzanias legal system ought to recognise eSignatures before actors in e-Government or
e-Commerce employ e-Signatures. Moreover,
it is unclear whether section 33 of the Tanzania
Written Laws Miscellaneous Amendment Act
No. 15 of 2007, establishing new section 40A
of TEA, can be invoked or interpreted broadly
to include relevancy and admissibility of electronic signatures in criminal proceedings. But
there is nothing to limit such interpretation if the
court decides to interpret it broadly. As for civil
proceedings such as e-Commerce, the resort can
be made to the Le-Marsh case cited above. The
absence of e-Signature legislation in Tanzania is
detrimental to the development of e-Government
and e-Commerce because the way legislation
describes e-Signature matters a lot, considering
that there are varieties of e-Signatures with different qualities.
Types of e-Signatures
Amendment Act, 2008). Article 2.2 of the EU eSignature Directive, directive1999/93/EC defines
advanced e-Signature as:
Before we make the classification of e-Signatures,

it is important to disclaim that the categorisation
of e-Signatures adopted in this chapter may differ
from those adopted by other scholars. Therefore,
it should not be surprising that the latter may embody more than what has been expressed here. For
that reason the signatures described here should
not be taken to be the only types of e-Signatures
available. The technology world may devise or
might have developed other e-Signatures, which
are not discussed in this chapter.
Having underlined the above disclaimer let
us now turn to classification of e-Signature. The
Classification of e-Signatures could be done either
basing it on legislation (e.g., Advance e-Signature,
Qualified e-Signature, etc.) or technology (e.g.,
PKI, XML, Biometrics-RFID, etc).
a. it is uniquely linked to the signatory;

b. it is capable of identifying the signatory;
c. it is created using means that the signatory can
maintain under his sole control; and
d. it is linked to the data to which it relates in
such a manner.
Qualified e-Signatures on the other hand,
consists of an advanced electronic signature based
on a qualified certificate and created by a secure
signature creation device and needs to comply
with specific requirements of qualified certificates
as provided for under Annex I of EC e-Signature
directive, Directive 1999/93/EC (European Forum
of Official Gazette, 2007, pp. 10-11).
The other kinds of signatures make use of
biometrics such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The purpose of using of biometric
signature is to verify the identity of the signer
(Kuusiniemi, 2000). For that reason, scanning of
fingerprint, iris, or voice recognition is employed.
In developed countries, biometrics signature is
used in RIFD passports and other identity cards.
In order to maintain trust in open networks such
as the Internet, ways of establishing the mechanisms of linking persons with their e-Signatures
were devised. One such way of achieving this is
Unsecured, Advanced, and Qualified

Electronic Signatures
Unsecured e-Signatures are the ones whose
production is based on mechanisms or devices
other than secure e-Signature device. In addition, there are other types of signatures such as
advanced e-Signature and qualified electronic
signature. In this respect, an advanced or secure
e-Signature connects the signature more closely
with the signatory. A secure e-Signature is defined
as an electronic signature that results from the
application of a technology or process prescribed
by regulations (See Kenya Communication
Table 4. Signature classified basing on technology
Type of e-sign
Technology used
Vendors
Proprietary
XML e-sign, XadES, OpenXAdES
XML
W3C
No
RFID Sign
RFID
Yes
SHA-0, SHA-1, SHA-2, SH-3
Secure Hash Algorithm
NSA & NIST
No
Portable Document Format-PDF
PDF
Adobe
Yes
PCKS#7-PCKS#15
Public Key Cryptography

Standards
RSA Security
103
by deploying e-Signature especially PKI. The

PKI involves Trusted Third Parties (TTPs) such
as Certification Authorities (CAs) (see part IV of
Uganda Electronic Signatures Act 2010; Mambi,
2010, pp.103-105).
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

While PKI represents an example of a group of
e-Signatures that have both technical and legal
attributes, there is still a controversy between
legal and technical notions of e-Signature. The
sub section below illuminates this controversy
and thereafter there is a detour through the PKI
in its broad perspective.
Legal vs. Technical Notion

of e-Signature
The differences between legal and technical notion of e-signature are often taken for granted.
Nevertheless, such differences exist and can be
explained. First, it is important to mention that a
legally valid e-signature combines both technical
digital signature and legal recognition.
Technical e-Signature/Digital Signature

Used to secure technical purpose e.g.

Integrity
Authenticity
Identification of sender of message / signatory of document
Use:

secure data banks, databases, online shops
and critical information systems

secure communication
e.g. e-mails, web authentication, etc

The bridging of technical digital signature
and legal concept of e-signature creates a legally
valid e-signature.
104
Legal e-Signature
Its purpose is creating a legally valid and recognized signature e.g.

Use:

Sign contract
Sign banker order
Authorize invoice
Evidence before the court of law
Indicate consent & Bind parties
Prove authority (see Norden, 2005, p. 153).
Technical concept of e-Signature (digital signature) differs from the legal notion of e-Signature.
The e-Signature (digital) in technical perspective
is used to achieve integrity and authenticity. For
an ICT developer, the term e-Signature can be
used interchangeably with digital signature. The
legal notion of e-Signature, on the other hand, is
to create legally binding e-Signature (See Table
4; Norden, 2005, pp. 152-154). For instance,
the USA e-Signature Act defines e-Signature as
intent to sign, while under the Swedish Qualified
e-Signature Act e-Signature is legally valid if it
secures identity and integrity (Norden & Sjberg,
2004, pp. 81-95).
It must be admitted that there are some
anomalies existing in some legislation that define
e-Signature while in mind they mean digital signature. When we speak of digital-signature, we are
referring, to among other things, technologies such
as PKI. The e-Signature concept, on the other hand
is broad in scope as it include digital signature,
name in e-mail, PIN code (Bank card PIN code,
password), digital/scanned copy of handwritten
signature, RFID signature, etc. (Norden, 2005, p.
151; Mambi, 2010, pp. 95-105).
PKI is based on Public Key cryptography
represented by mathematical or algorithms keys.
Cryptography (i.e., encryption) is a technique of
disguising information. The process of opening
such information to render it intelligible is called
decrypting. These two processes are achieved by
using keys (Mambi, 2010, pp. 103-105). Keys

are measured in bits. There are two types of
cryptographic keys: public key and private key.
Symmetric Key Cryptography (see Figure1) uses
a single key (private key) to encrypt and decrypt
the message, but this is not a very trustworthy
method as the key may be lost. Another complication is that users have to agree before starting to
use the key. Furthermore, the method is not good
for achieving non-repudiation function. Examples
of private key algorithm are AES, DES, IDEA,
etc. (Norden, 2005, pp. 156-157; Adobe Systems
Incorporated, 2007; Mambi, 2010, p. 105).
Since symmetric cryptography has potential
flaws, the encryption of a message by both private
key (secret key) and public key encryption was
invented. This is called Asymmetric Cryptography.
It uses the two keys that are corresponding to each
other. That is, if the message is encrypted by
private key (X) then it must be decrypted by
public key (Y). However, it is important to note
that, the keys cannot be obtained from one another. Moreover, the public key can be published
while the private key must be kept secret. That
being the case, only the holder of private key can
be able to decrypt the message (Norden, 2005,
pp. 156-157; Mambi, 2010).
The major advantage of asymmetric cryptography is that, it is possible for parties who do not
have previous arrangement to enter into business
and exchange information without worrying about
security of their transaction online (Norden, 2005,
pp. 156-157). Nevertheless, public key cryptography is comparatively slow. Therefore, it is
unsuitable for encrypting long messages. A good
example of public key algorithm is RSA (Adobe
Systems Incorporated, 2007).
The merit of public key algorithms is that they
can be deployed for creating digital signature.
What is important to keep in mind is that one
should first calculate the hash function. Hash is
a fixed size-number from which the original message cannot be re-constituted. The Famous hash
is, MD5-Message Digest Algorithm 5 and SHA-1
Secure Hash Algorithm 1, SHA-256. Thereafter,
the sender encrypts the hash with the message
using the private key, which is attached to the
original message. The recipient will decrypt the
hash by using the senders public key. Finally, the
recipient must recompute the hash on the message
and compare the two hashes to see if they match.
If the two hashes match, the recipients can be sure
of the identity of the senders private key and they
can also be sure that the message has not been
Figure 1. Symmetric cryptography
105
altered (Norden, 2005, p. 158; Adobe Systems

Incorporated, 2007; Uganda Signature Act, 2010;
Kenya Communication Amendment Act, 2008).
Perhaps it is opportune to make an observation
about Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) families.
The US National Institute for Standards and
Technology (NIST) in 2007 initiated a new hash
algorithm, i.e. SHA-3 to be implemented in 2012.
Such endeavour is inevitable considering the vulnerabilities of SHA families (e.g., code breaking
which affects other SHA families). Since SHA-3
is yet to be adopted its future is unclear. Nevertheless, the change from SHA-2 to SHA-3 will not
have significant impacts on the legal framework
of e-Signature in countries where there is already
e-Signature and e-Evidence legislation. Besides,
most of e-Signature legislations are technology
neutral (e.g., EU e-Signature Directive 1999,
UNCITRAL Model law on e-Signature 2001,
Uganda e-Signatures Act 2010).
Before exploring digital certificates and TTPs,
it is important to mention that digital signatures
offer a possibility to ensure that data has not been
altered (integrity). However, they do not guarantee
correctness or accuracy of data. Moreover, digital signatures do not secure confidentiality even
though the use of PKI provides a possibility of
encryption that in turn guarantees confidentiality
(Norden, 2005, p. 158).
So far we have not tied identities of parties to
e-Transactions and their e-Signatures. We need to
know who is behind the signature. PKI resolves
the problem by providing a technical verifiable
ground under which keys can be tied to specific
individuals or corporations. Such technical verification is done through digital certificates (Uganda
e-Signature Act, 2010). Trusted Third Parties
(TTPs) or Certification Authorities are responsible
for issuing digital certificates.
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Trusted Third Parties (TTPs)

or Certification Authorities
(CAs): Lessons for Tanzania
While Tanzania does not have any legislation that
provides for CAs and their liabilities (Mambi,
2010), Ugandas e-Signature Act provides that the
government will create an agency that will be responsible for registration of CAs (see sections 21,
22, 23, 38, 40, 42, and 45 of Uganda e-Signature
Act). The CAs or Certification Service Providers
(CSPs) are the ones who verify the keys and issue
digital certificates. The certificates associate individuals and their keys. Such authorities maintain
registers of users. Moreover, the CAs have powers
not only to issue certificates but also to revoke
them (section 8 of Uganda e-Signature Act, 2010).
It is explicit that there must be a contract between
certification authority and certificate holder (see
section 58 of Uganda e Signature Act, 2010).
Revocation occurs when either the private key
has been lost or compromised or when certificate
entries or data have changed. Where the certificate is revoked the CA has a duty to publish such
information so that other parties do not rely on
the revoked certificate (Uganda e-Signature Act,
2010; Norden, 2005, pp. 159-173; Adobe Systems
Incorporated, 2007).
Depending on the e-Signature legislation, the
CA can have several liabilities. The CA will be
liable, for instance, where it fails to publish notice
of revocation of digital certificate (see section
70 of Uganda e-Signature Act, 2010). This is
particularly the case where it had already been
notified that the key has been compromised. As a
consequence, the CA can pay damages to relying
parties for such negligence. The liabilities could
be high, depending on the law of a particular
country (Norden, 2005, pp. 159-173; section 75
of Uganda e-Signature Act).
Certificate Holder
Certificate holder is any natural or legal person to
whom a digital certificate is issued (see section 49
to 59 of Uganda e-Signature Act). Among the rights
certificate holder has, is to be granted a certificate
and the keys. However, such a certificate holder
has an obligation to keep the private key secret
(see section 58 and 59 of Uganda e-Signature
Act). And if the private key is compromised, the
certificate holder has to notify the CA for revocation of the certificate. In case she/he fails to notify
the CA about the compromise of the key, then
the certificate holder will incur liability for such
negligence and may thus pay damages under the
contract and negligence (Uganda e-Signature Act,
2010; Norden, 2005, pp. 159-170; Adobe Systems
Incorporated, 2007).
Relying Party
Relying party is a person who relies on the eSignature and the certificate issued. It is the duty
of the relying party to check the validity of the
digital certificate before relying on a particular
certificate or e-Signature. The purpose of this is to
ensure that the certificate has not been revoked or
has not expired (see section 62, 63, 67, and 73 of
Uganda e-Signature Act). Moreover, verification
is a way of ensuring that the certificate has been
signed by the CA. Last but not least, checking eSignature or certificate provides room to observe
any restrictions on the usage or any other limitations of liability in the certificate or signature.
Any failure to check the validity of the certificate
and signature will be at relying partys own risk
(see section 6 and 74 of Uganda e-Signature Act).
Time Stamping
It is important to point out that, time stamp is created by using a digital signature and hash function
(Schatz, 2007). Time stamping is a process of
securely keeping track of time for the creation
and modification of a document (see section 78 of

Uganda e-Signature Act, 2010). Time Stamping
Authority (TSA) is a trusted third party issuing
timestamp services. Provided the time stampers
integrity is never compromised, the process is
advantageous as it bars persons from changing
the document or data once it has been recorded.
Time stamping indicates time (when) the document
was created or signed. It also verifies whether the
document has been modified or not since the time
the signature was signed (Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2007; Uganda e-Signature Act, 2010).
Thus, time stamping is used to prove the
existence of certain data before a certain point
(e.g., contracts, research data, tendering, medical records, etc.) without the possibility that the
owner can backdate the timestamp (Wikipedia,
2010). Time stamping offers component of nonrepudiation. This feature makes time stamping
useful in e-Commerce and e-Government and all
other types of transactions that involve deadlines
or where time is of essence. Although the above
section indicates that e-Signatures are useful, they
have considerable challenges that should be noted
and managed.
Problems Associated
with e-Signatures
To begin with, an e-Signature is not connected
to the content of a document in any physical
way. Meaning that e-Signature does not prove
the truthiness or correctness of the content of the
document (Norden, 2005). While a hand-written
signature is normally connected to the content of
a document signed. The other problem associated
with e-Signatures is that an e-Signature is aging.
The increasing computing power, the possibility
of networking, and progress of cryptography contribute to the weakening of electronic signatures,
i.e. electronically signed documents may lose their
probative value over the years. The electronic
signatures usually have a limited time of validity
(European Forum of Official Gazette, 2007, p.
107
18). Further, the problem relates to time stamping.

The computer clock is not reliable and therefore
it can be manipulated (Schatz, 2007). Moreover,
SHA-families can be broken. This is evidenced
by a move from SHA-0, SHA-1, SHA-2, and now
there is a proposal for SHA-3 (see NIST, 2007).
Last, but by no means the least, is the problem
of document reform and data transfer. Normally,
e-Signatures break when changing the document
format. It is importance to mention that due to
technological advancement, efforts to secure
harmonization and promulgation of new legal
guidelines for e-Signatures often cause changes
of user data and signature formats over the years.
Equally problematic are changes of electronically
signed document formats. Experience shows
that the changing of format breaks the original
signature. The other challenge is the problem of
digitalization of paper documents. For that matter, a document with a hand written signature if
digitized, the signature loses its validity (European Forum of Official Gazette, 2007, p. 18). It is
doubtless that at this juncture the chapter has not
explored the concept of e-Evidence. Therefore,
the section below explores e-Evidence and how
it relates with e-Signatures and e-Documents.
Admissibility of Electronic
Evidence in Tanzania
There is no explicit definition of an electronic
document nor is there a definition of electronic
evidence in Tanzanian legislation. However, such
state of affairs does not mean that electronic evidence is inadmissible before the courts of law in
Tanzania. Electronic evidence is admissible both
in criminal and civil proceedings in Tanzania.
However, the legal framework for their admissibility is controversial.
Section 3 of TEA defines evidence and documentary evidence as:
evidence denotes the means by which an alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted
108
to investigation, is proved or disproved; and without prejudice to the foregoing generality, includes
statements by accused persons, admissions and
observations by the court in its judicial capacity.
Documentary evidence means all documents produced as evidence before the court...
Moreover, section 64 of TEA covers Best
Evidence Rule or original document rule (primary evidence). The rule was transplanted to
Tanganyika (Tanzania Mainland) in 1920 under
Tanganyika Order in Council (TOC). That rule is
binding in Tanzania (Mambi, 2010, p. 194). The
rule states that best evidence is primary evidence
(i.e. the document itself). By document, it means
original paper document with a handwriting signature or authenticatedwith a seal of a particular
authority (section 67 of TEA, 1967; Makulilo,
2006; Mambi, 2010). Thus, what is admissible
as documentary evidence is original document
(see sections 64, 66, and 67 of TEA, 1967). In
the absence of the original document, secondary
evidence is inadmissible unless there is corroboration (s. 66 and 67 of TEA, 1967; Makulilo, 2006;
Mambi, 2010, p. 184-194).
Before Le-Marsh case and e-Evidence Act
No. 15 of 2007, the TEA 1967 never recognized eEvidence. The situation has changed as e-Evidence
is now admissible in Tanzania in both criminal
and civil proceedings. Although e-Evidence is
admissible in these proceedings, the legislation
and case law are not clear.
Overview of Electronic Evidence

Legislation in Tanzania
Several Legislations provide for relevancy and
admissibility of e-Evidence in Tanzania including
section 30 and 31 of 2001 Prevention of Terrorism
Act, 2006 Anti-Money Laundering Act, part IX
of e-Evidence Act No. 15 of 2007 (EPCA, 2010).
To illustrate that the law on e-Evidence particularly in e-Documents is generally lagging behind
in Tanzania, the CEO of Business Registration

and Licensing Agency (BreLA), Mr. Mahingila,
is reported to have pointed out that the absence
of clear e-Evidence provisions in the existing
legislation is a major encumbrance in electronic
business registration in Tanzania (Mahingila as
quoted by Semberya, 2010)
In 2007, Tanzania Parliament passed e-Evidence amendment Act to cater for admissibility of
electronic evidence in criminal proceedings. The
Act No. 15 of 2007 has sections (33-35) shown
below. The sections form part of the Tanzania
Evidence Act No. 6 of 1967 (TEA). The new
sections are section 40A, 78A, while section 76
is amended. See details below.
Section 33 introduces a new section i.e., section 40A. The section provides inter alia that in
any criminal proceedingsinformation retrieved
from computer systems, networks, or serversor
records obtained through surveillance such as
surveillance of means by preservation of information including facsimile machines, electronic
transmission, and communication facilities; the
audio or video recording of acts or behaviours or
conversation of persons charged shall be admissible in evidence.
Section 34 amends Section 76 of the TEA
to the effect that the bankers book include the
records kept or information system including
but not limited to computers and storage devices,
magnetic tapes, microfilm, video, or computer
display screen or any other form of mechanical
or electronic data retrieval mechanism.
Section 35 amends Section 78 of TEA and
introduces a new section, Section 78A (1),
which provides that a printed out records kept or
information system including but not limited to
computers and storage devices, magnetic tapes,
microfilm, video or computer display screen, or
any other form of mechanical or electronic data
retrieval mechanism or other process, which in
itself ensures the accuracy of such print out shall
be received as evidence.
Section 78A (2) provides to the effect that the

records received under section 78A (1) shall be
deemed to be a primary evidence and a document for the purpose of section 64(1) of the TEA.
It is worthy to note that the e-Evidence Act
No.15 of 2007 does not define e-Document or eSignature. Moreover, the wording of section 40A
indicates that the provision is limited to criminal
proceedings and not applicable in civil proceedings
(Mambi, 2006). The latter anomaly was addressed
even before the enactment of e-Evidence Act No.
15 of 2007 by the Le-Marsh case. However, according to the rules of procedure in Tanzania, the
Le Marsh cases ruling can be applied in matters
of e-Evidence in civil proceedings only after that
ruling being confirmed by the Court of Appeal of
Tanzania. That has not been done yet.
Case Law: Judicial Decision

The situation before the Le-Marsh case was that
e-Evidence, including computer printouts, was
inadmissible in evidence. The issue that called
for the ruling was whether computer print-out
of digital bankers records is admissible under
part IV of TEA (the part that provides for bankers books). In dealing with the matter, Judge
Nsekela adopted the provisions of the section 5
of English Civil Evidence Act of 1968 and the
Seychelles Evidence (Bankers Books) Act Cap 75
on computer documents. It is interesting to note
that the court stated that part IV of TEA did not
define bankers book. Nevertheless, the High
Court of Tanzania Commercial Division after
appreciating developments of e-Evidence law in
other countries ruled that e-Document, particularly
the computer print-out of banker record, is part
of bankers book and therefore is admissible in
evidence. In so doing, the ruling extended the
definition of bankers book to include electronic
bank records. This therefore laid down the rule for
admissibility of e-Evidence in civil proceedings
in Tanzania (see also Mambi, 2010).
109
Although the Le-Marsh case provides for

admissibility of electronic evidence in civil
proceeding, the ruling is too unclear to resolve
the dilemma of admissibility of e-Evidence in
Tanzania. The Le-Marsh cases ruling is limited to
bankers books and in civil proceedings. Since the
Le-Mash case was a civil proceeding its ruling is
therefore limited to civil proceedings. Moreover,
the ruling does not define what e-Document is.
Nor does it define e-Evidence. Furthermore, the
ruling did not cover digital forensics. Nonetheless,
the ruling admitted computer printouts of banker
books. Consequently, that marked a departure
from the Best Evidence Rule under section 64 of
TEA (Mambi, 2010). Apart from that, the ruling
was not about e-Signature. Therefore, it is not a
precedent for e-Signatures.
Act No. 15 of 2007 (e-Evidence Act), on the
other hand, complemented the Le-Marsh case by
extending the definition of bankers books to cover
electronic bankers books in criminal proceedings
(see section 34 of Act No. 15 of 2007). Additionally, that Act under section 33 establishes section
40A of TEA. This section generally provides for
admissibility of e-Evidence in various criminal
proceedings including e-Evidence obtained under
surveillance.
As stated above, the Le-Marsh cases ruling
does not show if there was the opinion of a digital
forensic expert was involved. The court was prepared to admit the printed out copies of electronic
bankers records in evidence without assistance
of such expert because the parties did not dispute
the authenticity or integrity of contents of printed
out electronic records of bankers books.
Certainly, if there was a dispute relating to
the contents of computer bank records, a digital
forensic expert could have been involved. In this
regards admissibility of electronic evidence depends on expert opinion. This is because evidence
retrieved from computer or other terminal devices,
including the networks and other information
systems, are essentially computer forensic matters (Schatz, 2007). Its admissibility depends on
110
advice of a computer forensic expert. It means that

electronic evidence falls squarely in the experts
opinion evidence or it has to be corroborated with
expert opinion. This is because the court does not
have digital forensic expertise. Section 47 of TEA
provides among other things that:
1. When the court has to form an opinion
upon a point of foreign law, or of science or art,
or as to identity of handwriting or finger or other
impressions, opinions upon that point of persons
possessing special knowledge, skill, experience
or training in such foreign law, science or art or
question as to identity of handwriting or Opinions
of experts finger or other impressions are relevant
facts.
There is a connection between electronic
evidence and expert opinion (see the US case
of Daubert v. Merrel Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
[1993], which provides for the principles of expert
opinion).
It is explicit from the above that even before
the enactment of Act No. 15 of 2007, the law of
evidence in Tanzania recognized expert opinion
evidence (section 47 of TEA). Since digital forensic is a science, section 47 of TEA comes into play
(see the quotation above). However, it should be
noted that the admissibility of evidence depends
on the facts of the case and the rules of evidence
under TEA. The section below explores digital
forensic evidence.
Digital Forensic Evidence

International forums have put forward some
definitions of digital forensic evidence. One such
forum is International Organization on Computer
Evidence (IOCE), which states that:
Digital Evidence is defined as information
stored or transmitted in binary form that may be
relied upon in court.
Digital forensic relies on forensic expert who
must make a report of his/her investigation. The
expert may thus be summoned to appear before

the court and give his/her testimony about the
content of the report and area of expertise (IOCE
Best Practice Guide V 1.0 of May 2002 at p. 19).
Consequently, the expert may be cross examined
(see section 47 of TEA and the cases of John Ogutu
vs. R. [1971] and Longinus Komba vs. R. [1973]).
It implies that, the expert opinion must be
given orally. This was stated in the case of South
Corporation Travencorel Private Ltd vs. H.
J.Stanley and sons Ltd. (1967). Nevertheless, this
rule might change as the proposed Written Laws
Miscellaneous Amendment Act of 2011 proposes
the definition of oral evidence to be broadened
to include Video Conferencing Technologies.
However, it is important to note that in Tanzania
the court is not bound by expert opinion (see the
cases of Sungu Suba vs. R. [1971] and Hilda Abel
vs. R. [1993]).
It is important to note that the United States
Supreme court in Daubert vs. Merrel Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. (1993) laid down guidelines
that expert evidence must meet. The guidelines
include that:

Technique can be or has been tested;

Subject to peer review and publication;
The known or potential rate of error and the
existence of and maintenance of standards
controlling the techniques operation; and
General acceptance.
IOCE Principles
IOCE on its part advises that the general rules of
evidence should be applied to all digital evidence
and that when dealing with digital evidence all
of the general forensic and procedural principles
must be applied as follows (IOCE, 2002):

Upon seizing digital evidence, actions taken should not change that evidence;
When it is necessary for a person to access original digital evidence, that person
should be trained for the purpose;
All activities relating to the seizure, access,
storage or transfer of digital evidence must
be fully documented, preserved, and available for review;
An Individual is responsible for all actions
taken with respect to digital evidence whilst
the digital evidence is in their possession;
Any agency, which is responsible for seizing, accessing, storing, or transferring digital evidence, is responsible for compliance
with these principles.
Apart from these principles, there are Digital

forensic tools. These tools are of three types: for
acquisition, examination, and analysis. Examples
include: Guidance software, EnCase, and Access
Data FTK (Forensic Toolkit).
Both EnCase and FTK are storage media analysis tools, which provide structural interpretation
functions over a common set of evidence types
(Schatz, 2007, p. 25). Though both are proprietary
standards, there are open source standards with
similar functionality such as TCTThe Coroners
Toolkit and the Sleuthkit (TSKthe Sleutkit,
2011). Other open source digital forensic tools
include: Autopsy forensic browser, PyFLAG,
Subrosasoft, and Macintosh Forensic Software
(MFS). Other tools include file classification, signature based interpretation, file carving tools, etc.
It is important to note that EnCase and FTK
sometimes combine acquisition, analysis, and
reporting functionality in one integrated tool
(Schatz, 2007, p. 27).
Challenges of Digital Forensics

Digital forensics faces many technology-based
challenges. Some of the major ones include:

Tools standards - most of them are proprietary ones with trade secrets and copy-
111
112
rights or patents. They are closed source

and generally have not been challenged by
Daubert cases requirements;
Others are open source but they do not
guarantee that the tools have been peer reviewed, tested or have less error rate;
Rapid technology changes - this is complexity problem (Schatz, 2007, p. 5). This
can be explained in the perspective that
rapid technology changes tend to upset
digital forensics because it forces it to be
reviewed if it is to keep pace with technology changes otherwise digital forensics
tools and techniques could become obsolete. Additionally, it means new digital forensics researches and expertise has to be
pursued for that matter.
Interoperability or compatibility between
the techniques tool and data source may
require reformatting or conversion - hence
there is a possibility of human error which
may result in the data losing its evidential
value;
Volume problem - as technology advances
there is availability of large volume of data
(terabytes) for evidence. This poses a challenge on storage capacity. Also, handling
and maintaining the quality of such data so
that it does not lose its evidential value becomes precarious.
Other problems - these include Junk science, reliability, efficiency in investigation, commercialization limits applicability of digital forensic to few who can afford.
This is contrary to the basic function of administration of justice, i.e. access to justice
for all;
Finally is challenges of time stamping computer clock is unreliable (Schatz, 2007,
p. 9, see also chapter 7 of that dissertation).
The clock can be manipulated. It therefore
becomes unreliable in evidence.
The foregoing section highlighted admissibility of e-Evidence and its link with expert
opinion (digital forensics). The following section
provides some recommendations that Tanzania
ought to follow if its e-Government initiative is
to be successful.
CHANGING THE LEGAL

LANDSCAPE
This section endeavours at proposing some solutions and recommendations in dealing with the
problems presented in the preceding sections.
The discussion will also cover the challenges
involving the implementation of the solutions in
promoting civic engagement in e-Government in
Tanzania (Yonazi, 2010).
The focus of the discussion will essentially be
on what the legislator should do in terms of the legal
status of e-Signature and e-Document, what the
government and the private sector should procure
in terms of technology to facilitate e-Government,
and what the society should do on their part to
contribute to the development of e-Government
in developing countries, particularly in Tanzania.
Legal Requirements of
e-Document, e-Signature, and
e-Government Systems
The lack of trust, reliability, and security in electronic transactions could be eliminated by the legal
systems in developing countries through legal
recognition of e-Documents and e-Signatures.
This has already been done in Kenya and Uganda,
respectively. For example, section 83C of Kenya
Communications Amendment Act 2008 provides
for the functions of the Communications Commission in relation to electronic transactions, while
section 8 of the Uganda Electronic Transactions
Act of 2010 provides for admissibility and evidential weight of data messages and electronic
records. It is envisaged that this can be emulated
and promoted by both TCRA and the Parliament

in Tanzania. TCRA has power to regulate ICT
sector in Tanzania including technical standards
(sections 82 and 83 of EPCA [2010]).
First and foremost, the chapter recommends
the enacting of legislation or amending of the
current ICT-related legislations (including TEA,
Penal Code Cap 16 RE 2002, and Procedural Laws
both Civil and Criminal Procedure Acts) so as to
establish legal recognition of e-Documents and
e-Signatures in Tanzania. This is in line with section 3.5 of the National ICT Policy (2003) in two
aspects. The amendment will guarantee security
and trust in online transactions. Also, it will establish legal framework under which e-Signatures and
e-Documents will be admitted before the court of
law in Tanzania as evidence (Mahingila as quoted
by Semberya, 2010; Mambi, 2010).
It does not matter whether we have technical
measures in banking systems or in e-Government,
what matters is that we ought to have the laws
establishing function equivalence rule. That is
to say, e-Signature and e-Document should have
the same legal validity and status as paper-based
documents or hand-written signatures (Mambi,
2006; Sjberg, 2005a, 2005b; European Forum
of Official Gazette, 2007; UNCITRAL, 1996;
UNCITRAL, 2001; Mwesigwa, 2009). Signature
or document should not be denied legal validity
and admissibility before the court of law merely
because it is in electronic format.
This matter is being underlined as many
governments of developing countries, including but not limited to Tanzania, aspire to deploy
e-Governments. This aspiration is being pushed
into implementation regardless of the challenges
uncovered in this chapter. The key question worth
of mention is whether a particular legal system
recognizes e-Signature and e-Document. In fact, if
this question receives no response then it will be a
risk to implement e-Government or e-Commerce
in any particular country.
Therefore, prior to the establishment of eGovernment in developing countries, there is a
need for a trusted and secure ICT infrastructure.

Thus, those involved in IT system design for
e-Government or e-Commerce must be aware
of information types representing law (Sjberg,
2005a, p. 12). This can be achieved by cooperation
between the legal framework and the technical
measures (see Kenya Communication Amendment Act, 2008).
Generally, Tanzania needs to reform its legal
system to recognize e-Signatures and e-Documents. Moreover, there are other specific prerequisites that Tanzania needs to take into consideration
before implementing e-Government. Since the
future of e-government lies in the legal recognition
of e-Signatures as well as e-Documents, it follows
that e-Signature and e-Document validity is one
of the pre-requisites of effective and sustainable
e-Government development. These recommendations can be summarized as follows:

Adopt Public Private Partnership (PPP)

approach in ICT projects: In many developed countries, especially those countries following the market economy, the
phenomenon of PPP is common. That is
because the ICT sector is dominated by the
private sectorfrom technology design
to implementation (see Updegrove, 2010;
Cargill & Bodin, 2006; Hawkins & Ballon,
2007). In most developed countries, the development of e-Government system necessarily involves a particular government department working in partnership with the
private sector in the design and development of the system (Greenbaum & Kyng,
1992; Sjberg, 2005a). This is called participatory system design (Greenbaum &
Kyng, 1992).
If neither the department nor the users are involved in e-Government system development, the
consequence is that the system developed might
not have taken into consideration users interests
and rights (Greenbaum & Kyng, 1992). On top
113
of that, it might jeopardize other fundamental

constitutional rights, privacy, access to government document or information, participation in
decision making, rule of law, etc (Sjberg, 2005a).
The PPP in Tanzania is a result of policy
changes and economic reforms embarked upon
since the 1980s (Ngowi, 2006). Examples of PPPs
that exist in Tanzania are found in such sectors as
Health Services provision, Waste Management,
Procurements, and Tax Collection (Ngowi, 2006;
Nkya, 2004). What is lacking is PPP law. For
that reason, the tabling of PPP Bill before the
Parliament is a commendable initiative on the
part of the government of Tanzania. It is hoped
that when the bill that has been signed to become
law will foster cooperation between the public
and the private sector in many areas including
e-Government to enhance trust and security in
the online world. This has been the case in many
developed countries. In Sweden, for example, the
Identity (ID) Cards are issued by the Tax office
(Skatteverket), but the electronic IDs password
is issued by TELIA, which is a private company
(Skatteverket, 2011). Tanzania could emulate
such a practice, especially now that there is an
endeavour to introduce National IDs. Already the
National ID Agency (NIDA) has been established
(see NIDA Website). Without PPP, the implementation of the National ID system is likely to face
many challenges in terms of technical, human,
and financial resources.

114
Procure vendor independence system(s):

This means that non-proprietary document
mark-up system should be preferred. It is a
risk to procure proprietary document markup system because such vendors could be
insolvent and wound up. In other instances,
it could be sold at a high price. Thus, reliance over a long period of time is a bonus
to vendor independent document mark-up
system like XML (Eriksson, 2005, p. 244;
Sjberg, 2005a, p. 22).
Choose International Organization

for Standardization (ISO) standard or
similar-quality assurance: The system
must be of a good quality. In turn it ensures
quality e-Document production. XML can
achieve this through its schema or DTD as
it checks document validity. Thus, employing XML standard means a standard that
is interoperable with other applications/information systems (Sjberg, 2005a, p. 22;
Sjberg, 2005b, pp. 411-413).
Procure widespread mark-up systems
that allow legal directives: The document
mark-up system to be employed must be
the one used by a good number of citizens.
It should not be a document mark-up system which is limited to a particular institution or tied to a particular group of individuals (Eriksson, 2005, p. 244). As for legal
directives, XML contain such directives
because its mark-up can carry metadata
which can hold title, author/creator, date
and time the document was created, publisher, ontologies, thesauri, taxonomies,
etc. The ontologies or vocabularies possess legal incentive for both public and private, i.e. e-Government and e-Commerce,
respectively. The said vocabularies can indicate availability or non-availability (i.e.
whether the document, data, or information
is official, classified/secret). Furthermore,
it can indicate authority (showing actors
who signed the document), and finally it
can label owner and their rights (Sjberg,
2005a, p. 22).
Deploy a system that guarantees communication security including secure
electronic messaging: For maintaining security or achieving CIA, e-Signature such
as XML signature may be employed. Such
security measure can be employed in both
e-Government and e-Commerce as normative and other legal requirements of veri-
fication, authentication and validation are

met.
FUTURE STUDIES
In the perspectives of this chapter it appears that
the prosperity of e-Government and e-Commerce
depends a lot on the legal framework. That is legal
recognition of e-Documents and e-Signature in
Tanzania. It is important to reiterate that although
Tanzania has the so-called Electronic Evidence
Amendment Act (2007), in as far as e-Signature is
concerned, the said legislation is inadequate. Thus,
it is not conclusive if the Act covers e-Signature or
not. It is unfortunate to learn that even the recently
enacted Electronic and Postal Communication Act
(2010) is neither clear on e-Signature nor does it
define an e-Document.
Indeed, one would expect e-Commerce and
e-Government projects to be supported with legal
frameworks such as recognition of e-Signature and
e-Document. Most of the developed countries that
actually initiated e-Government and e-Commerce
are not leaving such sensitive matters as information security and admissibility of e-Evidence
unattended by a sovereign legislator. Developed
countries have provided solid and clear policies
and legislation on e-Documents, e-Signatures,
e-Government, and e-Commerce. These matters
are inseparable as they often depend on each
other. Besides, the Tanzania National ICT policy
(2003) promises that the government will enact
such laws. The policy statement under section
3.5.4 of Tanzania ICT Policy (2003) provides
among other things that:
The Government will set-up legal and regulatory frameworks that are appropriate to the
ICT sector taking into account that electronic
transactions are also susceptible to electronic
criminality; The Government will promote business in electronic form in a secure environment
and put in place a legal framework to provide

the guiding principles, rules, and legislation
It is important to note that the government has
not yet implemented the policy to its fullest. There
are many gray areas in the ICT legal framework
in Tanzania. Cybercrimes, e-Signatures, and
e-Documents are just a few examples among
many others.
Moreover, for e-Government to take effect, it is
not just a matter of having a legislation or policy
only, but also the procurement of ICT hardware
and software must be given serious consideration.
What hardware, what software for e-Government,
what e-Signature technology, is the software open
source or proprietary? These are valid and relevant
questions to be addressed before venturing into
e-Government (See Dinar, 1994).
This chapter has built a foundation upon which
future researches can take off. It is opined that
future researches explore the implementation of
e-Government in developing countries. Further,
future researches should devote some resources to
investigating the political, social, and economical
implications of e-Government initiatives. Since
legal challenges have been exposed in this chapter,
future researches should endeavour at uncovering
educational and cultural impediments that hamper
implementation of e-Signature, e-Document, and
generally e-Government in developing countries,
particularly in Tanzania. Equally important is for
future researches to pay special attention to the
role of e-Government in meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and National Strategy
For Growth And Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP)
(in Swahili: Mkakati wa Kukuza Uchumi na Kupunguza Umaskini Tanzania), especially poverty
reduction, elimination of corruption, and limiting
bureaucracy in public administration in developing countries.
115
CONCLUSION
This chapter was set to explore the legal status
of e-Documents and e-Signatures and the same
with e-Commerce and e-Government projects in
developing countries, with particular reference to
Tanzania. The chapter has analysed that in extenso
and came to the conclusion that no e-Government
or e-Commerce initiative will survive unless a
concerned country sets a legal framework for
recognition and enforcement of e-Documents and
e-Signatures because they are part and parcel of
e-Government and e-Commerce.
It has been articulated in this chapter that
developed countries had faced similar problems
since 1960s when they started thinking about
automation of public administration. They got it
wrong in the first attempt because they never set
legal framework (Sjberg, 2005a), but as technology evolved, they realized their mistake and
set a clear legal framework. A similar problem
has been spotted in Tanzania. During 1960s and
1970s, Tanzania initiated the project to computerize the government accounting system in the
entire country. That project failed. Obviously,
the computers were obsolete, as the software was
not updated. Adding salt to the sore, there was no
ICT policy. Instead of trying to solve the problem,
the government in 1974 decided to ban computer
importation (Mgaya, 1994; Dinari, 1994).
It envisaged that before Tanzania reaches the
same embarrassing decision as the 1974 banning of computer importation, this chapter has
drawn a roadmap for better implementation of
e-Government. Therefore, the chapter has left no
stone unturned albeit in as far as the chapter theme
is concerned. Recommendations have been given
from policy and legislative framework to typical
technology procurement framework. It is up to
the actors to embrace what has been stated herein.
Nevertheless, this chapter was not meant to cover
everything on e-Government and e-Commerce.
Thus, there are other interesting matters, which
116
are reserved for future researches as stated in the

section on Future Research.
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E-Commerce: This is understood to mean a
process of conducting business or commerce in
the electronic environment. In other words, it is
the use of ICT to conduct commerce, e.g., concluding contract online, to buy various goods or
services online, etc.
E-Document: A digital document generated
by information (ICT) system such as computer,
multimedia, etc.
E-Evidence: Facts that are extracted from
electronic records, tools (such as computers,
mobile phones or any other information (ICT)
systems) that are deemed relevant and admissible
before the court of law for the purpose of proving
or disproving facts in issue.
E-Government: A process or initiative of
moving government business to an electronic environment. It includes automation of government
activities, Networking of government businesses,
In other words it is the offering of government
tasks through electronic interface/means.
E-Procurement: This is a process of conducting procurement process online. The tendering,
122
bidding process and issuing of procurement contract are all conducted online. The procurement
tender is advertised online, the bidders submit
their bids online and the decision i.e., offers of
the contract is issued online.
E-Signature: An electronic or digital mark
or sign that is legally valid, produced by means
which is secure normally used for authentication
or identification or for securing authorization, etc.
ICT: A broad range of technologies that process, store, retrieve, disseminate or communicate
information from one location to another. One
of its remarkable features is that it is unbound
by geographical borders and distance. A good
example is Internet.
Information System: A system that produces
or processes, retrieves, communicates or stores
data. Such system is normally represented by
Information and Communication Technologies.
Legal Infrastructure: Totality of processes,
tools, documents, and other information systems
such as telecommunication networks, Internet,
etc., that form the basis or facilitates the daily
functioning of a particular legal system. Such
tools include document management systems, case
management systems, decision making systems,
record management systems.
Legal Validity/Status: A tendency or feature
of being legally recognizable. A situation where
the law stipulates that a particular fact or thing is
accepted or recognized by the law of a particular
jurisdiction or legal system. Thus such right or
duty is legally enforceable before the court of that
particular legal system.
123
Chapter 6
Voters Perception of the

Adequacy and Suitability of
e-Voting in the Nigeria Polity
Tella Adeyinka
University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Gbolahan Olasina
University of Ilorin, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the perception of academics regarding the suitability and adequacy of e-Voting
in the Nigeria polity. A qualitative approach using interviews as the data collection instruments was
employed. Five research questions were developed and used in the interviews. The population of the
study comprised academic staff in the South West Nigeria universities. From this population, 250 academic staff were purposely selected from five universities. This represents the sample for the study. Five
research questions were developed and used in the interviews. The results demonstrated that Nigerians are
aware of e-Voting systems, the advantages of e-Voting revealed include ease of voting, ease of counting,
electoral vote fraud prevention, and cost reduction, To a great extent, Nigeria is e-Voting ready, and the
e-Voting system is relevant to the Nigeria electoral system. Respondents find electronic voting desirable
in Nigeria given reasons such as saving time/cost, queuing reduction, and Nigeria being technologically
advanced enough to carry out a fast voting process. Hindrances to e-Voting and recommendations for
the effective adoption of e-Voting in the Nigeria polity were highlighted.
INTRODUCTION
E-Voting, or electronic voting, refers to any voting process where an electronic means is used for
vote casting and vote counting. E-Voting methods
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch006
include optical-scan voting systems, specialized

voting systems like Direct Recording Electronic
systems (DRE) punch cards, national IDs, the
Internet, computer networks, and telephony systems (Stonestreet, 2010). It is a form of electronic
voting that utilises computer networks to allow
for the casting of a vote remotely from the place
Voters Perception of the Adequacy and Suitability of e-Voting in the Nigeria Polity
of tabulation. Electronic voting can be undertaken

in either closed or open networks, depending on
the nature of the electorate. Electronic voting
has many advantages over the traditional way of
voting. Some of these advantages are lesser cost,
faster tabulation of results, improved accessibility, greater accuracy, and lower risk of human
and mechanical errors. Many countries however
have expressed concern over the possibility that
electronic voting can lead to massive electoral
malpractices (Schneier, 2007). However, others
have argued that the advantages outweigh the
disadvantages.
According to the Ace Project Organization
(2009), e-Voting is practiced in countries such
as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,
Estonia, Europe, France, Germany, India, Ireland,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and The United States
of America. A few countries such as Nigeria in
Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa are working towards having electronic voting
and studies are still under consideration to find
out if e-Voting is necessary, and consideration is
being given on how it will be carried out to accommodate both literate and illiterate voters. As
observed by some Nigerians, electronic voting
suits large, developed countries, but Nigeria is a
developing country with a large population but
low technological advancement, thus not ready
to adopt electronic voting (Umobong, 2006; ARC
News Online, 2007).
According to a news report of Daily Trust
(Abuja), posted on the 19th November 2008, entitled Nigeria: Election Chief Wants E-Voting for
2011, Nigeria has been urged to begin to educate
citizens on the need to adopt the electronic voting
method. On this note, there have been various
formats of voting system in Nigeria but none of
these has yielded positive results. It is in the light
of this that this study was designed to look into
the voters perception regarding the suitability
and adequacy of e-Voting in the Nigerian polity.
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Some of the questions answered by the study

include whether or not the e-Voting system is
adequate or suitable for conducting elections
in Nigeria; Whether or not Nigeria is e-Voting
ready; and Whether or not e-Voting is relevant
to the Nigerian electoral system, considering the
fact that many voters are yet to be ICT literate?
Studies of this kind have not been conducted
before in the Nigerian context. Similarly, Nigeria
has considered the option of adopting e-Voting in
the conduct of its previous elections, but this has
never worked out. Conducting this study will help
in bringing to the fore the adequacy or otherwise
of Nigeria in adopting e-Voting systems in elections. It was expected that the outcome of the study
would provide a basis on whether or not Nigeria
could adopt e-Voting in elections. Furthermore,
the outcome would provide justification for supporters to agitate for the adoption of e-Voting in
elections.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this study was to examine
the voters perception regarding the suitability
and adequacy of e-Voting in the Nigerian polity.
The specific objectives of the study were to:
1. Determine the Nigerians awareness of
e-Voting.
2. Determine the perception of voters about the
adequacy of the e-Voting system in Nigeria
3. Find out whether or not Nigeria is e-Voting
ready.
4. Examine the relevance of e-Voting to the
Nigerian electoral system.
5. Investigate the reasons for desiring or not
desiring e-Voting.
6. Identify factors that can hinder the adoption
of e-Voting in Nigeria.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Based on the above stated objectives, the following
research questions will be answered by the study.
1. What is the Nigerians awareness about
e-Voting?
2. What is the perception of voters about the
adequacy of the e-Voting system in Nigeria?
3. Is Nigeria e-Voting ready?
4. What is the relevance of e-Voting to the
Nigerian electoral system?
5. What are the reasons for desiring or not
desiring e-Voting in Nigeria?
6. What factors can hinder the adoption of eVoting in Nigeria?
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
E-Voting is one of the most important applications
of e-Democracy, because of the importance of the
voters privacy and the possibility of frauds. Electronic voting (e-Voting) is the most significant part
of e-Election, which refers to the use of computers
or computerised voting equipment to cast ballots
in an election (Cetinkaya & Cetinkaya, 2007). Due
to the rapid growth of computer technologies and
advances in cryptographic techniques, e-Voting
is now an applicable alternative for many nongovernmental elections (Cetinkaya & Cetinkaya,
2007). Literature has revealed the various types
of e-Voting systems. These are discussed in the
next section.
Types of Electronic Voting

Paper-based e-Voting system: In a paper-based
e-Voting system, a touchscreen is used in voting.
After the voter has finished casting his votes, the
unit prints out a hardcopy of the ballot, which the
voter has to pass to the election officer in charge
so that it can be counted in a centralized location.
The ballots will then be counted through an optical-
scan voting system (Cetinkaya & Cetinkaya, 2007;

Cetinkaya & Koc, 2009).
This system has the advantage of a paper trail
as every persons votes are recorded on a piece of
paper. However, holes that are not properly aligned
in a punch card or stray marks on an optical-scan
card may lead to a vote not being counted by the
machine. Moreover, physical ballots can still be
lost during or after transit to the counting station.
A relevant example is what happened in the USA.
Al Gore narrowly lost the 2000 USA Presidential
Election to George W. Bush, which many observers
believed was due to flawed punch card systems
where many ballot papers from Democratic Party
strong holds were not counted by the system,
particularly in Florida (Khono, et al., 2004, p. 3;
Boutin, 2004).
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) systems:
This is essentially voting through a computer.
Here, a digital swipe-card, buttons, or a touch
screen are used in order to make the choices. The
votes are stored in a physical memory device,
which will be sent to a centralized voting station.
Public network DRE voting systems can send the
results after each voter has finished or by batches
throughout the Election Day. Although the votes
can be sent through the Internet, this is only used
to speed up the rate of counting. The physical
memory devices will still be used to verify the
count. The benefit of this voting system is the
speed in which results can be obtained because
results are tabulated almost instantaneously. This
system also reduces the risk of mechanical error.
Since voting is done through a computer, ballot
appearance can also be modified to fit the needs
of the voter. A voter with poor eyesight could, for
example, use a ballot format with larger text. This
system also helps the government to save money
by eliminating the need to print ballots (League of
Women Voters of the United States, 2003; Blanc,
2007; University of California, 2010).
Internet Voting: Internet voting, on the other
hand, can be done in remote locations. This system has already been tested in overseas absentee
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voting of some countries. Estonia, for example,

uses this type of e-Voting system by providing
voter passwords through the postal service or via
a national ID equipped with a microchip (Duta,
2006; United States Public Policy Council Office, 2010).
Stonestreet (2010) highlights the recommendations by the Council of Europe e-Voting by
stating that only those e-Voting systems which
are secure, reliable, efficient, technically robust,
open to independent verification, and easily accessible to voters will build the public confidence,
which is a pre-requisite for holding e-Voting
e-Voting shall respect all the principles of democratic elections and referendums. E-Voting shall
be as reliable and secure as democratic elections
and referendums which do not involve the use of
electronic means Similarly, Cranor and Cytron
(1996) identified the qualities of or requirements
for electronic polling systems, which incorporate
the characteristics of most systems described in
the electronic voting literature as:

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Accuracy: A system is accurate if (1) it is

not possible for a vote to be altered, (2) it
is not possible for a validated vote to be
eliminated from the final tally, and (3) it
is not possible for an invalid vote to be
counted in the final tally. In the most accurate systems the final vote tally must be
perfect, either because no inaccuracies can
be introduced or because all inaccuracies
introduced can be detected and corrected.
Partially accurate systems can detect but
not necessarily correct inaccuracies.
Democracy: A system is democratic if (1)
it permits only eligible voters to vote, and
(2) it ensures that each eligible voter can
vote only once.
Privacy: A system is private if (1) neither
election authorities nor anyone else can
link any ballot to the voter who cast it, and
(2) no voter can prove that he or she voted
in a particular way.
Verifiability: A system is verifiable if anyone can independently verify that all votes
have been counted correctly. A weaker
definition of verifiability used by some authors allows that a system is verifiable if
it allows voters to verify their own votes
and correct any mistakes they might find
without sacrificing privacy. Less verifiable systems might allow mistakes to be
pointed outbut not correctedor might
allow verification of the process by party
representatives but not by individual voters. Traditional voting systems generally
only allow for minimal verification by party representatives.
Convenience: A system is convenient if it
allows voters to cast their votes quickly, in
one session, and with minimal equipment
or special skills.
Flexibility: A system is flexible if it allows
a variety of ballot question formats, including open-ended questions. Flexibility is
important for write-in candidates and some
survey questions. Some cryptographic voting protocols are inflexible because they
only allow for single-bit (yes/no) votes.
Mobility: A system is mobile if there are
no restrictions (other than logistical ones)
on the location from which a voter can
cast a vote. Mobility is one of the reasons
people are interested in electronic voting
systems. Voter participation might increase
if people could easily cast votes from computers in their homes, offices, schools, and
libraries. Of course, for governmental elections it would be essential to retain centralized polling places for people who would
not otherwise have access to computers.
The mobility property itself is a major contributor to some of the problems associated
with designing a secure and private electronic voting system.
The Evolution of e-Voting

The electric vote recorder was first invented
by Thomas Edison in 1869 (Edison, 2008).
He designed the system after learning that the
Washington, DC, City Council and the New York
State Legislature were considering systems to
automatically record votes. In Edisons system
each legislator moved a switch to either a yes or
no position, thus transmitting a signal to a central
recorder that listed the names of the members in
two columns of metal type headed Yes and No
(Voter Recorder, 2008).
In 1886, electric and mechanical voting was
proposed for the House with the introduction of
two separate resolutions. Representative Lewis
Beach of New York introduced a resolution in
February directing the Committee on Rules to
inquire into the feasibility of a plan for registering votes (Straus, 2008). In June, Representative
Benjamin Le Fevre of Ohio submitted a resolution
on the electrical recording of the yeas and nays.
The resolutions were referred to the Committee
on Rules. No further action was taken on either
resolution (US Congress, 1886).
The most recent configuration in the evolution
of voting systems is known as Direct Recording
Electronic, or DRE (Straus, 2008). They are
electronic implementation of the old mechanical
lever systems. As with the lever machines, there
is no ballot; the possible choices are visible to
the voter on the front of the machine. The voter
directly enters choices into electronic storage with
the use of a touch-screen, push buttons, or similar
device. An alphabetic keyboard is often provided
with the entry device to allow for the possibility
of write-in votes. The voters choices are stored in
these machines via a memory cartridge, diskette,
or smart card and added to the choices of all other
voters. In 1996, 7.7% of the registered voters in the
United States used some type of direct recording
electronic voting system. (Straus, 2008).
Advantages and
Disadvantages of E-Voting
Electronic voting has many advantages over the
traditional way of voting. Some of these advantages are lesser cost, faster tabulation of results,
improved accessibility, greater accuracy, and lower
risk of human and mechanical errors. Electronic
elections have the potential of being cheaper and
less time consuming to administer than vote-bymail elections. Eventually electronic voting may
be a viable solution to increasing voter participation in governmental elections. However, if not
carefully designed, electronic voting systems can
be easily compromised, thus corrupting results or
violating voters privacy (Cranor, 1996).
E-Voting terminals can be more convenient
than paper systems as well. When equipped with
headphones and a Braille keypad, touch-screen
machines let sight-impaired voters cast their
votes without needing to share their choices with
a human aide (Data Recorder, 2008). Officials
do not need to supply paper ballots in different
languages--voters select the language as a menu
option. Results can be transmitted to election
headquarters in seconds, and recounts are a
snap since each vote is unambiguously stored in
memory (Cetinkaya & Koc, 2009)
Raborn (2008), posits that while no voting
system is perfect, studies have shown that electronic voting systems offer the most accurate and
secure method of voting available: It is impossible
to overvote (vote for more candidates that can
be elected). Voters are immediately able to completely correct a vote for the wrong candidate.
Voters must view a summary screen of all races
and measures before casting the ballot this gives
voters an opportunity to review and change their
choices before a vote is cast. Voters are alerted
to un-voted or under-voted races on the summary
screen. It is impossible to incorrectly mark the ballot, eliminating ambiguity regarding voter intent.
Electronic voting systems have been shown to
eliminate racial and language gaps found in the
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documented error rates of paper-based voting

systems (including optical scan) (Raborn, 2008).
Votes are redundantly stored in multiple physical
memory locations to preserve election results in
the event of equipment failure.
Schneier (2007) states that there are two fundamental problems with the current state of e-Voting:
Firstly, most people, even electoral officials and
e-Voting suppliers, have a poor understanding of
the requirements of a voting system. There is a lot
of focus on the security of the ballot machine and
the speed of the tally, with little thought given to
the overall process. Secondly, the suppliers of eVoting systems have little incentive to ensure that
their products meet the requirements of a voting
system. Since the public have a poor understanding of both the requirements of a voting system
and the system offered by a particular supplier,
they are unable to understand the effect of such
a system on their rights. To make matters worse
there are political pressures to implement e-Voting
that are sometimes bowed to irrespective of the
quality of the resulting voting system.
In addition, Blanc (2007) identified damage to
the reliability and credibility of the electoral process. Blanck explained that any computer program
could have an undetected, unintentional error (a
bug). Any computer program can be changed
by malicious programming (hacked) in a way
that is undetectable after the fact (Boutin, 2004).
This is true of all manufacturers and, in fact, of
all computer software. Various measures can
reduce a DRE systems vulnerability, including
computer security, physical security, testing, and
analysis of systems and coding, and good election
procedures. Blanc (2007) also identified the fact
that e-Voting can undermine the electoral process
and that several less dramatic dangers must also
be considered. These, he explained, relate to the
practicality of DRE voting in difficult environments. He added that training of election officials
and voters, secure storage and maintenance of the
machines, power supplies, replacement machines
and parts must all be considered when debating
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the use of DREs in new, fragile, and transitional

democracies.
Requirements for E-Voting

Brown et al. (2003) emphasised that the security
requirements for the e-Voting system span all aspects of the voting process and should include voter
authenticity, voter anonymity, data confidentiality,
data integrity, system accountability, system integrity, system availability, system assurance, and
system reliability. According to them, the overall
requirements should state among others that:

An individual not registered to vote must

not be able to cast a ballot
A voter must not be able to vote more than
once
The privacy of the vote has to be guaranteed during the casting, transfer, reception,
collection, and tabulation of votes
No voter should be able to prove that they
voted in a certain way
None of the participants involved in the
voting process (organizers, election officials, trusted third parties, voters, etc.)
should be able to link a vote to an identifiable voter
Each vote is recorded precisely as the voter
intended
Each voter is ensured a clean slate of the
system to ensure equality, confidence, and
minimize system tampering
The outcome of the voting process must
correspond to the votes cast
It should be infeasible to exclude a valid
vote from the tabulation, and to
validate a non-valid one
The security requirements must ensure a security level not less than that of postal voting. Secondly,
the catalogue should be short and crisp and should
not exceed six printed pages, although this will
be based on the commission discretion (Krimmer,
2006). The general requirements on the system

development should contain requirements on the
type and level of details of the system description,
the security analysis, and the manuals. There are
especially strong requirements on the anonymity
concepts. This category includes requirements on
the development process, the system tests, and
the key management. The requirements on the
election execution contain the distribution of the
election PIN, the election register management,
and the installation as well as the de-installation of
the voting system. The catalogue requires for the
election servers to run a secure operating system,
and to isolate the election software from all other
applications (Krimmer, 2006).
E-Identification
It is the electronic process of identifying and authenticating voters using tools such as fingerprint
scanner programmed for use with e-Signature, eGovernment systems, and other e-Systems (EUGO
Network, 2010). This process involves Security
Fingerprint Scanner. This is for identifying, authenticating and controlling information or data
earlier submitted by voters during registration.
Identification takes place during voting exercise.
Common approaches to user identification are
self-identification (user enters personal information about themselves) and the electoral officer
in charge verifies it.
User authentication is the process of verifying
credentials entered by voters. The most common
approach and widely accepted standard for user
authentication is user name and password. However, the approach used for the Nigeria election
is the Digital certificates (ID). This certificate is
given to each voter after registration and is to be
presented for accreditation before voting. Once
a voters identity is established, the voting card
is issued. This guarantees the voting eligibility of
the individual (EUGO Network, 2010).
Attribution is the process of associating a signature to an individual. Attributing the signature
is important to be able to demonstrate who is

holding the ID (EUGO Network, 2010).
E- signatureE-signature means obtained
signaturecreation data and a cryptographic
data modification of the given electronic document presented in a unique sequence of symbols
in electronic form, which is attached to or logically associated with an electronic document and
which is used to identify the signatory, as well as
to protect the electronic document from forgery
and distortion (Ekeng, 2010). According to Ekeng
(2010), the whole essence of e-signature in the
e-Voting system is to increase security and reduce
fraud. To obtain an e-signature, the electorates
are required to append their signature, passport,
social card (original and two copies). During
voters registration, once the registration form
is signed electronically, it cannot be altered in
any way without visible detection. Any attempt
to alter or delete the content or signatures will
automatically render the document and electronic
signatures visibly invalid. The security features
that guide against this are user authentication, data
authentication, and process control and process
evidence (Ekeng, 2010).
BACKGROUND ON NIGERIAN
ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Nigeria, with an estimated population of 150
million people, is the most populous country in
Africa. It is located on the Gulf of Guinea in West
Africa. Nigeria is bordered by Niger and Chad to
the north, Cameroon to the east, and Benin to the
west. The lower course of the Niger River flows
south through the western part of the country
into the Gulf of Guinea. Swamps and mangrove
forests border the southern coast, while the inland
has hardwood forests.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a nonpartisan Nigerian government
agency charged with the conduct and supervision
of elections. In the late 1990s, the agency began
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modernizing its information technology infrastructure by migrating from an outdated legacy

voting system heavily dependent on inaccurate
paper records and polling cards to the newer
Electronic Voting System (EVS). At the heart
of EVS is the Electronic Voter Register (EVR),
which, by capturing the names of all eligible voters, eliminates duplication and thereby minimizes
discrepancies in the electoral process. As such,
EVR is viewed as a means of ensuring free and
fair elections in Nigeria (Ndukwe, 2004).
The Nigeria Electoral system is based on the
single member constituency type with competitive
multiparty and the first-past-the-post winner system. The method of voting used in four of the five
past elections, that is in 1979,1983, 1999, 2003,
and 2007, was the Open Ballot System (OBS),
in which the prospective voter goes through a
process of accreditation, receives a ballot paper
from the appropriate poll official, and thereafter
makes the confidential thumb impression in favour
of the political party or candidate of choice in a
secret voting compartment, before dropping the
ballot in the box positioned in the open, in the full
glare of officials, security, and party agents (Daily
Trust, 2008).. The modified OBS was adopted in
the 1993 elections, in which voters filed behind
the party symbol or photograph of the candidate
of choice. Voters were physically counted at the
close of polls and the results declared to officials,
security, and party agents. Although the method
is simple and produced what many in Nigeria
have often described as the fairest and most
peaceful elections in the country, the election was
unsuccessful. The election involved two parties,
a clear departure from the over thirty political
parties of today, and also suffered the flaw of not
providing the voter with the secrecy of ballota
basic internationally acceptable standard for any
elections. All the electoral systems used allow
disputed results to be challenged by way of election petitions, judicially heard and determined at
tribunals or courts established for the purpose as
the case may be. However, the INEC in Nigeria
130
conducted the year 2011 election in a radically

different way. The idea arose from reviews of
the year 2007 elections at several conferences
involving stakeholdersINEC officials, Political
Parties, Local, and International Observer Groups,
Civil Society Organizations, etc. (INEC, 2011) It
is interesting to note that IFES played a laudable
role in facilitating these conferences.
According to INEC (2011), the 2011 general
elections will do away with the traditional ballot
paper and box for making a choice at an election. The Commission plans to take advantage
of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) in the management of the election process.
In particular, the Commission seeks to use a
process called Electronic Voting System. The
main components of the process include, the
Electronic Voters Register (a database of eligible
Voters complete with photographs), biometric data
(fingerprint), and other bio-data such as age, sex,
address, polling unit, registration area, voter accreditation and authentication prior to balloting,
etc. This will be based on the use of a secure Voter
identification and the biometric information and
photograph on the cards; the use of some form of
Direct Recording Balloting Machines (Electronic
Voting Machines) will completely eliminate the
cost associated with the printing of several million ballot papers. The last, but most important
component of the Electronic Voting System is the
immediate collation and transmission of election
results directly from each of the polling stations at
the close of polls to designated collation centres
nationwide (Daily Trust, 2008).
It is the hope of the Electoral Commission in
Nigeria that given the culture of election violence
including ballot snatching, impersonation, ballot
stuffing, and vote rigging, the introduction of
the Electronic Voting System will reduce to the
barest minimum these unwholesome electoral
malpractices. In particular, the direct transmission
of results will eliminate to a very great extent
the opportunity for vote rigging which usually
occur between the close of ballot and the colla-
tion of results. The Commission, however, is not

unmindful, of challenges the introduction of the
new system will pose, but is nevertheless; ready
to learn from the experience of other countries
with similar challenges where the system has
been tested and found to be acceptable like Brazil,
India, Venezuela, etc. (Duta, 2006)
Information Security in Nigeria

Electoral malpractices have compromised Nigeria
ability to conduct credible, free, and fair elections
that produce acceptable results. It was because
of this that the idea of embarking on e-Voting
system came to being. In the light of this, there
is need to envisage or think about how effective
this system could be in a country where Politicians
are so fraudulently ready to go to any length to
steal peoples information with a view to sing the
information to manipulation the outcome of an
election. In view of this, it is important to protect
the citizens information. With this in mind, there
is need to put in place appropriate information
security in order to guard and protect voters information from being stolen by desperate contestant.
This is because there have been instances where
political rivals huff, puff and accuse each other of
massive misdemeanours such as assassinations,
kidnappings, theft, rigging, and bribery (Kogbara,
2011).. Similarly, there is a report that the attackers made off with the unmarked ballots, the ballot
box... (Gambrell, 2011).
Information security relates to the protection
of data to ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and
availability and can be linked to an asset that adds
value, which needs to be implemented across the
entire country (Daily Trust, 2008). The idea behind
this is to be able to reduce electoral malpractices
to a minimum level. Parts of the action that need
to be taken by the new INEC include issues about
e-registration, which involves e-identification
and e-signature. Use of RFID IDs or Biometrics
for identification has to be properly considered.
ICT Infrastructure for

e-Voting in Nigeria
Nigeria is the most populated country in African,
with approximately one in six Africans being Nigerian. Nigeria has a population of about 140 million,
with over 250 different ethnic groups. English is
the official language of Nigeria, although 250
other languages are spoken in the country (Goshit,
2007). Going by the Goshit report Nigeria is the
worlds 5th largest oil producer, with an economy
dominated by oil exportation. Nigeria is presently a democratic state. However, the military
governments that ruled between 1965 and 1999
were unsuccessful in creating other areas for the
Nigerian economy to flourish, eventually resulting
in corruption and unequal distribution of wealth.
Over two-thirds of the Nigerian population is in
poverty, with la budget of less than $1 per day.
The combination of corruption and severe money
mismanagement has Nigeria among the 20 most
impoverished countries in the world (Goshit, 2007;
World Bank, 2009).
Despite Nigerias unstable economy, the country has attracted over $5 billion worth of Foreign
Direct Investments in the ICT sector over the
last five years. According to the Nigeria Investment Promotions Commission (NIPC), foreign
investments are growing increasingly secure and
popular in Nigeria because of the investment
friendly atmosphere prevalent in the country. The
countrys size and population are very conducive
to such goals. With increasing globalization, the
Nigerian governments main concern is devising
an action plan for the countries Information and
Communication Technology sector. The question
is whether ICT can truly flourish in Nigeria and
whether or not such growth can better Nigerians.
Despite the population, Nigerias growth in the
ICT sector has been poor. For example, in its 6th
year of operation, Microsoft Nigeria consists
of only 20 members, though the company started
with four members. The main issue facing Nigeria and its ICT program is quality manpower.
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The primary reason that ICT has not grown in

the country is attributed to the fact that Nigerian
workforce lacks essential computer literacy and
IT preparation. Poverty is an obstacle for the
computer educational program, in a country where
education itself, has become highly controversial
(Goshit, 2007).
At this point, it is important to emphasise
there is no perfect system anywhere. What this
means in essence is that e-Voting also has its
possible drawbacks apart from possible citizens
ignorance of the system. It is very doubtful that
the electronic voting system would have increased
citizens trust in the elections if the INEC itself
were not trusted to be committed to its mission of
fair elections. Moreover, this case of e-government
built on existing technological competence and
a propensity of citizens to welcome government
initiatives for ICT innovation such conditions of
ICT competence and culture are not common in
Nigeria. The country is most rely on transferring
ICT from abroad and often faces suspicion about its
appropriateness. Problems such as power failure,
lack of Internet connectivity in the rural areas and
more can cause damage to the successful conduct
of election using e-Voting system. However, the
problems can be ameliorated if there is total trust
in the commission in charge of electoral conduct
(i.e. INEC), to conduct free and fair election. ICT
competence and culture should also be guarantee
whereby 75 85% of the entire citizenry are
Internet and computer literate.
Summarily, what we are saying in this section
is that a reasonable degree of ICT is necessary
before e-Voting system could be adopted. In this
case, the right ICT infrastructure and a coordinated policy can assist in the successful adoption
of e-Voting for elections. There is need to make
available fast and reliable Internet connection.
It should be noted that all these conditions and
requirements need to be met as its will go a long
way to guarantee respect for democratic values
on the part of the entire citizenry.
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METHODOLOGY
A qualitative method was adopted in the conduct
of the study using survey design approach. Owing
to the general limitations of quantitative methods
in capturing the fabric of global phenomena that
include complex interactions of culture, institutions, societal norms and government regulations,
among a few concerns (Kiessling & Harvey, 2005,
p. 22) and the necessity to understand informants
perceptions about the focus of the study, only
qualitative method was employed.
Moreover, qualitative techniques are suitable
for their taking onboard peoples experiences
and the meaning they individually or collectively
attach to the dynamism of party activities and
electoral system (Kura, 2009). This approach, with
its characteristics of profundity and thoroughness,
is more particularistic about contextual issues
(Devine, 2002, p. 199) such as voting system.
This is done by placing informants attitudes
and behaviour in the context of their individual
experiences and the wider social, economic,
and political settings under which elections are
conducted and political parties operate. This is
a holistic approach that captures the meanings,
divergent views, process, and context (Bryman,
1988, p. 62; Devine, 2002, p. 199), that are the
defining elements of the study of the electoral and
voting system, institutional design, and political
party institutionalisation in Nigeria.
Population and Sample

The population of the study comprised the selected
academic staff from five Universities located in
South-West Nigeria. A purposive sample technique
was used to select 50 academic staff from each of
the selected university. These include: University
of Ilorin, 50, University of Ibadan, 50, University
of Lagos, 50, University of Agriculture Abeokuta,
50, and Obafemi Awolowo, University, Ile-Ife,
50. This gives a total of 250 academic staff that
took part in the study. The number represents the

sample for the study.
Procedure for Data Collection

Since the study employed a pure qualitative approach, interview was used to collect data. Every
staff was interviewed on the subject matter of
the study. The interview items contained predetermined questions on the subject matter of the
study. Respondents who have a busy schedule
was administered an open-ended questionnaire
which contained all the interview items (See the
Appendix). Through this, respondents in this
category were given opportunity to express their
responses in writing; this was later transcribed
and interpreted. The interview scale was validated
before administration to ensure its adequacy for
the collection of data on the study. Out of 250
academic staff, only 245 were available for the
interview. This gave a total of 98% response rate.
It is should be noted that limited data can only
be gathered through interview compare to other
methods of data collection. This justify the 250
sample used in this study.
DATA ANALYSIS AND

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
Data collected was analysis thematically based
on the objectives of the study. The result of the
analysis is presented as follows.
Nigerians Awareness about e-Voting

To achieve this objective, respondents were asked
to indicate their awareness about e-Voting. It is
not unexpected that greater percentage of the
respondents emphatically said they were aware
of the e-Voting. This is because academics are
the most informed people in any country. Many
of them got to the extent of mentioning some
of the countries around the world that have one
time or the other used e-Voting in the conduct of

their elections including United State of America,
Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, etc. This result to a
great extent symbolises that Nigeria academics
are aware of e-Voting system.
On the issue of awareness, it could be emphasised that the results are not surprising because
respondents who participated in the study were
academic staff. These are the set of people who
understand what is going on around the world
through what they read in papers (periodicals),
the news they listen to, and interaction with colleagues. Hence, their awareness about the occurrences in the world including the used e-Voting
system could not be strange to them.
Perception of Voters about

the Adequacy of the e-Voting
System in Nigeria
Since, most of the academic respondents in the
survey indicated awareness about e-Voting system;
another question was raised on their perception
about the adequacy of e-Voting system in Nigeria.
One respondent had this to say Nigeria is ripe
enough to embark on e-Voting system, the system is good, and to my own perception it is also
adequate. Since some developing countries have
successfully used it in their election, I dont see
anything stopping Nigeria from embarking on it.
Considering the view of this respondent, e-Voting
system is adequate for the conduct of election
in Nigeria. Relevant to this, another respondent
was of the opinion that e-Voting is adequate and
suitable for election in Nigeria because it will to
some extent guard against rigging and stealing of
ballots boxes from polling booths which have characterised the previous elections in Nigeria. Many
respondents also commented on the adequacy of
e-Voting in Nigeria by pointing to its advantages
which include ease of voting, ease of counting,
fraudulence prevention, and cost reduction.
133
E-Voting Readiness
The objective is to determine whether or not
Nigeria is e-Voting ready. To achieve the objective on whether or not Nigeria is e-Voting ready,
respondents were asked to indicate whether or
not Nigeria is e-Voting ready. The result reveals
that 243 (97.2%) emphatically said that Nigeria is
e-Voting ready while only 2 respondents (0.8%)
were of a contrary opinion. This suggests that to
a great extent respondents were of the view that
Nigeria was e-Voting ready.
The adequacy and suitability of e-Voting reported in this study by pointing to the advantages
of e-Voting correspond with Fischers (2003)
findings that were indicated as reliability, error
reduction, usability, and cost- efficient?. Election administrators must consider these factors
in decisions about what systems to use and how
to implement them. Security is an issue for other
aspects of election administration, such as voter
registration (Fischer, 2003). This result also corresponds with some points that Hite (2004) and
(Data Monitor, 2008) mentioned about electronic
voting that electronic systems have advantages
such as ease of use because they can have features
that accommodate persons with various disabilities, and they provide features that protect against
common voter errors. The researcher perceived
that adequacy should lead to readiness. Without
the perception of the adequacy and suitability of
the e-Voting system, it is not possible to talk about
readiness. It is when adequacy and suitability is
perceived that the country now work toward making necessary infrastructure available to make
the system work.
RELEVANCE OF E-VOTING
TO NIGERIA
The objective is to determine the relevance of
e-Voting to the Nigeria populace. To achieve this
objective, respondents were asked to indicate the
134
relevance of e-Voting to them. The majority of the

respondents (96%) said that e-Voting is relevant
but doubt its practicability to the Nigerian electoral
system considering the fact that many voters are yet
to be ICT literate. One respondent had this to say:
we cannot talk of e-Voting in this country when
one third of the countrys population are yet to be
computer literate. This symbolise that e-Voting
is relevant to the Nigeria electoral system but it
is not practicable at the moment. It is true that eVoting system is relevant to the Nigeria electoral
system as confirm in this study. However, this is
not visible at the moment, considering the fact
that an overwhelming majority are still not ICT
literate. Hence, carrying the ICT illiterate along
may constitute a great danger.
Reasons for Desiring

e-Voting in Nigeria
The objective is to determine the reasons for
desiring e-Voting system in Nigeria. To achieve
this objective; respondents were required to indicate the reasons for desiring e-Voting in Nigeria?
The result shows that out of 245 respondents,
242 (96.8%) respondents find electronic voting
desirable in Nigeria leaving 5 respondents finding
electronic voting undesirable. Reasons for desirability of electronic voting in Nigeria as indicated
by the respondents include; it saves time 238
(95.2%); reduces queuing 231(92.4%); Nigeria
is technology advanced to carry out a fast voting
process 237 (94.8%) and it saves costs 230 (92%).
To buttress this point, one respondent stated that
Nigeria is technologically advanced enough to
carry out a fast voting process. Other reasons for
desiring e-Voting stated by the respondents include
the fact that e-Voting is capable to eliminate voters
apathy. It makes it easier to count votes. It may
be a solution to free and fair elections, thereby
reducing falsification.
Hindrances to E-Voting
On the objective concerning what are likely to
constitute hindrances to e-Voting in Nigeria, respondents were asked what factors can hinder the
adoption of e-Voting in Nigeria? The following are
some of the factors indicated by the respondents:

The procedure is too complicated for the

Nigeria populace. E-Voting is not accessible to everyone. The general population is
still not computer literate. Moreover, it was
indicated that it might result in a high possibility of system breakdown, which could
be in the form of virus attacks and network
failure. One of the respondents stated that:
The most fundamental problem with such a voting system is that the entire election hinges on
the correctness, robustness, and security of the
software within the voting terminal. Should that
software code have security flaws, they might be
exploitable either by unscrupulous voters or by
malicious insiders. Such insiders include election
officials, the developers of the voting system, and
the developers of the embedded operating system
on which the voting system runs. If any party
introduces flaws into the voting system software
or takes advantage of pre-existing flaws, then the
results of the election cannot be assured to accurately reflect the votes legally cast by the voters.
Moreover, respondents added that:

E-Voting is expensive and is only suitable for countries with large populations.
However, Nigeria is not found wanting in
this regard considering that her population
is now about estimated to be 150 million
people. Furthermore, some respondents
were of the view that the infrastructure
is not ready to carry out e-Voting. While
others indicate that it is too spontaneous
to introduce the e-Voting system. Some
other respondents identify increase corruption, damaging the credibility of electoral process and that its can undermine
the operational and logistical control of the
environment.
The hindrances to e-Voting reported in this
study, which include the procedure being too complicated for the Nigeria populace, inaccessibility to
everyone, populace still not yet computer literate,
and others, correspond with the earlier findings
by Blanc (2007), who identified hindrances such
as damage to the reliability and credibility of the
electoral process and the fact that e-Voting can
undermine the electoral process and that several
less dramatic dangers must also be considered.
Similarly, the Institute of Governmental Studies,
University of California (2005) identified some
challenges, which include hardware/software reliability, verifiability, and security. Poor hardware
and software may cause miscount of votes if they
are incompatible. Verifiability indicates that the
voter could confirm that his/her choices were accurately recorded, but would not have a personal
copy of the print record. The e-Voting system may
make elections more prone to delay and interruption from printer malfunctions. Because of lack of
security, there is concern that touch-screen voting
systems are not secure enough to prevent hackers from accessing voting data and manipulating
results. All these lend credence to the report of the
present result in this study. Moreover, the challenges mentioned by Hite (2004) who outlined
that disadvantages of electronic voting systems
are their cost and their frequent lack of an independent paper audit trail which are mentioned as
the lack of physical report as evidence of proof
of voting correspond to the findings in this study.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
This study has so far considered the perception
of academics in Nigeria on the suitability and
135
adequacy of e-Voting in the Nigeria polity. The

results have demonstrated that Nigerian academics are aware of e-Voting system, respondents
emphasised the adequacy of e-Voting system in
Nigeria by pointing to its advantages which include ease of voting, ease of counting, fraudulence
prevention, and cost reduction, to a great extent
that Nigeria is e-Voting ready. Furthermore, the
results reveal that e-Voting system is relevant to
the Nigeria electoral system but it is not practicable
at the moment. Respondents find electronic voting
desirable in Nigeria and the reasons given for desirability of electronic voting in Nigeria include time
saving, queuing reduction, Nigeria is technology
advanced to carry out a fast voting process, and
that e-Voting it saves cost. Some of the hindrances
to e-Voting indicated include the procedure is too
complicated for the Nigeria populace; E-Voting is
not accessible to everyone, populace still not yet
computer literate. Moreover, it may result to High
possibility of system breakdown, which could be
in the form of virus attacks and network failure.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
This research is one of the pioneer studies as far
as the issue of e-Voting system in Nigeria is concerned. The research has tried to fill the identified
research gaps from one direction by collecting
data from the population of Nigeria academics.
Future studies should consider approaching the
study from another perspective using another set
of respondents.
Moreover, the sample was only drawn from the
Southwest Nigeria knowing surely well that there
are six geo-political zones in Nigeria. In the light of
this, future research should endeavour to extend the
research to cover the other sub-regions. It should
be noted that the issue about e-Voting focused in
this study fall within the realm of e-Government.
Therefore, future researcher should consider
determine the level of e-Governance Nigeria has
attained using available e-Government models.
136
CONCLUSION
We will like to conclude here that Nigerian academics are aware of e-Voting system and what it
can offer in terms of giving credibility to the Nigerian electoral system. However, e-Voting system is
not practicable in Nigeria at the moment based on
the fact that a considerable amount of the Nigeria
populace are not yet ICT literate. Additionally,
there is the inadequate ICT infrastructure, ownership/access to ICTs by the majority of Nigerians,
etc. Consequent on the above, it is recommended
that Nigeria should embark on a programme of ICT
literacy for the whole population so that e-Voting
can be practicable in the subsequent Nigerian
electoral system. The literature and the results in
this study have showcased some of the hindrances,
problems, and challenges usually encountered
when using an e-Voting system.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The literature and the results in this study have
revealed requirements necessary for successful
adoption of e-Voting. This includes the need for
putting the right ICT infrastructure in place and a
coordinated policy framework. In the light of this, it
is recommended that, there is need for the government to make available fast and reliable Internet
connection. Moreover, all other requirement such
as universal verifiability, physical recounting and
auditing, technical adequacy, authenticated ballot
styles, and others as indicated by Cerinkaya and
Cetinkaya (2007) and Centinkaya and Koc (2007)
should be met. In other words, the government
should consider benchmarking other countries
(e.g. Estonia) where the e-Voting system has been
successfully adopted.
It is also recommended that the government
should address the issue of infrastructure for
example constructing ICT infrastructure and use
such infrastructure to fix telecom infrastructure
for Internet services. By so doing, people will get
cheap Internet access. It should be noted that the

entire citizenry will have to take part in the voting exercise. This suggests that there should be
Internet connectivity in every part of the country
including the rural areas. However, this requires
huge investments which the government should
be ready to provide. Moreover, government
should provide education or training to the general
public on how e-Voting is conducted. If finally
considered, the need for adequate planning is very
important. This is to be able to overcome likely
problems, hindrances, and challenges.
For e-Voting system to be adopted in the Nigeria polity, consideration must be given to ICT
infrastructural development in the country. On this
issue, it is noted that there have been Universal
Access initiatives in accelerating ICT infrastructure development in Nigeria and indeed Africa.
While some indicators recognize the importance of
computer skills and e- literacy, the availability of
some ICT infrastructure are also inevitable. There
is need for strengthening policy and institutional
infrastructure such as law that permit the adoption
of e-Voting system.
It should be noted that the development of a
modern nation to its full potential today can never
be attained without adequate telecommunications
infrastructure. In todays world, modern digital
telecommunications networks are necessity when
talking about achievement of e-Governance.
However, it is regrettable to state that most of
the values derivable from information communications development have been concentrated
in the developed countries of the world. Africa,
for instance, has less than 3% of the worlds main
lines, although it accounts for more than 12% of
the worlds population.
On the issue of ICT infrastructure in Nigeria,
the telephone density is estimated at around
5 telephones for about 100 people or 5%. As
telephones tend to be concentrated in the cities,
access in rural areas is even much more limited
and non-existent in many parts of the country
(Ndukwe, 2004; Tella, et al., 2009). Comparing
what obtains in Nigeria and Africa as a whole,

one can say precisely that there is a big gap. For
instance, Estonia has made remarkable progress
based on her clear vision and leadership in ICTs,
which has led to results that often surpass those
achieved by the older democracies of Western
Europe. This is especially remarkable when one
notes that the nation was ruled by foreign powers including Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and
Russia for centuries (Dutta, 2006). The success
story of Estonia in e-Voting includes the fact that
Fifty-four percent of the population (aged 674
years) are Internet users, thirty-four percent of
the households have a computer at home, and 82
percent of home computers are connected to the
Internet; all Estonian schools are connected to the
Internet; there are over 700 Public Internet Access
Points (PIAPs) in Estonia, 51 per 100,000 people
(one of the highest numbers in Europe); and income
tax declarations can be made electronically via
Internet. In 2005, 76 percent of Estonian taxpayers
declared their income tax via the Internet; government expenditures can be followed on the Internet
in real-time; cabinet meetings have been changed
to paperless sessions using a Web-based document
system; seventy-two percent of Estonian Internet
users conduct their everyday banking via Internet;
Ninety-three percent of the population are mobile
telephone subscribers; and Estonia is completely
covered by digital mobile telephone networks
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2005). Similarly,
Estonia was also one of the first countries in the
world to introduce electronic voting. E-Voting has
been in development in Estonia since 2002 and was
used for the first time in local council elections
in October, 2005. The system allows citizens to
sign their ballots electronically via the Internet.
Electronic voting does not eliminate traditional
voting, but it provides a convenient alternative
option for voting (Dutta, 2006). It is only when
Nigeria is able to achieve all these that we will
say it is e-Voting ready.
In the light of the above, it is advised that the
government can address this matter for example
137
by constructing ICT infrastructure and use the

same to fixed telecom infrastructure for Internet
services. In so doing people will get cheap Internet
access. But this needs huge investments which the
government should be ready to provide. Moreover,
government should be ready to provide education
or training to the general public on how e-Voting
is conducted.
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E-Democracy: Is defined by the use of electronic information and communications technologies (ICTs) to extend or enhance access to information and facilitate participation in democratic
communities, processes and institutions.
E-Government: eGovernment is the use of
information and communication technologies
(ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector
organisations.
E-Identification: It is the electronic process
of identifying and authenticating voters using
tool such as fingerprint scanner programmed for
using with e-Signature, e-Government systems
and other e-systems.
Election: An election is a formal decision
making process by which a population chooses
an individual to hold public office.
E-Signature: A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to authenticate
the identity of the sender of a message or the
signer of a document, and possibly to ensure that
the original content of the message or document
that has been sent is unchanged.
E-Voting: Refers to any voting process where
an electronic means is used for votes casting and
results counting.
Politics: The art or science of government or
governing, especially the governing of a political
entity, such as a nation, and the administration and
control of its internal and external affairs.
141
APPENDIX
E-Voting Adequacy Scale
Dear Respondent,
This questionnaire is designed to sample voters opinions concerning the adequacy or otherwise of
the use of e-Voting system in the Nigerian electoral system. Please feel free to respond to all the items.
There is no right or wrong answer. All your responses will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
Thank you.
The Researcher.
142
143
144
145
Chapter 7
A Critical Assessment of
the Evaluation Methods
of ICT Investment:
The Case of a Small Island Economy

with a Large Public Sector
Taruna Ramesur
University of Mauritius, Mauritius
ABSTRACT
With the aim of becoming a cyber island and making Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) one of the main pillars of the economy, the government of Mauritius has been investing huge
sums of money in ICT projects. For instance, in 2009 ICT investments accounted for 5.7% of the total
share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Given this situation, it becomes crucial to evaluate ICT
investments, and as such, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the existing methods used in the
evaluation of ICT investments in the public sector and propose a framework for the evaluation process.
The main contribution of this work lies in the fact that evaluation of ICT projects in the public sector has
remained an unexplored area, and even in the context of the private sector, most studies have concentrated on developed countries. The main results from the survey carried out in the 22 ministries reveal
that Payback Period (PB) and Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) are the main financial criteria used for
the evaluation. The survey also shows that the major factors, which are prioritised during evaluation
process, are the relevant costs, risks, and benefits. Based on the research findings, this chapter also
proposes a framework for evaluating investments in ICT projects by the public sector.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch007
A Critical Assessment of the Evaluation Methods of ICT Investment
INTRODUCTION
To be part of the digital globe and irrespective of
their developing status, countries worldwide have
embraced ICT, making it the worlds fastest growing international industry with global revenues
in excess of $3 trillion (ITU, 2011). According
to the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU, 2008), ICT spending is predicted to grow
at a compound annual rate of 7.7% through to the
end of the year 2011, and the highest share (59%)
of ICT spending goes to investment in communications technology. Mauritius is a small economy,
which, according to the Global Information and
Technology Report of 2007-2008, has the best
attributes of a network-readiness index in the African region, and is following this global trend. In
fact, the ICT sector has been branded as the new
avenue for the economic prosperity of Mauritius.
The importance of ICT as an enabler to help
achieve government efficiency fulfills its mission towards integration of the government, the
business community, and the society so that all
parties participate in the governance processes.
Consequently, the investment envelope channeled
onto ICT projects is very considerable and this may
culminate into other developmental projects such
as general community sanitation. For instance,
investment to the tune of US$ 100 million has been
provided for the development of a Cyber City and
development of e-Education and e-Government
programmes. In 2007, Value Added Tax (VAT)
generated by the ICT sector was Rs 11.7 billion

(USD 0.4 billion), while the contribution to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 5.7% in 2007
compared to 4.8% in 2002, as can be seen in Table
1. The sector has been registering a 2-digit figure
annual growth during the period 2002 to 2007.
Furthermore, it is expected that exports turnover
in the ICT sector will surge from Rs 2.8 million
(USD 0.094 million) to Rs 18 billion (USD 0.60
million) and that Human Resource (HR) requirements will increase from 7,000 to 35,000 people
from 2007 to 2010, respectively.
There are about 15 major ICT projects presently under implementation in the public sector,
listed in Table 2. With a vision to have an ICT
literate population, the Government of Mauritius
aims at getting all of the 275 primary schools in
Mauritius and Rodrigues fully equipped with Personal Computers (PCs). At the secondary level
(high school), 175 State and Private Secondary
Schools have been provided with broadband Internet Access free of charge. For the public in
general, ICT literacy and ICT awareness courses
are being provided. Moreover, implementation of
the National ICT Strategic Plan 2007-2011 is expected to cost some Rs 2 billion (USD 0.067 million) over the next five years. No less than 124
projects are contained in the plan spanning over
the period 2007-2011, and these projects constitute
platforms for increased efficiency in various sectors
of the public life namely education, tourism, health,
industry, local government, and agro industries.
Table 1. Value added generated by the ICT sector (1Rs = 0.034 US$)
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Value added in the ICT sector (Rs Million)
6,010
6,832
7,635
8,600
9,858
11,298
12,389
13,929
Value added in the ICT sector as a % of GDP
4.8
5.0
5.0
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.3
5.7
Growth rate in the ICT sector (%)
12.1
12.8
22.7
18.5
13
15.1
12.7
14.8
Imports of ICT goods and services (Rs Million)
4,701
4,463
5,563
12,944
15,000
9005
8,511
7,687
Exports of ICT goods and services (Rs Million)
1,733
1,635
2,336
9,485
11,435
4,764
5,115
3.046
Imports of ICT goods and services as a % of total imports
5.6
5.1
5.9
10.6
10
5.5
4.8
4.7
Exports of ICT goods and services as a % of total exports
2.0
1.8
2.2
7.4
9.0
3.4
3.6
2.3
Source Central Statistical Office, August 2010
146
Table 2. Summary of IT projects value

Ministry
Project Description
Project Value/Rs
Project Value/
USD
Min of Housing
Land Admin, Valuation and Info Mgt System
700,000,000
23,569,023
Min of Agro Industry
Agricultural Information Management System
20,000,000
673, 400
Min of Civil Service
Electronic Attendance System
20,000,000
673,400
Min of Health
Computerisation of Health Sector
45,000,000
1,515,151
Integrated Hospital Management System
66,250,000
2,230,640
School IT Project Computer Labs
300,000,000
10,101,010
e-Education Portal*
87,000,000
2,929,293
Criminal Intelligence System
55,000,000
1,851,852
Crime Occurrence Tracking System
77,500,000
2,609,428
Street Surveillance System
150,000,000
5,050,505
Coastal Surveillance System
330,000,000
11,111,111
New Prison Management System
17,000,000
572,391
e-Parliament*
17,000,000
572,391
e-Archives*
10,000,000
336,700
GLOBAL Positioning System (GPS) in government vehicles
21,500,000
723,906
Immigration and Border Control System
57,000,000
1,919,192
Other new projects
99,500,000
3,350,168
E-Government Projects* (e-Education, e-Parliament,..)
1,131,800,000
38,107,744
National Identity Cards/Smart Card
300,000,000
10,101,010
Government On-line Centre Project
115,000,000
3,872,054
School ICT Project
500,000,000
16,835,017
Implementation of National ICT Strategic Plan
1,000,000,000
33,670,034
Min of Education
Prime Ministers Office
Min. of ICT
Source: www.government.mu
Based on available data on government websites and budget figures of the Ministry of Finance,
Table 2 shows information on the different government ICT projects planned for implementation
up to year 2011.
With the above background in mind, it is clear
that the government is investing millions of rupees
in ICT projects, and to fully reap the benefits of
such investments, care must be taken to gauge
the relevant costs and risks associated with each
project. In other words, proper evaluation of ICT
investment is essential in order for ICT projects to
be carefully selected and well implemented with a
view of reaping the maximum benefits that effective implementation of ICT projects have to offer.
Hence, the main aim of this chapter is to analyse the tools and techniques applied in practice to
evaluate ICT investment in the Mauritian public
sector and to propose an ICT evaluation framework based on the research findings. The chapter
contributes to the existing body of knowledge on
e-Government in the sense that although several
studies have been conducted on evaluation of
ICT investments, most of them have focused on
developed countries and in the private sector,
whereas this research deals with the public sector.
At the same time, the chapter intends to evaluate
ICT interventions in the context of a small island
that is also a developing economy but aims at
becoming a cyber island.
147
The rest of this chapter paper is organized as

follows: the next section reviews the literature and
empirical studies. This is followed by the presentation of the research methodology, which is in
turn followed by the presentation of the research
findings and policy implications. The paper ends
with a conclusion.
LITERATURE AND
EMPIRICAL REVIEW
A working definition of ICT investment suggested
by Farbey, Land, and Targett (1999) is A process,
or group of parallel processes, which takes place
at different points in time or continuously, for
searching and for making explicit, quantitatively
or qualitatively, all the impacts of an ICT project
and the programme and strategy of which it is
a part. Corresponding to the development of
ICT investment model, researchers have in the
past decades come up with methodologies for
evaluating investments in ICT projects with the
following objectives: justifying the undertaking
of a project; making a comparative analysis of the
different competing investment projects, given
limited resources; providing a set of measures
for the concerned organization to exercise control
over the investment; enabling organizations to

become more competitive through productivity
and performance enhancement; and initiating new
business ideas and investigating ways of managing them. The developments of ICT investment
evaluation methodologies have been influenced by
quantitative, qualitative, or combined approaches
(in the context of Mixed Methods).
Wehrs roadmap for the evaluation of ICT
investments (Ward & Peppard, 2002), as shown
in Figure 1, is based on the following three major
considerations:
1. The process suggests that the evaluation of
both tangible and intangible benefits should
be carried out for all types of ICT investments. Although each type of ICT investment
may require a different evaluation emphasis
(e.g. quantitative versus qualitative and
tangible versus intangible) most ICT investments involve both quantitative and qualitative benefits to a certain degree;
2. The process also urges that the ICT evaluation process requires assessing the risk of
IT investments to ensure that the benefits are
great enough to offset the risks; and
Figure 1. A road map for the evaluation of ICT investment
148
3. The process recommends that the intangible

benefits and risks be evaluated prior to tangible benefits.
To use the map, one identifies the benefits and
risks to be measured on the left and then selects
an appropriate evaluation method on the right.
Intangible Benefits Evaluation

Intangible benefits, according to Kaplan (1986),
cannot be directly associated to profits or costs
given that they are benefits that can be attributed
to a particular application but show no direct
effect on cost reduction or revenue generation.
Some methods have been designed to evaluate
such benefits and they include: Multi-Objective
and Multi-Criteria (MOMC), value analysis, and
critical success factors. The MOMC, developed
by Vaid-Raizda (1983) and Bacon (1992), aims
at developing a general measure of preference
and utility and provides an opportunity to explore
the value of a set of system proposals to elicit a
problem and the views and preferences of the endusers. This methodology works via an iterative
procedure to establish preferences and utilities.
When choosing among many potential IT investment projects, MOMC will opt for the one that
will maximise aggregate utility or chooses the
one that delivers the highest overall measure of
satisfied preferences (Wen & Sylla, 1999).
The value analysis method developed and used
by several researchers, such as Paxson (1992) and
Ross (1992), on the other hand, is based on the
following three assumptions:
1. Innovation is value-driven and not
cost-driven
2. Intangibles can be identified and subjectively
assessed but rarely measured accurately, as
surrogate measures are often used to satisfy
the requirement for most inputs.
3. Individuals driven by cost and those driven
by effectiveness will inevitably clash.
This method begins with the observation that

most successful innovations are based on enhancing value added rather than on cost savings. In
this method, a multi-stage iterative process starts
with a prototype system (Molina, 2003). Users
are asked to provide the analyst with feedback
on the values and limitations of the solution obtained from the prototype. As far as the Critical
Success Factors (CSF) method is concerned, it is
used to explore the potential value of information
systems. The output is very subjective in nature
but represents the stakeholders view of the ICT
investment. The advantage of the method is that
it provides a focus on the issues that are regarded
as important by the respondents. The CSF method
may provide the right antidote to some of the worst
excesses when obtaining accurate (but meaningless) payback numbers from accounting-oriented
cost-benefit analysis.
Risk Evaluation
The three main methodologies for evaluating
risks are Real Option Value (ROV), Portfolio
approach, and Delphi approach. Molina (2003)
states that ROV uses three basic types of data:
current and possible future business strategies,
the desired system capabilities sought by the
Company, and the relative risks and costs of other
Information Technology (IT) choices that could
be made. This method can help to assess the risks
associated with ICT investment decisions, taking
into account the fact that business strategies and
system requirements may change. The ROV takes
into account the fact that business strategies and
system requirements may alter, while evaluating,
risks associated with ICT investment decisions
(Devaraj & Kohli, 2002).
The Portfolio approach conversely focuses
on the sizes of the projects and workload to be
handled by the system and managements experience with the technology and capabilities for
handling complex highly structured projects.
This approach not only assesses the relative risk
149
for a single ICT project, but also develops an

aggregate risk profile for the ICT investment.
The third method, namely the Delphi approach,
is a technique in which several experts provide
individual estimates of the likelihood of future
events associated with the decision being made.
After all input is collected, final individual values
are evaluated and summarized. This technique is
particularly useful for the risk analysis of a new
ICT investment where the risks involved in the
investment may primarily be unknown or unfamiliar to managers.
Tangible Benefits Evaluation

Measures to quantify the tangible benefits have
been based on the following approaches: Return on
Investment (ROI), Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA),
Return on Management (ROM), and Information
Economics (Saloojee, 2006). Among the much
discussed possible evaluation methods for ICT
investment is the ROI approach (Farbey, Land,
& Targett, 1993). ROI is an accounting valuation
method. The ROI is a return ratio that compares
the net benefits of a project, versus its total costs.
The three commonly used ROI methods are Net
Present Value (NPV), Discounted Cash Flow
(DCF), and Payback Period (PB).
The Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) according
to Molina (2003) tries to overcome the problem
of ROI by finding some appropriate measure
for intangible costs or benefits, which can be
quantified in monetary terms. The approach attempts to deal with two problems: the difficulty
of quantifying the value of benefits that do not
directly accrue to the investor in the project, and
the difficulty of identifying the benefits or costs
that do not have an obvious market value or price
(i.e. intangible factors).
ROM, developed by Strassmann (1997)
defines managements value-added as simply
everything left after subtracting all the direct operating costs from the value-added due to direct
labour. It concentrates on ICTs contributions to
150
the management process and proposes an index

of the total performance of management due to
the introduction of IT. This method, if applied
before and after IT is applied to an organization,
can help in isolating the contribution of IT, which
is almost impossible using traditional measures.
Nevertheless, its disadvantage is that the residual
assigned as the value added by management cannot
be directly attributed to the management process.
The final method, Information Economics (IE),
is an extension of cost-benefit analysis, customized
to cope with the particular intangibles and uncertainties found in information systems projects
(Parker & Benson, 1988). For those benefits and
costs which can be directly determined through
a conventional CBA, IE preserves ROI calculations. According to Mayor (2002), this approach
consists of costs and values, tools, and measurements. These are coupled with risk evaluation and
other investment issues in a consensus-building,
decision-making process, based on a ranking and
scoring technique. IE thus offers a framework
within which the total positive and negative impacts of ICT/Information System (IS) projects
on enterprise can be discussed and evaluated.
However, besides being an expensive method, IE
is complex and cumbersome for small projects.
As far as empirical studies are concerned, all
of them have been conducted in the context of the
private sector (except for the study done by Lin,
Pervan, and McDermid [2007] in the case of the
Australian public sector), and as such, our study
can be taken as a first attempt to evaluate ICT
investment in the public sector and more precisely
in the context of an small island developing state.
METHODOLOGY
The survey population consists of all the twentytwo ministries of the Mauritian public sector,
whereby an investment in ICT has been or is being
affected. Choosing a sample from each ministry
was a difficult task given that no information on
the actual number of people involved or working

on a project was available. However, information
could be gathered on the number of projects and
respective expenditure incurred for the period
2004-2008, via the budgetary figures available
at the Ministry of Finance website.
Given that some projects were major ones
and, therefore, very highly expensive, while others were simpler ones with a small budget, the
expenses to the number of projects Earning-Price
(E/P) ratio was not a good measure on which to
determine the sample size. As a result the sample
size was decided by applying the following rules:

if number of projects exceeded 10, then sample
size was equal to 3 times the E/P ratio. If E/P ratio
was greater than 100, the size was equal to one
tenth of E/P ratio, if E/P ratio was greater than
10 then the sample size was equal to one-fifth
of the ratio. In all the other cases, the size equals
the E/P ratio. By applying these constraints, this
provided a workable sample size and the details
of this exercise are summarised in Table 3.
From Table 3, it can thus be noted that a total
sample of 90 employees involved in ICT projects
Table 3. Sampling of ministries

Projects
Implemented
2004-2008
Ministries
Min of Justice
Projects being
Implemented
Min for Consumer Protection

Min of Agro Industry
Min of Business, Enterprise
Total
Projects
after 2004
Project
Expenditure (Rs
Million) 20042008
20
E/P
Ratio
2
Sample
size
2
0
20
4
0
Min of Civil Service
12
Min of Education, Culture &

HR
110
55
11
Min of Environment and NDU
Min of Finance
25
32
22
22
501.5
Min of Foreign Affairs

Min of Health and Quality of
Life
Min of Housing and Lands

Min of Industry
Min of ICT
Min of Labour
Min for Local Govt, Rodrigues

Min of Public Infrastructure
0
125
13
2.5
15
15
Min of Renewable Energy
Min of Social Security
Min of Tourism
Min of Womens Rights
Min of Youth and Sports
0
0
PMO, Defense & Home Affairs
15
91
18
Total
26
19
45
850
281
90
151
in the 22 ministries was selected. A questionnaire

was used as the survey tool and it consisted of
closed-ended questions aimed at more statistical
analysis as well as open-ended questions seeking
for more qualitative answers. At the same time,
nominal and interval scales were thereby providing different levels of sophistication and statistical analysis. Table 4 summarizes the main purpose
of the questions listed in the questionnaire.
A pilot test was performed by sending the
questionnaire to various people in different positions (ICT Analyst, Consultant, Manager), and
based on the feedbacks obtained, the questionnaire
was revised to a satisfactory version before being
administered. The answers were analysed using
Excel 2000 and SPSS 15.0 (Statistical Package
for Social Science).
ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

The majority of the respondents, about 86%,
were from the administrative and technical cadres
of the government sector, while the remaining

14% were from financial sections. A very low
percentage of those surveyed, about 20% only,
believe that financial techniques are applied while
evaluating ICT projects. The Payback Period (PB),
Accounting Rate of Return (ARR), Net Present
Value (NPV), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
prime among the techniques suggested. This finding harmonises with the findings of other studies
(see for example Vehovar [2005] in the case of
Slovenian companies and Ballantine and Stray
[1999] in the case of 180 UK companies).
From the responses gathered, it was evident
that non-financial criteria supersede financial ones
when evaluating ICT projects and out of the nonfinancial criteria, as government objectives (61%)
turned out to be the most common one followed
by system requirements (46%). To keep pace
with technology, evaluation is also dependent on
upgrading of software versions (34%). Moreover,
a good majority (94%) of respondents believe
that evaluation techniques applied during the first
time an ICT investment is made are more rigorous
Table 4. Summary of purpose of questions

Section
A
152
Question(s)
Purpose
1, 2, 3,
4, 5
- possible correlations between problems faced and ministry, age, length of service, nature of
work
6, 7
- Project already / currently implemented and project value
10
- comparing ICT investment when changing/upgrading ICT and investing for the first time
14, 16,
20, 23
- testing types of ICT investment and extent of effects on organisations
19
- investigating risk consideration prior to ICT investment
11
- identifying how benefits of ICT investment becomes apparent to the staff / ministry
9, 10
- gaining qualitative responses on valuable ICT investment and assessing its evaluation
8, 9
- identifying types of evaluation method before undertaking an ICT investment
15, 21, 22
- investigating usage of ICT facilities
12, 13
-assessing impact on intangible benefits (positive, negative): performance, labour productivity

growth, accountability, quality of (customer) service, job loss, information loss
17
- investigating relevance of evaluation method to project failures
18
- identify types of evaluation method after an ICT investment
24
- identifying project prioritisation and techniques used
25
- exploring evaluation problems and solutions
than those made during subsequent investments

on the project. This is partly implying that once a
project is rolled out, stakeholders gain confidence
and additional investment undergoes stringent
evaluation procedures.
The findings on the contribution of computers and their impact reveal that more that 95% of
respondents agree that computers have contributed
to achieving more work rapidly, learning new
skills, and obtaining useful information easily.
Moreover, over 80% of those surveyed feel that
ICT investments have positively impacted on
automating work, improving quality of service,
providing better customer service and response
time to public queries. Such a result can be validated by Organisation for European Economic
Co-operation (OEEC, 2005) productivity research,
which was done during the period 1995-2003.
The OEEC study showed that appropriate ICT
investments led to a larger contribution towards
increased productivity than other non-ICT capital
investments. The survey has also investigated the
short (less than 3years) as well as the long-term
impact of ICT investment and showed that about
50% of respondents believe that there will be more
transparency in the short term while 30% believe
this to be a long-term result. The survey further
shows that career opportunities, job losses, and
loss of information are more probable in the long
run, rather than in the short term. In fact, good
career opportunities in the field of ICT are quite
visible and predictable given the Governments
objective to increase human capacity, building
from 7,000 in 2007 to 35,000 in 2010.
However, 41% of the respondents are not aware
of e-Government and the National ICT Strategic
Plan (NICTSP), and this is quite a deceiving figure in the sense that major policy decisions are
in the domain of the government and government
employees should be more knowledgeable to making ICT the fifth pillar of the economy, but given
the technical nature of the plan, it is reassuring
to note that the technical cadres are well aware
of the NICTSP. 73% of the citizens engage in e-
Government. This is definitely encouraging as it

demonstrates that ICT investment is not a futile
exercise. More people in the 30-40 age groups
have adopted it, while the younger generation
seems to have less e-Service needs to resort to it.
As far as the extent of ICT investment is concerned, the majority of Government employees
(64%) believe that more ICT investment should
be undertaken than is currently being done. Such
a figure depicts the increasing and welcoming
role that ICT is playing in the government service
across all age groups. It can therefore be inferred
that Government is showing, through actions and
statements, that it is committed to make ICT the
fifth pillar of the economy. The construction of the
Cyber Tower and formulation of NICTSP 20072011 are concrete examples of such an initiative.
The results further highlight that only 10.5%
of individuals surveyed believe that ICT projects
have failed to meet their objectives and an overwhelming majority (76.3%) is not aware of ICT
failures. This can be partly explained by the fact
that ICT projects are deployed in specific sections and not everyone is aware if such projects
have failed to meet the purposes for which they
were designed and implemented. Almost 70%
of the respondents are not aware if a post-ICT
investment evaluation is performed. This is an
alarming result given that only monitoring and
reviews would enable us to know whether objectives of the ICT projects have been met. This
result confirms the findings of the Government
audit report 2005/2006, which states that out of
some 30 projects being implemented as at June
2006, 12 had exceeded their development period.
Thus, while government is investing millions of
rupees in ICT projects, the value for money is not
reaped. Projects tend to go beyond implementation schedule and, by the time they go live, are no
longer relevant or suitable for use. These findings
concur with what Lin, Pervan, and McDermid
(2007) found in their Australian survey; that is,
there is a lack of ICT evaluation process in the
public sector.
153
More than 60% of respondents claim that ICT

investment is effective for conducting intra- and
inter-department/ministry work. Over 50% of the
respondents agree that it has a positive effect on
the public service delivery, though its effectiveness at the economic or international level is not
far reaching. In terms of problems that may be
encountered while evaluating ICT projects, the
respondents have identified, in order of priority,
the following major causes: identify / quantify
relevant risks (54%), costs (46%), benefits (44%),
and lack of information (32%). Interpreting evaluation results or unfamiliar evaluation techniques
are considered minor problems. Yet it should be
noted that a good majority has abstained to provide
responses given the technical nature involved
here. The survey results are again consistent with
findings of Lin, Pervan, and McDermid (2007),
who indicate that there was a lack of understanding of ICT investment evaluation methodology in
the public sector.
PROPOSED MODEL FOR

EVALUATING IT INVESTMENT
Having analysed the results, a model for evaluating
ICT investment is hereby proposed. Government
is a non-profit sector and, as such, a model of
framework needs neither to be too rigid nor too
technical to adopt. Based on the research findings,
3 main criteria have considerable weighting while
performing ICT evaluations, namely: costs, risks,
and benefits (see Figure 2).
Since not all the criteria are equally important

while performing evaluation, these are ranked
based on an agreed weightage, based on the ICT
project concerned. Decision criteria should be
matched with the type of ICT investment being
undertaken. After identifying the benefits indicators, the next stage dwells on the costs to be incurred. The financial techniques most appropriate
in the given context can then be applied before
considering the risks associated with the project.
Prioritization can arise in the context of budgetary
constraints or change in Governments objectives.
Evaluation then continues throughout the implementation stage through constant monitoring
during the project life span and subject to performance measurement, eventually culminating with
post-implementation reviews. Realized benefits,
based on performance indicators, are then compared with expected/targeted ones to judge the
projects effectiveness.
The proposed model for ICT investment
evaluation is shown in Figure 3. Evaluation can
be thought of as a series of layers whereby inner
ones are influenced by the outer ones. Thus at the
outset, the benefits environment have a greater
influence on the final evaluation while risks criteria
have a lesser impact.
CONCLUSION AND THE WAY

FORWARD
The main conclusions that can be drawn from the
survey are that: first of all, finance-based evalua-
Figure 2. Three main criteria for evaluating IT investment
154
Figure 3. Model of evaluation of ICT investment
tion techniques are not widely used, with Pay Back,

Average Rate of Return, and Net Present Value
being the most applied ones. The ministries/departments are more receptive on using non-financial
techniques. Secondly, post ICT evaluations are
not performed systematically. The audit reports
provide a glimpse on the weaknesses that lack of
reviews yield. Millions of rupees are thus invested
in a futile manner. In addition, the major problems
encountered for evaluation evolve around identifying/quantifying the relevant risks, costs, and
benefits, while the major benefits of ICT investment can be classified in terms of enhanced quality
of service for the public, operational performance
of users, and a better flow of information within
and among departments. Last but not least, the
results reveal that an area of concern is the lack
of awareness about the NICTSP plan 2007-2011
among public officers.
In brief, it can be noted that Government is sparing no effort to provide equal ICT opportunities to
its citizens, position the country as a regional ICT
hub, and enable the emergence of the 5th economic
pillar. Investment to the tune of Rs 5 billion (USD
0.17 billion) has been planned for the next 5 years.
With miles ahead to pursue on the ICT road, it is
very important that ICT investments are carefully
selected and well-managed in order that tangible
and observable achievements are made.
Future research along the lines of this study
could be directed at finding ways of applying the
ICT investment evaluation model to some ICT
projects. Hence, one could embark on a couple
of case studies where ICT projects are in different
phases of conceptualization and conduct some
post-ICT reviews. Ultimately, an ICT evaluation
manual can be worked out similar to the Investment Project Process Manual of the Ministry of
Public Infrastructure.
155
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ADDITIONAL READING
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evaluate information technology project investments. Information Systems Research, 10, 7086.
doi:10.1287/isre.10.1.70

ICT Investment: An organizational investment employing or producing IT or IT-related
assets.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Consists of all technical means used
to handle information and aid communication,
including computer and network hardware,
communication middleware as well as necessary
software.
Intangible Benefits: Are those benefits which
cannot be measured in monetary terms but they
do have a very significant business impact.
Tangible Benefits: Are those benefits which
can be measured in monetary terms.
157
158
Chapter 8
E-Government in the
Judiciary System:
Assessing the Correlation between

IT Investment and the Efficiency
of Courts of Justice in Brazil
Andr Andrade
Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Foundation, Brazil
Luiz Antonio Joia
Daniel Kamlot
ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of e-government being enabled by Information Technology (IT) investment in the Brazilian Judiciary System. The methodology adopted was the case study, with a mix
of qualitative and quantitative data to deal with the complexity of the phenomenon. The latest data on
e-government use in Brazil, the organizational structure and IT development of the Brazilian Judiciary
System, and the legal framework for electronic lawsuits form the basis for understanding the context.
A qualitative analysis of the influence of the National Council of Justice (NCJ) on IT investment and
e-government initiatives indicates that the NCJs coordination is leading the Brazilian Judiciary System
towards common goals. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the correlation between IT investment
and the efficiency of the courts shows a potential positive influence on reducing the duration and cost
of lawsuits.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch008
E-Government in the Judiciary System
INTRODUCTION
As the computerization of the Brazilian Judiciary
System in Brazil evolves, e-government becomes
an important tool to promote the access by Brazilian citizens to justice. In the meantime, units
of the Brazilian Judiciary System are investing
in Information Technology (IT) to build the infrastructure necessary to provide e-government
services (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury, 2008). The
adoption of the New Public Management paradigm in Brazil has identified e-government as
a path to be followed by the Judiciary System.
The continuing development of e-government
increases the need for a restructuring of the state
to provide these services in terms of routines and
processes that need to be eliminated or modified
through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools (Ruediger, 2003).
Strategic planning of the Brazilian Judiciary
System, coordinated by the National Council of
Justice (NCJ), focuses on IT as a tool for solving
the efficiency problems of the Brazilian Judiciary
System (Andrade, 2009). IT investment of the
Brazilian Judiciary System might be evaluated
by several indicators from political goal-based
ones, such as governance, to technical-based
ones, such as software performance. Transparency, info-inclusion, equity, quality, efficiency,
capability, accountability, maturity, infrastructure,
standardization, interoperability, availability, and
usability are just some of these performance indicators (Pinho, Iglesias, & Souza, 2005; Soares,
Junior, & Santos, 2007; Joia, 2007; Magoutas &
Mentzas, 2009; Solar, Astudillo, Valdes, Iribarren,
& Concha, 2009). However, in Brazil there has
been the option of solely assessing efficiency in
the courts of justice, which duly tallies with the
goals adopted by the NCJ as the administrator of
the strategic planning of the Brazilian Judiciary
System.
As Brazil is implementing its latest judicial
reform, led by the NCJ, empirical research becomes very important to guide these initiatives
(Hammergren, 2009a, 2009b; Staats, Bowler, &

Hiskey, 2005). In its latest phase, Brazilian judicial
reform has incorporated not just legal changes but
also new elements related to management issues
and investment in equipment, buildings, and IT
(Hammergren, 2009b).
According to Scholl (2008) e-government is a
multidisciplinary knowledge field. Multiple disciplines are supposed to be used to duly address the
complexity of the aforementioned phenomenon.
Thus, in order to analyze IT investment in the
Brazilian Judiciary System and the respective efficiency expected of courts of justice, it is necessary
to address the e-government stages and services
compatible with them, the relation between IT
investment and e-government, and the use of
e-government services by Brazilian citizens. It
is also necessary to address the factors that have
influenced the adoption of e-government services
by the Brazilian Judiciary System, namely its organizational development, the legislative reforms,
and the new technical systems (Jansen & Lodval,
2009). All these elements influence each other and
the phenomenon studied (Figure 1).
Based on this conceptual framework, this
paper examines the role of the NCJ on the definition of IT investment and e-government initiatives,
and the correlation between IT investment and
efficiency of the courts. This analysis encompasses two themes of the eGOVRTD20201:
mission-oriented goals and performance management, and assessing the value of government ICT
investments (Wimmer, Codagnone, & Janssen,
2008).
The case study methodology, described by Yin
(2004), was chosen to conduct qualitative and
quantitative research, exploring and describing a
phenomenon in its own context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not
clearly evident, and in which multiple sources of
evidence are used (Benbasat, Goldstein, & Mead,
1987; Yin, 2004). The phenomenon to be studied,
examines the role of the NCJ on the definition of
IT investment and e-government initiatives. Fur-
159
Figure 1. Factors influencing IT investment and e-government services (adapted from Jansen & Lodval,
2009)
thermore, the correlation between IT investment

and efficiency of the courts is intricately connected
to political, social, historical, and personal issues,
providing wide ranging possibilities for questions
and adding complexity to the case study (Soy,
2009). The case study conducted here follows Stop
methodology in four stages, namely designing the
case study, conducting the case study, analysis of
the evidence and report writing (Tellis, 1997a).
The research question that summarizes the
purpose of this chapter is: how does IT investment
affect the efficiency of the Brazilian Judiciary
System (Par, 2004)? This question follows the
recommendations of Par that the question of a
case study is clear, simple, obvious, intriguing,
feasible, socially important, current and scientifically relevant (Par, 2004). And the central thesis
is that IT investment has a positive influence on
efficiency. For this purpose, documents and data
were collected from reliable government sources
(Par, 2004) and a case study database was created (Tellis, 1997b).
The unit of analysis for the case study is the
Brazilian Judiciary System (Stake, 1988) and a
qualitative analysis of the role played by the NCJ
in defining and coordinating the IT investment of
the Brazilian Judiciary System was conducted. The
choice of sub-units of analysis for the quantitative
research (Stake, 1988; Soy, 2009) was the State
160
Courts. Given the wide variety of the administrative units of the Brazilian Judiciary System
and their differences, it was necessary to select
a population that can be compared. There are 27
State Courts that are similar in their attributions,
which provide a large sample with similar characteristics in order to isolate the phenomenon under
scrutiny. This choice allows a comparison between
the sub-units of analysis, but does not remove the
appearance of a single case study (Yin, 2004).
However, for a more precise statement of scope,
the case being studied could be redefined as: IT
investment of the Brazilian State Courts. And the
question for research: how does IT investment
affect the efficiency of the Brazilian State Courts?
Although the choice of the case and sub-units
of analysis is restrictive, it does not imply abandoning the possibility of generalizing the results
obtained. The choice of the Brazilian State Court
as an object of study was necessary to establish
efficiency comparisons. However, the results
obtained in relation to the state courts can be generalized for the entire Brazilian Judiciary System,
or even other countries, at least those with similar
procedural dynamics.
This chapter includes a brief review on eGovernment literature, focusing on e-government
stages that later will be considered as the framework to analyze the development of the Brazilian
Judiciary System automation process, describes

the use of Internet and e-government services
among the Brazilian population, and review the
literature on IT investment and the measurement
of its impact on efficiency. When analyzing egovernment on the Brazilian Judiciary System,
this chapter presents the organizational structure
of the Brazilian Justice, its automation phases,
the electronic lawsuit, the role of the NCJ, and
the correlation between IT investment and courts
efficiency.
E-GOVERNMENT STAGES
E-government represents the use of ICT tools
to reinvent the public sector by transforming its
internal and external way of doing things and its
interrelationships with citizens (Ndou, 2004).
E-government provides numerous opportunities,
including for developing countries: it reduces cost
and efficiency shortfalls; it increases the quality
and scope of service delivered to citizens; it promotes transparency, anticorruption, and accountability; it fosters network and community creation;
it improves the quality of decision making; and it
promotes the use of ICT in other sectors of society
(Ndou, 2004).
The United Nations (UN) and the American
Society for Public Administration (ASPA) adopt
a scale with five stages to classify e-government
initiatives (Ronaghan, 2002). In the first emerging stage, an official government online presence
is established through a few independent official
sites, and information is limited, basic and static.
In the second enhanced stage, government sites
increase in number; and information becomes
more dynamic and is updated with greater frequency. In the third interactive stage, users can
download forms, send e-mails to officials and
interact through the web, making appointments and
requests. In the fourth transactional stage, users
can pay for services and perform other transactions
online. Citizens can perform complete and secure
transactions such as obtain visas, passports, birth

and death records, licenses, permits, as well as pay
online for a services, pay parking fines, automobile
registration fees, utility bills and taxes. Secure sites
and passwords are present and digital signatures
may be needed to facilitate transactions. In the
fifth seamless stage, there is total integration
of e-functions and services across administrative
and departmental boundaries.
While online access to information on the
progress of lawsuits is a second stage service,
the electronic lawsuit is an example of an e-government service that is related to the fourth stage.
Moving to the fifth stage requires full integration
of e-government services by a virtual agency
without boundaries between governmental bodies, which is difficult for the Brazilian Judiciary
System in its current development stage, given its
organizational structure (Andrade & Joia, 2010)
and the existing multiple and non-interoperable
information systems (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleuryl,
2008).
THE USE OF E-GOVERNMENT

SERVICES IN BRAZIL
Since 2005, the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) conducts an annual survey on the
use of ICT in Brazil. This section of the chapter
refers predominantly to the latest version, conducted in 2009 and published in 2010 (Barbosa,
2010). When data from a previous version is
referred to, it is highlighted.
E-government can be seen as a tool of public policy to foster social inclusion through the
democratization of access to justice (Andrade &
Joia, 2009). For this purpose, it is important that
the use of e-government is not limited to the more
privileged classes (Ndou, 2004). In the Brazilian
case, the lack of skills to access the Internet (53%)
is the major barrier to be overcome (Barbosa,
2010). And for a large part of the population
161
(36%), there are no clear benefits derived from

accessing the Internet (Barbosa, 2010).
Despite these problems, digital inclusion is
growing at a brisk pace (Wagner, 2009). From
2008 to 2009, the percentage of individuals of
the total population who had accessed the Internet at least once rose from 43% (Barbosa, 2009)
to 45% (Barbosa, 2010) and the same variation
was observed between 2007 and 2008 (Balboni,
2008). The frequency of Internet access has also
increased: 58% access it daily and 30% at least
once a week (Barbosa, 2010). From the above
statistics (Barbosa, 2009) it is possible to deduce
that users migrated from less intensive (once a
week) to more intensive access (daily).
The use of e-government services experienced
the same growth as the percentage of individuals
who accessed the Internet, namely from 25% in
2007 (Balboni, 2008) and 2008 (Barbosa, 2009)
to 27% in 2009 (Barbosa, 2010). Only 13% of
the individuals who accessed e-government services used the Internet to monitor the progress of
lawsuits in the courts (Barbosa, 2010), a decrease
from the previous year (16%) (Barbosa, 2009).
This data shows that the use of e-government
services of the Brazilian Judiciary System is not
benefiting directly from the growth of Internet
and e-government service usage by the Brazilian
population.
The number of individuals who did not use
e-government services, but who accessed the
Internet and declared willingness to consult the
progress of lawsuits in the courts, decreased from
30% in 2008 (Barbosa, 2009) to 27% in 2009.
This reinforces the above analysis, proving that
the use of the Internet to follow up lawsuit status
is reaching saturation point at approximately 3 to
4 percent of the total population (3.22 in 2008 and
3.28 in 2009). Further, the potential number of
citizens monitoring the progress of lawsuits over
the Internet increased from 9% of the population
in 2008 to almost 15% in 2009.
Analysis of these data shows that in order for
e-government to foster social inclusion through the
162
democratization of access to justice, three major

steps are necessary, namely to increase the access
to ICT including the Internet, to increase the use of
e-government services among Internet users, and
to provide new value-added services corresponding to the fourth and fifth levels of e-government
initiatives. On the other hand, 56% of Internet users
who did not use e-government services preferred
to make personal contact, 15% had data security
concerns, 13% said that the services were hard
to find, 9% declared that the services needed
were not available online, and 8% thought that it
was too complicated (Barbosa, 2010). Given the
existence of multiple answers, less than 30% can
be reached by providing more easier-to-find and
easier-to-use services. More than 70% of Internet
users who do not use e-government services have
behavioral and trust barriers.
These results raise a question for the Brazilian Judiciary System in general and the NCJ in
particular, namely what are the effects of the IT
investment in the advancement of the use of egovernment services of the Brazilian Judiciary
System? Only three years of data accessible on
consulting the progress of lawsuits via the Internet, and no data on the others services available,
makes answering this question even more difficult.
IT INVESTMENT AND
E-GOVERNMENT
IT investment has the potential to create value
for the investing organization (Lucas, 1999). IT
investments encompass several IT related items,
as hardware, storage, software purchase, system
development, network, Internet access, management and training. The use of IT can be associated
with productivity and efficiency gains, as it makes
a shift in production arrangements possible (Crede
& Mansell, 2002). For developing countries,
IT offers opportunities for economic development, and plays a critical role in rapid economic
change, productive capacity improvements and
the enhancement of international competitiveness

(Ndou, 2004).
Several research projects have been conducted
on the impact of IT investment on business (Barua, Kriebel, & Mukhopadhyay, 1991; Greenan
& Mairesse, 1996; Brynjolfsson & Yang, 1999;
Lin & Shao, 2000; Subramani & Walden, 2000).
Brynjolfsson and Yang (1999), for example, used
financial markets valuation of the firms to estimate
the intangible costs and benefits of computer capital. Lin and Shao (2000), on the other hand, measured the positive impact of IT on organizational
performance. Nonetheless, determining the costs
and benefits of e-government initiatives are still a
problem that needs to be solved (Johnson, 2002).
It is important to note that in the public sector any IT investment will be influenced by the
political mission of the government agency
(Chircu & Lee, 2003). Investing in IT in order
to enable providing e-government services to
citizens becomes a political decision to be taken
by the political agents running the agencies. To
provide e-government services, it is necessary to
have an ICT infrastructure that includes: Internet
connectivity; bandwidth capacity; secure servers; computers, etc. (Srivastava & Teo, 2004). A
solid and secure ICT environment is an essential
prerequisite for the successful implementation of
e-government.
It is also important to appreciate that not all
IT investment represents a direct e-government
investment, although it can provide the infrastructure necessary in order to provide e-government
services. As the strategic planning developed by
the NCJ for the Brazilian Judiciary System focuses
on IT investment to enable e-government and the
Brazilian Courts are developing information systems to host electronic lawsuits, which represents
a fourth stage e-government services, we will
use IT investment as a proxy for or precursor to
e-government investment.
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF IT

INVESTMENT ON EFFICIENCY
How investment in IT is related to efficiency is a
problem that transcends the boundaries of public
administration (Lin & Shao, 2000). However,
as governments are subjected to greater budget
control and public scrutiny, the efficiency and
effectiveness of public spending ranks high on
the political agenda (Mandl, Dierx, & Ilzkovitz,
2008). Measurement of efficiency in the public
sector is never an easy task.
Measuring an organizations efficiency involves a comparison between the inputs it requires
and the outputs it produces (Crawford, Klemm,
& Simpson, 2003). If the outputs are sold in a
competitive market, the value of these outputs
can be measured by their price. However, in the
public sector the goods and services are provided
for free, or for a price that it is not related to their
cost or to the vagaries of market forces (Crawford,
Klemm, & Simpson, 2003). For this reason, it is
very difficult to place a value on these outputs. On
the other hand, the aggregated inputs are clearly
stated in the budget. So, how can we solve the
problem of measuring outputs and efficiency? In
the case of the Brazilian Judiciary System, this
task is easier as we can find similar organizations
and compare them. The annual report entitled
Justice in Numbers, published by the NCJ since
2004, provides the data necessary for this analysis
(Brasil, 2009a).
According to the Vera Institute for Justice
(2003), the most reliable administrative data are
those an agency collects for its own operational
purposes. In relation to the reliability of data
provided by the NCJ, it has to be mentioned that
they are provided directly by the courts, with no
verification and auditing by the NCJ. The lack of
experience in collecting these data by the courts is
another problem to be mentioned. Even if there is
no fraud, innocent errors can be made and affect
the outputs. The Vera Institute for Justice (2003)
also suggested a number of potential indicators
163
for judicial performance. None of them are widely

available for the Brazilian Judiciary System.
The congestion of lawsuits in courts (percentage of lawsuits waiting for a judges sentence)
is the best available proxy for operational efficiency, because it embodies both the regional
characteristics, as the number of lawsuits in a
given administrative unit. It also provides the efficiency characteristics, as the court performance
in judging the lawsuits that come before it. The
cost per lawsuit judged (average cost of each
lawsuit judged in an administrative unit) is the
best proxy for financial efficiency that can be
calculated from NCJ indicators.
Another measurement problem is the return
on IT investment over time. How long does it
take for the investment to mature and have the
expected effects on efficiency? It is a difficult
question to answer, and even more so if we dont
know the structure of the IT investment. Investment in software development, notably in the
early stages, has uncertain returns. Investment
in training has a more rapid return. The solution
adopted here was to consider all the time series
available (five years) to evaluate the results of
medium-term investment in IT. This approach was
designed to reduce the effects of the considerable
fluctuations in IT investment from year to year
within the same court.
The performance indicators used address
two characteristics that affect the perception of
the efficiency of the Brazilian Judiciary System:
length of the proceedings (congestion) and public
spending (cost per lawsuit judged). This is a different approach than that which uses economic and
social indicators as a proxy for the efficiency of
the public sector (Afonso, Schuknecht, & Tanzi,
2003), like the works developed by Pinheiro
(2000, 2001) to estimate the negative impact of
the inefficiency of the Brazilian Judiciary System
on the countrys development.
Another approach adopted in this study is the
use of data directly related to the activities of the
Brazilian Judiciary System. It is the best approach
164
available for the purposes intended, despite the

fact that the currently available data do not cover
all aspects of efficiency, such as correct and nonbiased decisions, and promoting access to justice
(Hammergren, 2009a). Furthermore, the available
indicators do not include the relative weight of the
products, and the dynamic effects of exogenous
factors (Smith & Street, 2005).
E-GOVERNMENT IN THE
BRAZILIAN JUDICIARY SYSTEM
The Brazilian Judiciary System
The Brazilian Judiciary System consists of a complex combination of nature of lawsuit, physical
location and level of jurisdiction (Andrade & Joia,
2010). The jurisdiction for deciding a certain issue
is based on a combination of the right in dispute
(nature of lawsuit), location of the dispute (physical location) and level of jurisdiction of the judge
(level of jurisdiction). Although the explanation
may be simple, the multitude of possible combinations offers a complexity of options that goes
beyond the number of administrative autonomous
units of the Brazilian Judiciary System.
Because Brazil is a federative republic, the
basis of the Brazilian Judiciary System lies at
state level. The macro-organizational structure of
the Brazilian Judiciary System is established in
Title IV, Chapter III, Section I, Article 92 of the
Brazilian Constitution: Art. 92. The organs of
the Judiciary Power are as follows: I - the Federal
Supreme Court; II - the National Council of Justice;
III - the Superior Court of Justice; IV - the Courts
of Appeal and Labor Assizes; V - the Courts of
Appeal and Electoral Assizes; VI - the Courts of
Appeal and Military Assizes; VII - the Courts of
Appeal and State, Federal District and Territorial
Assizes (Figure 2) (Brasil, 2010a). Due to this
division, Brazil has more than 100 autonomous
administrative judiciary units (Andrade, 2009).
Besides the federal and state justice, there are
Figure 2. Structure of the Brazilian judiciary system (Andrade & Joia, 2010)
three more specialized instances of jurisdiction:

labor, electoral and military.
With 26 states and a federal district, each one
with its own structure for almost all of the 5 different instances of jurisdiction, coordination is
no simple task. In this fragmented environment,
information systems were developed in an uncoordinated manner, according to the local internal
needs of the organizations (Andrade, Mallet, &
Fleury, 2008). Rarely were the different stakeholders interested in the Judiciary administration heard
(Andrade, 2009). This resulted in several concurrent and non-interoperable systems for lawsuit
automation, with low knowledge-sharing and high
costs (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury, 2008).
In 2004, Constitutional Amendment No. 45
created the NCJ and established the constitutional
right to a reasonable duration of the judicial
process (Brasil, 2010). While the reasonable
duration established a constitutional right with no
adequate means to ensure its accomplishment, the
creation of the NCJ was a response to the social
demand for an external control of the Brazilian
Judiciary System, given the broad autonomy of
its units (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury, 2008).
The attributions of the NCJ include defining
strategic planning and the goals and programs for
institutional evaluation of the Brazilian Judiciary
System. Strategic planning could be found in units
of the Brazilian Judiciary System since the early

1990s (Baracho, 2002). Most of these initiatives
were isolated and/or discontinued in the course of
time. The isolation was given by the fragmented
structure of the Brazilian Judiciary System and the
discontinuity was caused by the short duration of
the administrations of the Judiciary units, limited
to a two-year term (Andrade & Joia, 2009).
IT IN THE BRAZILIAN
JUDICIARY SYSTEM
According to Tapscott (1997), there are three stages
in the virtualization of working processes. First,
the value chain is still physical, though there is the
use of electronic tools such as word processors,
spreadsheets and simple databases. Second, automation becomes part of the activities associated
with the execution of working processes. Third,
the value chain is fully digital with intensive use
of ICT.
The automation of the Brazilian Judiciary
System is more than three decades old (Andrade,
Mallet, & Fleury, 2008). However, during this
time there was hardly any coordination between
the various individual initiatives. Indeed, until
recently no coordinated ICT planning was detected
and separate information systems were developed
165
for each and every unit (Andrade, 2008). This

problem is even more acute in the state courts,
given the administrative autonomy of each state.
The evolution of the computerization of the
Brazilian Judiciary System is fully compatible
with Tapscotts model (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury,
2008). First, judges and civil servants use word
processors and simple databases to type decisions
and hearings and register information on the
progress of lawsuits. Second, the courts implement information systems to control the progress
of lawsuits, which Tapscott (1997) defines as
control of working processes, and early steps of
automation. Third, the virtualization of lawsuits
referred to as electronic lawsuits takes place,
when the courts start to implement a fully digital
value chain, with intensive use of ICT, including
e-government tools.
All the administrative units of the Brazilian
Judiciary System have completed the first phase,
and most of them have also implemented phase
two. In rare cases, part of the lawsuits of a given
court is not controlled through an information
system. All of them have initiated the third phase
(digital value chain), though none of them have
completed it yet. It is expected that, by the end of
2011, the administrative units of smaller states will
have completed this task, with all their lawsuits
in electronic format.
THE ELECTRONIC LAWSUIT

The increasing computerization of the Brazilian
Judiciary System, motivated among other things
by the desire to speed up judicial lawsuits, is a
solution involving technical procedures rather
than new lawsuit routines per se (Duarte, 2003;
Silva, 2004). Undoubtedly, the most important
initiative in the field of e-government by the Brazilian Judiciary is the so-called electronic lawsuit.
Although it is known by this name, it is a lawsuit
in a differentiated physical medium with the same
rules as traditional lawsuits, rather than a new type
166
of lawsuit. Instead of the court dockets being on

paper, the lawsuit is processed using electronic
means. In other words, the standard principles and
rules of judicial lawsuits are maintained, though
documents that were stored on paper (and often
generated via electronic media) are stored and
managed electronically.
After the enactment of Federal Law 11.419/06
the implementation of the electronic lawsuit has
been essentially pragmatic. The control of routines
such as the distribution of initial briefs, fulfillment
of court orders, accompaniment of lawsuits, publication routines, scheduling of hearings, among
others, undoubtedly benefit from computerization
(Marcacini & Costa, 2008). The first instances of
electronic lawsuits were implemented by isolated
courts in the various autonomous units, often based
on previously available lawsuit information systems (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury, 2008). In many
cases, there is more than one system in place in
each court (Andrade, Mallet, & Fleury, 2008).
In order to clear up this problem, the NCJ
developed the Digital Judicial Lawsuit (PROJUDI) (Andrade & Joia, 2009). However, the
autonomous administrative units of the Brazilian Judiciary System use different versions of
the system and have a high degree of freedom to
customize them. This situation repeats the same
model of decentralized development, with high
costs and low knowledge sharing, although on a
common platform. The unification of the platform
can contribute to reducing the problems of communication and interoperability that need to be
overcome in order to achieve the fifth (seamless)
stage of e-government initiatives, in accordance
with UN/ASPA standards (Ronaghan, 2002).
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF
THE NCJS ROLE
Since its deployment in 2004, the major innovation
of the NCJ was to conduct centralized strategic
planning for the entire Brazilian Judiciary System,
which is something that had never been attempted

before. In 2009, the NCJ staged the 2nd National
Meeting of the Judiciary, the main result of which
was to establish coordinated strategic planning that
set 10 national leveling goals for 2009, including
six specifically dealing with IT investment and
four focused on providing e-government services
to citizens. These goals include: computerizing all
the judicial units and interconnecting them to the
respective courts and the Internet; computerizing
and automating the distribution of all lawsuits and
appeals; implementing management systems for
criminal enforcement and monitoring mechanisms
for temporary incarceration; making the procedural information available in the portals of the
world wide web (Internet), with up-to-the-minute
lawsuit accompaniment and content of decisions,
while duly respecting the privacy of justice; registering all magistrates in the electronic systems
of access to information on people and property
and reporting court orders (Bacenjud, Infojud,
Renajud); and implementing the electronic lawsuit
in part of their units (Brasil, 2009b).
On September 29, 2009, Resolution 90 of the
NCJ established requisites for IT in the Brazilian Judiciary System (Brasil, 2009c). It recommends the number of civil servants in the IT area
according to the size of the Court, the rules for
developing or contracting information systems, the
minimum IT infrastructure required, and the need
for strategic planning in IT. In Resolution 91, also
dated September 29, 2009, the NCJ established the
Model of Requirements for Information Systems
for Management of Lawsuits and Documents of
the Judiciary Authority (MoReq-Jus) (Brasil,
2009d). The MoReq-Jus established technical and
functional specifications to govern the acquisition,
detailing and development of systems for lawsuits
and documents management.
In 2010, a new round of strategic planning measures were proposed at the 3rd National Meeting
of the Judiciary, and resulted in 10 new goals, two
of which were specifically related to e-government
being enabled by IT investment. These were: to
increase the speed of the links between the Court

and 100% of their units installed in the judicial
capital and at least 20% of the units of the interior
to more than 2 Mbps; and to conduct 90% of official communications between the bodies of the
Judiciary System electronically (Brasil, 2010b).
The reduction in the number of IT-related goals
in 2010 was to avoid overburdening the IT areas
of courts that had been caused by the 2009 goals.
In the current development stage, the missionoriented goal of NCJ is to eliminate the deficit in
ensuring judgment to existing and new lawsuits.
In 2009, the main objective was to judge all lawsuits filed in 2005 and before (Brasil, 2009b). In
2010, the main goal was to judge all lawsuits filed
in 2006 and before, and there were two further
goals dealing with measures to ensure a swifter
pace in the processing of lawsuits (Brasil, 2010b).
Consequently, the ability of the courts to judge
cases at a faster pace than new lawsuits are filed
(congestion) is an important measure. However,
the backlog has to be cleared without increasing
court costs. In 2010, one of the leveling goals was
focused on reducing costs (Brasil, 2010b). This
highlights the importance of cost efficiency that
sets both a limitation and a goal to IT investment
and e-government services. The NCJ not only sets
the goals, but also the performance measurement
tools, which reinforces mission-oriented management, establishing priorities and selected practices.
IT INVESTMENT AND
COURT EFFICIENCY
Although many existing works address many
aspects of the problem of efficiency of the Judiciary, none of them links efficiency to the use
of IT (Hammergren, 2009a; Staats, Bowler, &
Hiskey, 2005; Hammergren, 2009b). Given the
constraints already discussed in the methodology,
data analysis was conducted to establish if there is
a reliable correlation between IT investment and
state court efficiency. IT investment in the Brazil-
167
ian Justice System refers to any of the possible

items previously referred to: hardware, storage,
software purchase, system development, network,
Internet access, management and training. No
data is available related to investments on each
of these items per se. There is data available on
the number of computers but not on the type of
computers (desktops, notebooks, servers, etc.),
their cost or if the computer is still in condition
to be used. As it is known that courts do include
any computer that is part of their patrimony and
do not sell or discard very often computers out
of use, these data seems to be useless and is not
considered hereinafter.
The analysis of the correlation of IT investment
and court efficiency was conducted by considering
two dimensions, namely operational efficiency and
financial efficiency. The congestion of the courts
was selected for measuring operational efficiency,
while the cost of lawsuits judged evaluates financial efficiency. The selection of both the dimensions and their measurement variables is justified
by the NCJ strategies and goals (Brasil, 2009b;
Brasil, 2009; Brasil, 2010b). The definition of the
variables and its abbreviations are those provided
by the NCJ, where available (Brasil, 2009b):

168
State population (H1) number of inhabitants, according to data from the National
Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE).
Court budget (Dpj) expenditure of a
court in a given year, excluding expenses
from previous periods.
IT investment (Ginf) all investment in
IT resources, including those funded by
third-parties.
Total of sentences (Sent) number of judicial sentences handed down in a given
year.
Congestion (tc) Number of lawsuits
awaiting a judges sentence in relation to
lawsuits in progress (lawsuits awaiting
judgment plus new lawsuits). It is calcu-
lated by using the equation: tc = 1 (Sent

/ (CN + Cpj)), where CN is the number of
new cases in a given year, and Cpj is the
number lawsuits carried over without judicial sentence from the previous year.
Cost per lawsuit judged (DpjSent) average cost of lawsuits judged in a given year.
This is calculated by dividing the court
budget (Dpj) by the number of judicial sentences handed down in a given year (Sent).
It is important to note that the higher the congestion (tc) is, the lower the operational efficiency.
The same happens with the cost per lawsuit judged,
i.e. the higher the cost, the lower the financial
efficiency. Because of this, both variables are
expected to have a negative correlation on IT
investment. In other words, IT investment should
lead to a reduction in both congestion and costs.
Brazilian states differ greatly in terms of environment and local conditions and feature a broad
variance in important indicators such as population, number of municipalities, revenue, budget,
and others. It is important to note that the budgets
of the states in Brazil are heavily influenced by
transfers from the federal government, especially
in poorer states, and therefore do not necessarily
reflect the economic activity of the state. The
budgets of the State Courts (Dpj) are a percentage of the state budget (@ GT), which in 2008
ranged from 3.5% to 12.1% (G2) (Brasil, 2009a).
IT investment (Ginf) is more irregular and varied
in 2008 between 0.1% and 4% (inf1) of the court
budget (Dpj) (Brasil, 2009a). The tool chosen to
reduce the regional inequalities was balancing
the variables by the states population (H1). This
is expected to narrow environmental differences,
since it is impossible to isolate all local variables
that affect the functioning of the state courts to
calculate its efficiency.
IT investment per capita (GinfH1) was calculated for each of the five available years using the
equation GinfH1 = GInf / H1. The measurement
of the congestion was limited to the regular courts,
given the inherent difficulty in comparing these

data with data both from appeal courts or small
claims courts. No transformation was made to Congestion (tc) or Cost per lawsuit judged (DpjSent)
because these are proportional measures. Then, to
reduce the effects of annual fluctuations, all the
variables were converted into an average for the
five available years. An average for Ginf for each
state was found by adding up the results for Ginf
and dividing by five (GinfH1 = ( GinfH1) /
5). The same was done to find an average for the
Congestion (tc) for each state (tc = ( tc)/5) and
an average of Cost per lawsuit judged (DpjSent)
for each state (DpjSent = ( DpjSent) / 5).
The analysis of the histograms of the transformed variables showed that none of them
revealed normal distribution. Spearmans rho
correlation was adopted because it does not
require that data are from a normal population.
The variable chosen to proxy the IT investment
(GinfH1) was then tested to establish if there was
a negative correlation with the proxies for state
court operational efficiency (tc) and financial
efficiency (DpjSent), according to the hypothesis
stated previously (that IT investment has a positive
influence on efficiency). As a result, the one-tailed
test of significance was selected. All tables (Tables
1, 2 and 3) were generated by SPSS Version 13
and given the software limitations the Greek letter

is replaced by corresponding Roman letter m.
Table 2 shows the statistical outcome between
two sets of the study sample: the populationweighted IT investment and the cost efficiency.
The analysis of the outputs considered the
highly restrictive significance level of alpha =.01.
This means that the odds that the correlation is a
chance occurrence are no more than 1 in 100. We
also adopted Cohens criteria for interpretation of
a correlation coefficient.
In both cases, there is a medium to large correlation (by Cohens criterion) within the confidence
interval: -0.476 between the average spending on
IT per capita (GinfH1) and the measure of operating efficiency, Average Congestion (tc) with
a -value (denoted by Sig.) of 0.006; and -0.524
between the average spending on IT per capita
(GinfH1) and the measure of financial efficiency,
average cost per case decided (DpjSent) with a
-value (denoted by Sig.) of 0,002. Therefore, one
should reject the null hypothesis that = 0, i.e.
reject the hypothesis of no correlation and accept
the hypothesis of its existence. Both are negative
correlations. Assuming that the relationship is
causal in the sense that spending on information
technology influences congestion and cost, and
not the other way around (although any expense
Table 1. Spearmans rho correlation between average population-weighted IT investment (GinfH1)

and operational efficiency (tc)
169
Table 2. Spearmans rho correlation between average population-weighted IT investment (GinfH1)

and cost efficiency (DpjSent)
Table 3. Cohens criteria for interpretation of a

correlation coefficient
Correlation
Negative
Positive
Small
0.3 to 0.1
0.1 to 0.3
Medium
0.5 to 0.3
0.3 to 0.5
Large
1.0 to 0.5
0.5 to 1.0
does influence the cost), we can confirm the hypothesis that IT investment has a positive effect on
the efficiency of the Brazilian Judiciary System.

Naturally, the potential benefits accrued from the
implementation and use of e-government initiatives in the Brazilian Judiciary System hinge on
the basic presupposition that qualified and skilled
public administration personnel are on hand to
deal with this new modus operandi (Lips, 2001).
According to Araya Dujisin (2004, p. 28), it is
not so much the challenge of having external
specialists hired by the Judiciary System, but the
need to envisage permanent training policies addressing the different knowledge fields embedded
in e-government, as well as ensuring integration
between them. On the other hand, it is necessary
170
to understand that e-government is far more

than mere technology (Lau, 2004). According
to Biasiotti & Nannucci (2004), a mix of several
disciplines must be created, encompassing not only
Information and Communication Technology and
Administrative Science, but also Social, Human,
and Legal Sciences, among others.
Several endeavors are underway to train
civil servants in e-government (see, for instance,
Augustinaitis & Petrauskas, 2004; Elovaara,
Eriksn, Ekelin, Hansson, Nilsson, & Winter,
2004; Biasiotti & Nannucci, 2004). However, the
training models are very much centered on the
content and duration of the courses (Augustinaitis
& Petrauskas, 2004; Kaiser, 2004; Lau, 2004),
avoiding classification of the civil servants into
specific training groups, according to the current hierarchy, so as to deliver different skills to
different actors within the public administration
arena. Consequently, it becomes clear that there
is a pressing need to link all the aspects involved
in e-government training efforts into a single
integrated framework, so as to allow capacitybuilding endeavors to achieve the outcomes sought
by policy-makers (Joia, 2005), which constitutes
a future research direction in this realm
Moreover, according to Ballantine and Cunningham (1999), increasing recognition of the need
to monitor multiple dimensions of performance

has led to the development of a substantial body
of Performance Measurement literature (see, for
example, Fitzgerald, Johnston, Brignall, Silvestro, & Voss,1991; Brignall, Fitzgerald, Johnston,
Silvestro, & Voss, 1992). Among the earlier
contributors to the literature, Checkland, Forbes,
and Martin (1990) conceptualized Performance
Measurement by using the concept of a system
and the measures necessary for it to remain stable
over time. Their research led to the recognition
of three levels of performance which, they argue,
should be used to monitor a systems performance
(see also Checkland, 1981):

Effectiveness: Is the right thing being

done?
Efficacy: Does the means work?
Efficiency: Is resource usage minimum?
Roebeke (1990) broadly concurs, recognizing the need to monitor effectiveness, efficacy
and efficiency. He suggests that the three criteria
constitute a hierarchy, within which measures
of effectiveness are of greater importance than
measures of efficacy, which in turn are more
important than measures of efficiency.
According to Morkate (1999), something is
efficacious if it succeeds or does what it should
do. He defines efficacy as a way of establishing
an objective to be attained, which must include
the quality of what is proposed. Further, he states
that this objective must stipulate a time at which
one hopes to generate a determined effect on the
product. For this to occur, an initiative becomes
efficacious if it fulfills the expected objectives
at a programmed time with the expected quality.
Furthermore, there is also a need to incorporate the impact of e-government implementations
into the accountability of the Brazilian Judiciary
System. To Campos (1990), this concept may be
understood as a question of democracy. The more
advanced the democratic stage, the greater the
interest in democracy. And government account-
ability tends to follow the advance of democratic

values such as equality, human dignity, participation and responsibility. Thus, future research
initiatives in this realm must investigate not just
the impact of e-government on the efficiency of
the Brazilian Judiciary System (as in this chapter) but also on its efficacy, effectiveness and
accountability.
CONCLUSION
The main goal of this research was to analyze
e-government being enabled by IT investment of
the Brazilian Judiciary System. For this reason, a
qualitative and quantitative case study was performed. This composite research was able to answer research questions from two eGovRTD2020
themes: how might a mission-oriented view of
e-government change priorities, investments,
practices, and the assessment of results (missionoriented goals and performance management), and
provide a tool to evaluate cost and benefits of ICT
investment (assessing the value of government
ICT investments)?
Analysis of the role of the NCJ in the strategic
planning of the Brazilian Judiciary System shows
that it focuses on the efficiency of the courts
and its capacity to judge the lawsuits in a timely
manner. In order to accomplish this, the NCJ has
chosen IT as one of the main tools (management
being the other one). The reduction of IT goals
to enable e-government from 2009 to 2010 does
not reduce its importance, given that the radical
change that began in 2009 has overburdened the
IT areas of the administrative units of the Brazilian Judiciary System and reduced their ability to
cope with new demands. The analysis of the 2010
goals showed the NCJs concern about the budget,
so IT investment is also seen as an opportunity to
cut operational costs (electronic communications
is a clear example).
The NCJs focus on operational and financial
efficiency established the parameters for defin-
171
ing the variables to evaluate the effects of IT

investment on the Brazilian Judiciary System.
The existence of a medium to large correlation
between IT investment and both measures of efficiency (Average Congestion and Average Cost
per lawsuit judged) within a narrow confidence
interval, shows that IT investment has a clearly
positive influence on the efficiency of the Brazilian
State Courts. Faster and less expensive lawsuits
can become a reality and foster access to justice.
The analysis of the data on the Internet and
e-government services used by the Brazilian
population shows that there is an opportunity
for the Brazilian Judiciary System to provide
higher levels of e-government services through
the Internet, such as electronic lawsuits. However,
providing access to justice through e-government
is no easy task, as there are several restrictions to
the use of e-government services, particularly by
the lower classes.
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Accountability: The obligation to suffer the
consequences for failure to perform as expected.
Court Efficiency: Comparison between the
inputs it uses and the outputs it provides.
E-Government: Provision of government
services through information and telecommunications technologies.
178
Electronic Lawsuit: Lawsuit processed in

electronic format.
Information Technology: Acquisition,
processing, storage and dissemination of vocal,
pictorial, textual and numerical information using
a microelectronics-based combination of IT and
telecommunications
IT Investment: All expenses applied to acquiring IT resources.
Judicial System: Responsible for the deliverance of justice.
ENDNOTE
1
eGovRTD2020 is a project co-funded by

the European Commission under the 6th
Framework Programme of Information
Society Technologies. It seeks to project
the scenario of e-Government in 2020 and
thereby identify future strategic research
fields for the development of e-government
and the public sector per se.
179
Chapter 9
Business/IT Alignment
Framework within
e-Government System
Case Study:
E-Government in Syria
Kamal Atieh
Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Syria
Abd Ulgahfoor Mohammad
Tarek Khalil
Fadi Bagdadlian
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to study the effect of Business Information Technology (BIT) alignment
on e-Government success in developing countries and all factors affecting this alignment. Therefore,
the chapter studies the multiple factors on BIT alignment, such as people, process, and organizational
factors. This research discusses some of the possible factors in developing countries with the case study
of Syria. Any e-Government project needs all government resources (IT, financial, and human) and not
only a single organization resources in order to be able to harness the benefits from all resources to
improve an organization work, and this may imply the existence of BIT alignment. Therefore, the gap
between business and IT teams seems to be one of the most important factors negatively impacting the
implementation of e-Government. Therefore, filling in this gap may help in avoiding the failure of eGovernment projects in developing countries in general and in Syria in particular. This case study contains an analysis of related documents and involves 20 semi-structured interviews with senior managers,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch009
Business/IT Alignment Framework within e-Government System Case Study
e-Government project team members, and independent experts from the academics field. This research
shows the need for BIT alignment as one of the most important factors that should be considered for the
success of any e-Government project. An e-Government implementation framework based on the BIT
alignment was developed as a result of the case study of Syria.
INTRODUCTION
Many countries have now tried to build their own

e-Government projects in order to offer better
services to their citizens. In most of the cases,
this has always started by building a strategy
towards e-Government implementation. In order
to do that, many resources (financial, people, ICT
infrastructure, time) are devoted to achieve this
success, but with failures in many cases especially
in developing countries (Heeks, 2003). As a result,
there is a lack of a globally accepted and satisfactory strategy that can be implemented everywhere
to achieve robust e-Government development.
A greater part of the Information System
(IS) literature tries to understand what the eGovernment Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and
Critical Failure Factors (CFFs) (Prananto, 2007).
A few empirical studies discussing the CSFs/
CFFs of e-Government projects implementation
in developing countries exist despite the increasing interest in e-Government systems uptake and
adoption, which can be reflected in a few contributions to international conferences and journals
on this topic. Therefore, there is a need for more
research in both academic and industry with a
view of understanding what influences appropriate e-Government development. E-Government
research is still in its infancy and in many of the
cases driven by the technological (IT) push leaving
out the business side. This makes debate on the
integration of IT and business in the framework
of e-Government impossible to achieve.
With reference to the above assertions, this
chapter aimed to answer the following questions:
180
What is e-Government, and what are the

main factors that lead to its failure?
What is the role of BIT alignment on eGovernment project success?

What are the factors affecting this alignment and their effect on e-Government
projects?
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
Given the introduction and motivation of this research, the researchers utilised qualitative research
methodology to:

Investigate the key factors that affect the

success/failure of e-Government development (adoption and usage) in the developing countries by discussing the case study
of Syria.
Investigate the role of BIT alignment in eGovernment project success.
Investigate the multiple factors affecting
BIT alignment and their effect on e-Government projects.
From the onset, the researchers argue from their

practical experience, there are multiple factors
affecting the e-Government project success in a
developing country like Syria. BIT alignment is
one of the most important factors influencing the
success of e-Government; this alignment depends
on multiple factors like process, organizational and
people factors using data, information, and knowledge of the government for success. Furthermore,
the findings of this research can be consolidated
into a framework to provide a comprehensive
picture of BIT alignment use in an e-Government
system, hence allowing government planners and
decision makers to optimize their resources and
efforts on all levels (strategic, tactical, and operational) to ensure e-Government project success by
building a comprehensive strategy.
This research is divided into two sections.
The first section presents a background about the
research then discusses the research methodology
used to have a comprehensive framework, and
details all the framework parts. The last section
presents the conclusion, research contributions,
and future studies.
BACKGROUND
Any e-Government project includes government
entities, the private sector, and citizens, and needs
their capabilities to change their point of view
from seeing their organization as an isolated
island to be a part of a big entity. Government
organization projects depend directly or indirectly
on Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs), which evolve in unimaginable ways, and
its importance increases day by day. The strong
dependence on ICTs changes the work approach of
government organizations planners and decision
makers and open new types of strategy building
and accord them new opportunities so as to benefit from their resources in different forms. As a
result, success or failure of e-Government projects
depends on the degree to which an ICT strategy
has been appropriately built, effectively used at
different levels of the governance operational
hierarchy, and recognition that e-Government
is a multi-dimensional entity, which requires
multi-dimensional approaches to successfully
implement it. E-Government starts from computerization processes (back-end processes) in
each department of the government before it is
rolled out for front-end operations, where people
can access public services at their convenience.
Ndou (2004) remarked that e-Government
projects in almost all countries are at the beginning of the implementation cycle (maturity
levels) with notable use of ICTs. Specifically,
Ndou (2004) notes that recognizing the power

of ICTs, many developing countries, assisted by
international organizations for development, have
started building and encouraging e-strategies and
initiatives to address a wide range of economic,
social, technological, infrastructural, legal and
educational issues. All countries build their own
e-Government strategy, starting by increasing their
readiness in multiple domains, especially in ICT
domain (UN, 2008). According to Heeks (2003),
many governments failed in their e-Government
project.
Regardless of the e-Government strategy in
place, each government department tries to have
its own implementation framework in order to
reach its objectives, which depends on its local
environment (context). A number of frameworks
were developed in academic and practical fields
and many of them, like Wagner et al. (2003), consider technology as the core of any e-Government
project. This idea is not clear in some developing countries, which plan to spread computers
and build many local networks as a step towards
e-Government (Ndou, 2004) without having
any relationship with the organization business
constructs. As a result, this culminates in having fewer benefits for the organizations and the
government in general, but results in better and
efficient public service delivery to the citizens.
Yan (2009) proposed a framework for eGovernment based on the information life cycle
theory. The framework, which is based on the
aforementioned studies, proposes business process
perspectives on digital information resources. The
process includes seven stages or steps, and these
are: 1) archive, 2) service, 3) storage, 4) process,
5) collection, 6) distribution, and 7) generation.
The main benefit of this framework is to guide the
solving of problems on domestic digital information development and management and fulfilling
digital information resources management
The existing gap between IT and business teams
will prevent the planners and decision makers
from building a comprehensive strategy for any
181
e-Government project. The e-Government team

needs the information at the right time in order to
be useful in their plan and operation, which means
the need for the right access to multiple forms of
data, information, and knowledge in convenient
forms. This is not the case in many developing
countries where Information Technology (IT) is
needed but is looked at as barrier for the business
people. Therefore, closing the gap between business and IT people is more than a need.
Closing the gap between business and IT teams
seems to be the main task of the e-Government
project leader, and in order to achieve that, it is
very important to have a framework, which helps
in BIT alignment and integration in all phases of
the e-Government project.
In this chapter we propose a BIT alignment
that helps in analyzing and selecting the right
applications in the Government-to-Government
(G2G) category of the e-Government environment.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
According to Newman (1997), methodology objectives include the analysis of the principles and
procedures of an inquiry in a particular discipline.
On another side, Irny (2005) posits that methodology is a way for solving problems in order to
obtain the right solution. Research methodology
uses procedures, ways, methods and techniques
to gather and analyze data.
In our research methodology, we started by
defining the purpose and objectives of the research and discovering the obstacles, benefits,
suggestions, and recommendations for building
e-Government strategy based on the BIT alignment concept. The e-Government research field
is considered in many countries as part of the
information system field where many research
methodologies were adopted. This research adopts
the case study of Syria. The study utilises the case
study of Syria to attempt to understand the multiple
182
factors that affect e-Government and dictate the

type of implementation framework to be utilised.
The main purpose of research methodology
is to provide an e-Government framework by
building a good strategy and improving it with
time, via an alignment between BIT teams in
dynamic environment and discussing how to use
BIT for that. To fulfill the research objectives, a
systematic process is followed; after the literature
review and a study about e-Government in Syria,
information will be gathered and then analyzied.
According to Easterby-Smith et al. (2002), we
can adopt quantitative (positivist) or qualitative
(positivist, interpretive, or critical) approaches
separately or together based on some assumptions
before doing the research. Denzin (2003) focuses
on the importance of qualitative research in social
sciences, where many techniques could be used,
such as interviews, documents, and observations.
Merriam (1998) sees that the researchers are the
primary instruments who do the data collection and
analysis in order to obtain qualified information,
words more than numbers. The sample in this type
of research is relatively small and non-random.
Qualitative research is used to answer questions
with a how or a what (Yin, 2003).
Our research role tries to answer questions
about the effects of BIT alignment on e-Government success and the implementation framework;
therefore, qualitative research was adopted to find
the answers. The participants were from different
sectors of the socio-economic hierarchy, such
as public sector organizations, e-Government
developers, employees, citizens, etc., who have
a relationship with the e-Government project,
which is a long, broad, and complex operation
in a complex environment.
This research tends to build an e-Government
framework based on BIT alignment. A study about
e-Government in literature was done before the
research. This allowed the researchers to have
an idea about the nature of the e-Government
project in general and how e-Government is being
implemented in the case of Syria. Discovering the
barriers facing e-Government adoption is very

necessary in this research in order to build, as a
result, a framework for e-Government implementation using the BIT alignment concept.
Document analysis and observation, interviews, and focus groups were used as main
techniques of qualitative research during the case
study of Syria. This approach results in multiple
sources and multiple methods, focuses on relationships and processes, presents a natural setting of
the research, and provides an opportunity for an
depth study to be conducted (Denscombe, 2007).
The researchers studied many documents
about the Syrian e-Government strategy and other
closely related documents (14 documents such as
strategies, plans, newspaper clippings, schedules,
presentations, and reports), besides browsing
articles and websites, and visited some organizations that have experience in information systems
and have successful projects on the organization
level. These documents allowed the researchers
to provide background about the e-Government
project in Syria and other related public organization initiatives.
In addition, the researchers did interviews,
which they consider the most significant method
of obtaining information from people, using
face-to-face interaction. Table 1 shows that the
interviews were from mixed audiences and thus
more effective in diminishing biases that may
arise if they were conducted on only one type
of audience. Therefore, the researchers did two
rounds of interview sessions in order to gather
data and information, asked a set of interview
questions, summarized the results of the interview,
and studied the answers in order to arrive at the
results of the research.
Table 1 lists information about the participants
of this research: e-Government team (public sector such as ministry of communication, banking
sector, and ministry of interior), the private sector
(GSM providers, universities) and academic
people (Damascus University) in order to get
multiple points of view. The participants have
Table 1. Participants information

Organization
Name
A
B
e-Government
Team
Ministry of Communication
Classification
Number of
participants
Public sector
Public sector
Ministry of
Interior
Public sector
Banking sector
Public sector
GSM provider
Private sector
Universities
Academic field
Focus Group
Multi-field
Total
20
enough experience, C-level with experience of

ten years at least, and the age average is 39 years.
According to Yin (2003), interviews of these
types need at least eight interviews to reach the
results. Therefore, the researchers did interviews
with 20 people. The interviews were semi-structured with open and structure questions, resulting
in more flexibility and ability to extract detailed
information from the participants. In addition, the
researchers did some interviews with the focus
group, which included people with IT and business
background, focusing on studying the relationships
between business and technical (IT) people in
an e-Government project. The literature review
made it possible to focus on certain theoretical
propositions and initial considerations about the
framework in order to focus on certain data and
ignore others.
Data analysis included data examination, categorization, and tabulation. According to Hartley
(1994), data collection and analysis could be repeated many times to eliminate any ambiguity and
reach the results. The researchers did data gathering and analysis, in order to discuss their results
and compare them with the research questions.
This studys methodology includes the initial
considerations and the interview guide used to
identify the primary patterns in the data, the col-
183
lected data (i.e. official documents, interviews

notes, observation notes, electronic reports and
other official brochures, and local newspaper
articles), the data coding according to the themes
identified initially, collected data analysis based
on the themes that emerged from the literature review, separation and classification of new themes,
and adding them to their suitable classes within
specific categories or creating new classes within
the same categories. Finally, coding categorization and classification of the identified patterns
was carried out.
management of government plans by continuous

training, transforming of the IT department into
a profit-making department in any organization
and therefore culminating into the cost reduction
of the overall project.
The researchers agree that the alignment of
BIT has a positive impact on any e-Government
project success. This is particularly important
in the developing countries context. Successful
implementation of e-Government takes a long time
because of a lot of change management, such as
aligning culture to adopt and continue using ICTs
in accessing public services.
THE ROLE OF BUSINESS/IT

ALIGNMENT IN THE SUCCESS
OF E-GOVERNMENT
Business/IT Alignment
The relationship between the teams involved in

business and IT depends on the lifecycle of the
project and the dependence of ICT in the project.
In e-Government projects, this relationship seems
to be one of the most important aspects enhancing
co-operation amongst government departments in
order to reach the project objectives (Irani, 2005).
According to Klein (2006), this cooperation starts
from strategy initiatives development considering
all the necessary business and IT attributes with
continuous improvement and integration between
and/or amongst them.
Earl (1994) focuses on the main role of the
Chief Information Officer (CIO) in government
organizations and asserts that they can play dual
roles in business and IT and, as a consequence, a
middleware to achieve the business/IT alignment
in the best way.
West (2004) sees that the success of any eGovernment project requires the best use and
cooperation of all government resources (IT, financial, and human) in its organization. Therefore,
the BIT alignment will be more important in order
to take benefits from government resources. This
alignment will result in multiple forms such as the
use of IT resources from business people, change
184
Since BIT alignment is very important, many

questions were asked to the interviewees to explore this effect, with mention to some existing
government organizations. Actually, the role of
information technology has been justified by many
IT managers as an enabler of business strategy
and thus enables businesses to meet their objectives. In order to discuss whether an IT strategy
is aligned to the business strategy and if it does
actually generate business benefits and to find
out the most important factors that contribute
towards alignment, many questions were asked
to the interviewees.
One IT manger stated that, there will be constant conflict if the IT strategy does not fit with the
organizations overall vision. Without alignment,
the CEO will see the results of the organization
from a narrow window and not see the tangible
benefits. Some independent experts recognize
that: alignment has being critical to the success
of government organizations in their way towards
e-Government, but the main question is: are they
capable to successfully align their strategies?
The alignment / integration is so difficult because of different reasons. One Senior Manager
explained this idea by saying: Organizational
structural (old) deficiencies, communications
problems between management, IT staff, strategic
management framework deficiencies, and the

highly contingent nature of strategy. Another
Senior Manager sees another side of the problem by
lamenting, So many experts think that the project
will succeed if they do the alignment only, which
is not true; the alignment is conscious work but
not enough for a project to succeed. On the other
hand, one Senior Manager explained the benefits
from the alignment process saying: the competitive advantages that will result from business/IT
strategy alignment are the differentiation, cost,
innovation, and growth and alliance advantage.
admit that many strategies lack IMS, which must

focus on structures and roles for the management
of IT and IS.
One IT Manager argues that: to prove the investment in IT, an organization should concentrate on
IT capabilities that are the core of the businesss
future capacity to explore IT successfully, and an
expert explains the domains of strategy as: business strategy, information technology strategy,
organizational infrastructure and processes,
when aligned successfully would culminate into
business benefits, which will lead to ensure that
the IT function becomes an integral part of the
organization.
One expert confirmed that without IT strategy,

any e-Government project would fail, and he said:
An IT strategy is defined as the use of information technology resources to facilitate the flow
of information to the right place at the right time
to enable a business to deliver on its objective.
As aforementioned, building a robust eGovernment strategy entails aligning the business
and IT aspects of the project. One IT manager
had an opposite opinion, when he said: you can
do alignment in such environment; it will be a
mistake since the business people will try to do
the IT work.
As lamented by one IT Manager, for the case
of Syrian organizations, the CEO is the suitable
person to do the alignment and can play a middle
role between himself, IT, and business, and has
adequate power to support his actions or opinions.
One expert describes the alignment by saying: IT
alignment is the process of developing an information technology strategy that enables the business
strategy and allows bi-directional collaboration
between the two strategies.
Strategy Building
Any robust e-Government strategy must be aligned
with IT and business for it to succeed. It is worth
noting that IT is an integral part of all projects for
e-Government success.
The e-Government business strategy includes
both formulation and implementation based on
where and with what to operate in existence of
skilled team and structure in order to reach the
e-Government project vision, stated one member
of the e-Government implementation team.
Until now and with reference to IT managers,
there are IT strategies at the level of their organizations, and in spite of that, they state that the
e-Government IT Strategy has three components:
IS Strategy, IT Strategy, and the Information
Management Strategy (IMS). In addition, they
One expert said: IT strategy is a mean to make

IT investments balance short term investment with
future flexibility to support the businesss objectives. One IT manger stated that: there are no
IT projects without business and the IT projects
are mediating the relationship between businessIT strategic alignment and business effects of IT
as a continuous process with time
The role of alignment process is very important

to success, especially at the initial stage of any
e-Government project.
185
Effect on E-Government Project

Almost all the participants identified IT as key to
the success of their operations and used technology
for competitive advantage. One IT manger said:
An IT strategy is a means to make IT investments
that balance short term investment with future
flexibility that support businesss objectives, and
it is clear that almost all participants understand
the importance of alignment to achieve business
objectives.
One expert said: It is right that all people
agree with the alignment, but in practice they
refuse it, this will lead to knowing the behavior
related to the alignment process. One expert explains this saying: There are multiple behaviors
which reflect the alignment process, and you cant
get them from peoples declarations, but you must
go to their practice. Another expert focuses on
integrated planning saying: The government
must prepare to have high collaboration between
business and IT to achieve alignment in order to
be successful. One e-Government team member
explained this by emphasizing the need to have
IT and business people in one group to develop
their strategy as one, thereby allowing integration
between their strategies at the initial stage, on two
levels: organization level and on government level.
The strategies for integration need effective
communication between business and IT decision
makers to achieve alignment; one e-Government
team member said: Effective communication is
a key component to the alignment.
The communication will help to have active
relationship management with all maintenance
and enhancement needs and commitment over
time from business and IT people. In fact, this is
not trivial, but it needs some development in the
organization, according to one Senior Manager:
Organizational culture is the most important
factor to alignment.
The alignment couldnt be done simply but it
needs some enablers, one senior manager said:
The alignment process needs some enablers
186
(not limited) such as: Senior executive support

for IT, IT involvement in strategy development,
IT understanding of business, BIT partnership,
well prioritized IT projects, and IT demonstrating
leadership.
Almost all participants agree that alignment is
important to e-Government project success, but
one senior manager mentions challenges facing
this alignment, saying: This alignment is not
simple, and the challenge is to convert existing
data into action and the IT enablement of business through collaboration, communication, and
involvement in strategy development.
Building Successful Alignment

of Business and IT Strategies
In order to build successful business and IT
strategies in an e-Government project, almost all
participants should agree on people, processes, and
the organization role in this building, and some
of them see that this is a continuous operation
without stop in the project lifecycle.
Discussing the people factor, one Senior
Manager explains: It is very important to have
management skills and capability of business and
IT decision makers, but some IT managers note
the role of communication between the business
and IT; one Senior Manager went further. He
said: Strategy building needs the involvement of
business and IT decision makers in one strategy,
which consists of IT and business strategy.
Discussing the process factor, one expert noted
that in the local organizations no substantial importance is given to the process factor, but almost all
participants confirm that the process factor is very
important in the alignment operation. One Senior
Manager focused on the clarity and consistency of
the processes. Another one said: The process must
ensure that the IT strategy goals are lined with
business goals and business goals are linked to
IT strategy goals, which was confirmed by many
participants. One expert focused on the format
process: IT must facilitate alignment, must have
formal communication processes between business and IT decision makers. This process must
ensure the long-term focus of business strategy
and IT strategy in alignment form.
The participants focused on the importance
of organizational factors; one Senior Manager
explained that the organizational structure: Facilitates alignment of business and IT decision
makers, and one expert recognized: The organizational culture facilitates alignment between
business and IT decision makers. Almost all
participants focus on the importance of people,
processes, and organizational factors in agile
environment, which will have an effect on the
framework building.
To summarize, e-Government project needs
the support of all stakeholders, and the success
could not be achieved without the alignment between business and IT, especially in developing
countries like Syria. The alignment success needs
three main factors such as people, processes, and
organizational.
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND

FRAMEWORK BUILDING
The findings of this research show many important
ideas to be considered. This section outlines some
of the major findings.
All e-Government projects, in developing
countries, tend to be IT projects, which eventually
limits or prevents their success. It is important to
note that good ICT infrastructure coupled with
good personal skills is a very important attribute
to e-Government implementation. E-Government
leaders must also explore other aspects of eGovernment implementation besides IT. This
gap between business and IT sectors will result
in failure of almost all e-Government projects in
all government organizations because of multiple
reasons. The following points summarize the
finding results:
in most of the e-Government projects

implemented, the IT team views the projects mostly from the IT side without due
consideration of other domains such as
business.
The role of the business team starts after
finishing the IT phase; here they start to
discover the project and their requirement
and say that the project is not suitable for
them, and as a result the struggle starts
between the two teams. This approach is
done without integrating both IT and business right at the start of the project.
IT and business seem to be entangling one
another thereby resulting into a struggle as
to who is doing the right approach.
The result of this struggle depends on the
top-level management. If it is from IT
background only, it will consider the IT
point of view, which will lead to projects
with high levels of IT without the influence of the other sides; and in the opposite
case, the top level management will refuse
IT team point of view and put all possible
limitations in front of them.
In general, almost all the projects in the
government organizations change internally without any consideration of local
or international environment. Considering
the local context could be considered as the
right step in the right direction. However,
in general, they do not comply with the
standards of local (or international) rules,
designed to help form the e-Government
body. In this case, they will need to restart
from the beginning.
The contribution of those projects in building the culture of technology, business,
services, and some of the e-Government
activities (sometimes) could be considered
as a step toward e-Government success in
a country. In the opposite, no one can see
e-Government from the eye of any organization or organization leader; it is some-
187
thing different and depends on the integration between all government organizations
in order to change the form of existing
government and build good strategies and
make the good decisions. In this way, each
organization reflects the strategy of eGovernment in special strategies complying with and respecting the e-Government
plan (its success will be measured from the
e-Government point of view), and do not
work separately, otherwise it will go out of
the e-Government environment.
Therefore, it is very important to do some alignment between IT and business teams within the
e-Government projects, and business intelligence
is proposed as a solution that could be applicable
within the e-Government project.
Almost all participants agree on the importance
of BIT alignment on e-Government success on all
levels (strategic, tactical, and operational) in all
phases of the project. The following points summarize the participants point of view:

188
Business and IT decision makers relationship improvement in order to achieve

alignment; such alignment will lead to participation in both business and IT strategies
development and their synchronization in
the project lifecycle.
Business and IT decision makers communications improvement in order to allow
each part to speak in another field; this will
be achieved by CIOs.
IT resources utilization improvement in order to achieve organizational goals, which
will enable the business people to see the
value that IT can add to the organization
and justify the Return on Investment (ROI)
and the new perception of the IT function.
The utilization improvement will need
continuous training.
Cost reduction and better overall ROI: by
the strategies alignment.
The alignment will depend on multiple

factors such as people, processes, and organization factors
As a result, Figure 1 shows the framework

of an e-Government system based on the BIT
alignment concept.
The framework is divided into two parts:

E-Government project strategy: the eGovernment project started by defining

the project objectives, which result in defining the e-Government strategy. The eGovernment strategy will be divided into
business strategy and IT strategy, where
there is a gap between them. The alignment will close this gap. The strategies
will be translated to a work plan followed
by e-Government teams. During the implementation process, the strategies could be
modified and updated with reference to the
new working conditions and requirements.
E-Government Implementation: after finishing the initial version of the strategies,
the implementation process will be started
on all levels (strategic, tactical, and operational). The three levels have inter-relationships. They need a continuous BIT
alignment on all levels. Their work is in
agile environment, and needs change the
management process. The implementation
depends on multiple factors, such as process, people, and organizational. The role
of multiple forms of data, information, and
knowledge are very important to the implantation phase. This operation continues
on the lifecycle of the e-Government project in all its phases.
The framework shows the main role of BIT

alignment in e-Government projects from the
beginning to the end; this role is most important
in developing countries where there is less knowledge and skills.
Figure 1. BIT alignment within e-government system
CONCLUSION
This theory building research presents a BIT
alignment framework within the e-Government
system derived from an empirical study with 20
academic experts from public and private sectors
in Syria. An analysis of the findings demonstrated
that the BIT alignment is very important to eGovernment success.
Both theoretical and practical contributions
to the field of e-Government were made. The
implications of the current and future research
include the following:

Methodological issues (related to future empirical efforts): The contributions of this research that relate to meth-
odological issues are based on the initial

considerations based on the experience
and literature review, and the use of an
interpretive case study approach. Semistructured interviews, indirect observations, and documentation were used in the
case study, beside local newspaper articles
and workshops of e-Government in Syria
where there are many researchers from
different countries. The use of multiple
sources of evidence and their triangulation help to minimize errors in the results.
The method used in this research helped to
open a wide window on e-Government by
the participating e-Government team, IT
manager, senior manager, and independent
experts, in order to have multiple points of
189
view and good understanding related to the

case study. This will reduce the bias in the
results.
Practical issues: The framework proposed
a method for e-Government adoption by
BIT alignment, which will be useful to researchers working in e-Government and
ICT studies after understanding the framework. The research in e-Government will
be useful to developing countries.
To conclude, e-Government is a relatively new

topic with so many diverse research directions that
still need to be studied in general and specific ways
in some countries. Future work will be necessary to
understand them. The multiple areas, which need
future work with reference to this research, are:
e-Government framework validation in different
countries with different contexts in or order to
generalize the results will be necessary.
This research serves for a G2G case, and the
factors affect e-Government adoption in this area.
The research in different categories in relationship
with this framework will be mandatory in order
to integrate the results.
It is very important to go in depth in the framework and list the details of every part in order to
build it as an intelligent part from all perspectives,
writing a guide for the framework beneficiary.
Finally, the e-Government adoption is not
trivial, it needs all government resources, and BIT
alignment between two parts. Many researchers
tried to understand the e-Government adoption by
discussing the main CSF and CFFs; the research
results are not the same and differ depending on
the researchers point of view of e-Government.
This research aimed at building the e-Government
adoption framework using BIT alignment providing both theoretical and practical insights into
an e-Government system using BIT alignment
in developing countries by presenting Syria as
a case study.
Overall, the research showed that e-Government is not an IT problem and cannot work without
190
IT, and in countries like Syria, where there is a gap

between business and IT people, the use of many
alignment frameworks, which help to close the gap
between them, is needed. This will help planners
and policy makers at all levels of government
create agile environments with continuous change
that will increase e-Government project success
rates; this was the primary goal of this research.
Future studies are necessary to find multiple
frameworks in order to close the gap between
business and IT strategies and teams of e-Government project. Validating those frameworks in
many countries is very important so that they are
enhanced so that they can be used in any level of
an e-Government project.
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BIT Alignment: A concept refers to the join
between business and IT strategy and people in
order to build a strategy to achieve the organization objectives.
Developing Countries: The nations, which
have a low level of materials.
E-Government Implementation: The implementation process includes all levels (strategic,
tactical and operational).
E-Government Strategy: Plan of actions
meant to achieve a set goal of e-Government
project.
E-Government: A project without end, use all
government resources in order to deliver better
services to citizens, businesses and government
entities.
ICT: Information and communications Technologies.
Qualitative Research: A research method of
used to gather information in order to investigates
the why and how of decision-making.
193
194
Chapter 10
A Statistical Analysis of Priority

Factors for Local e-Government
in a Developing Country:
Case Study of Yogyakarta Local
Government, Indonesia
St.Wisnu Wijaya
Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
Aris Dwiatmoko
Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia
Kridanto Surendro
Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia
Husni S Sastramihardja
Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia
ABSTRACT1
This chapter presents findings of a study devoted to investigating the factors that influence successful
implementation of e-Government at a local level in a developing country context. The study is based on
the case study of Yogyakarta Local Government, Indonesia. Using qualitative methods of data gathering,
the study developes a conceptual model with 27 items that were used for developing the questionnaire
distributed into conducting in-depth interviews with 200 government officials in Yogyakarta, who adopted
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a platform for their daily work activities. The
study also conducted desk research that explored many documents on ICT implementation in the public
sector. The results reveal that the most significant factors that influence success in e-Government projects
are corporate culture and e-Governance competency. The other factors, in order of importance were
users willingness and competency in using ICTs, Information quality and human resources competency,
and system quality, which was moderated by information quality and human resources competency.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch010
A Statistical Analysis of Priority Factors for Local e-Government in a Developing Country
INTRODUCTION
ICTs influence the way government and citizens
interact throughout the world. Even in developing
countries, many governments have been trying
hard to implement ICTs in order to meet the needs
of citizens. In developing countries, the impact
of ICT projects, especially in the public sector,
is not commensurate with the amount of ICT
infrastructure investment (Heeks, et al., 2002;
Ferran, et al., 2005). Even, recent survey reports
on e-Government readiness also place many developing countries in the lower ranks compared to
developed countries (UNDESA, 2008; EIU, 2009).
A lot of approaches designed to improve implementation of ICT projects in the public sector in
developing countries have been developed. But
most of these approaches are based on the experiences of developed countries where the technology
was developed. Heeks (2002) has revealed that
there are gaps, related to infrastructure, information culture, procedure, management and human
resource competence between developing and
developed countries with regards to ICT project implementation. This has correspondingly
negatively impacted on the level of penetration
of e-Government in developing countries.
In developing countries, success in implementing an ICT project will not be achieved if
the focus is on just making improvements to
the technology (Ferran, et al., 2005; The Local
Government of Yogyakarta, 2006).The approach
developed by Mcconnel International (2001)
shows that many factors including e-Leadership,
human resources competence, business climate
and ICT infrastructure influence the success of
ICT implementation in developing countries.
Similar findings in Indonesia, in 2007, show that
although a lot of local governments have invested
a lot to improve the ICT infrastructure, the quality
of public services did not improve significantly
(Kompas, 2007). Futhermore, other studies conducted in Indonesia emphasized that there were
many factors, similar to the findings of the study
conducted by Mcconnel International (2001), that

influence the uptake and effective development
of e-Government (Wijaya & Surendro, 2007). It
is for this reason that this study sought to take a
different approach in developing a framework
that can be used to study factors that may influence successful implementation of ICT projects
from the perspective of developing countries.
The chapter attempts to address the question:
Why does the implementation of e-Government
in developing countries not improve the public
services significantly?
This chapter is organized as follows. The first
section is the introduction of the study. The second section presents the context of the study by
outlining the Jogja Cyber Province Initiative, an eGovernment initiative implemented in Yogyakarta
Province. The third section presents the relevant
literature related to e-Government in a developing country context. This section is followed by
an outline of the research methodology and data
gathering techniques. Our empirical findings and
discussion are presented in the fifth section, and
finaly, the last section, describes the limitation of
the study and provides some recommendations
for future research.
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Although the implementation of ICTs in developing countries has increased over the years, there
is very little literature about ICTs in developing
countries compared with experiences of developed
countries. There are many research studies that
present factors related to e-Government success
(EIU, 2005; Liu, 2001). These studies have posited
that e-Government development mostly depends
on the organizational and institutional readiness
to adopt ICTs to the core of the available business
value chains or activities. For an organization to
derive optimal benefits from implementing ICT
projects, the organizational environment should
be ready to adopt ICT (Chang & Kannan, 2002;
195
UNDESA, 2005). Chang & Kannan (2002) argue

that optimal benefits of ICT implementation are
influenced by organizational readiness and quality of the technology deployed. According to the
United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs (UNDESA, 2005), e-Readiness
can be defined as relating to factors that influence
ICT implementation success. UNDESA (2005)
identified indicators that can be used to measure eReadiness that is necessary to attain e-Government
success. These include Web Measure Index, ICT
infrastructure and Human Capital Index. Other
indicators of e-Readiness include leadership,
ICT quality, human resources competency, and
business climate (McConell International, 2001;
Bridges.org, 2004; Ferran, et al., 2005).
The Government of Indonesia has decided to
improve other factors cited above when implementing ICT projects to enhance public services
(President Law, 2003). But empirical studies
show that although many local governments in
Indonesia have invested a lot in technology to
improve public services, this has not resulted in
adequate and appropriate improvement in service
delivery (Kompas, 2007).
E-Government success can be defined as the
use of ICTs which readily culminates into positive
impact of technology on the organization. Delone
& Mclean (2003) have developed a model for
Information Systems (IS) implementation success
using 6 indicators. These include quality of system,
quality of information, frequency of use, user
satisfaction, individual impact, and organizational
impact. In this study, we measure e-Government
success using 4 indicators including frequency
of use, user satisfaction, individual impact and
organizational impact. In our derived model, we
combined quality of system and quality of information (ICT Infrastructure) as constituting part
of factors which influence e-Government success
(UNDESA, 2005; McConnell International, 2001;
President Law, 2003).Based on the short analysis
above, we developed an interdependency model
which relates three factors and e-Government suc-
196
cess. In detail, beside quality of the technology, we

propose that e-Government success is influenced
by organizational e-readiness and user readiness
factors. Our model can be postulated as follows:
1. ICT infrastructure quality can be measured
by users perception related with the quality of system and information. Whereas,
organizatinal awareness and competence
with ICT implementation influence the quality of system and information in entire the
organization. In this chapter, organizational
readiness can be defined as organizational
awareness and competence related with
ICT implementation. It can be seen that the
orientation or awareness of the organization is related with the awareness of the IT
user and the benefit of the technology will
influence ICT implementation (Pasuraman,
2000). Then we develope a hypothesis that:
There is a strong relationship between organizational readiness and

ICT infrastructure quality.
2. ICT implementation success can be measured by use, user satisfaction, individual
impact and organizational impact (Delone
& Mclean, 2003). Chang and Kannan (2002)
stated that there is an interdependency between e-readiness and ICT success factor.
Then we hypothesise that:
There is a strong relationship between organizational readiness and

3. ICT infrastructure quality can be measured
by the users perception related to the quality
of the system and information. On the other
hand, logically, user willingness and competence in using ICT influence the quality
of information produced by the technology.
In this chapter, we defined user e-Readiness
as the safety and comfortable perception of
the user when using the technology. Then
we hypothesise that:
There is a strong relationship between

user e-Readiness and ICT infrastructure quality.
4. The users acceptance the technology influences the actual use (Davis, 1989) and logically influences the impact of the technology
into every user and organization. It can then
be hypothesised that:

user e-Readiness and e-Government
success.
5. Findings of an empirical study employing a
competing value framework, which sought
to identify the organizational culture of the
Yogyakarta local government, revealed that
its organizational structure is hirarchical
(Wijaya, 2007). In hierarchically ordered
organizations, the relationship among employees tends to become very formal and
structured where procedures govern what
people do. This finding led this study to
hypothesise that organizational orientation
has a strong relationship with how the employees conduct their work. We therefore
argue that:

organizational e-Readiness and user
e-Readiness
6. The better the quality of ICT infrastructure,
the better of utilization and impact on the
individual and the organization (Chang
& Kannan, 2002). In the words, ICT infrastructure quality is a tool to attaining
e-Government success (UNDESA, 2005).
It can be concluded from this that:
There is a strong relationship between ICT infrastructure quality and

The proposed conceptual model is presented
in Figure 1.
The conceptual model has four pillars as follows:

Organization e-Readiness: the overall capacity of the organization to accept global usage of ICTs in their business value
chains;
ICT infrastructure: The availability appropriate communication and technology plat-
Figure 1. Proposed conceptual model
197
forms aimed at encapsulatin the various

business opportunities;
Users e-Readiness: the willingness of the
individuals to utilize ICTs at a global scale
in their daily activities; and
E-Governance success implementation:
the degree to which the laid out e-Government strategies and initiatives translate
into actual implementation endeavors.
Organization e-Readiness
Organization e-Readiness is the state of preparedness by the organization to implement an ICT
project. Organization e-Readiness is influenced by
four factors: corporate culture; human resource capacity; e-Leadership and e-Governance. Corporate
culture relates to how the organization conducts its
businesswhere success or failure is dependent
on whether there is an enabling organizational
culture for successful implementation of an ICT
project; human resource capacity, in terms of ICT
skills of the organizational personnel, will also
determine the level of readiness of the organization to successfully implement an ICT project
where the presence of ICT skills among staff
will enhance chances of success; e-Leadership
has been defined as a social influence process
mediated by advanced information technology to
produce a change in attitudes, feelings, thinking,
behavior, and/or performance with individuals,
groups and/or organizations. (Avolio, Kahai, &
Dodge, 2000, p. 617). This entails having people
in the organization who have the vision for ICT
and requisite ICT skills and capacity to drive the
process in the organization.
UNESCO (2005) has defined E-Governance
as the exercise of political, economic and
administrative authority in the management of a
countrys affairs, including citizens articulation
of their interests and exercise of their legal rights
and obligations... via the electronic medium in
order to facilitate an efficient, speedy and transparent process of disseminating information to
198
the public, and other agencies, and for performing

government administration activities Success
of e-Government will be determined by the extent to which e-Governance is entrenched in the
organization.
ICT Infrastructure
The state of ICT infrastructure is determined
by two major factors: robustness of its design
and/or deployment, including the percentage of
tailor-made applications it can accommodate on
its platform, and the capacity of the infrastructure to accommodate openness (heterogeneous
access) and other non-functional requirements
(such as scalability, allowing concurrency access,
heterogeneity, reliability, and availability). These
factors are further measured by factors such as
system quality and information quality (content
of the services). System quality envelops the
responsiveness of the designed ICT applications
to the specific needs of the users, its reliability
and availability within a specified period of time.
Information quality entails the level of accuracy
and integrity of the different information resources
obtainable or its amenability to manipulation by
the available ICT infrastructure.
Users e-Readiness
E-Readiness of the users is crucial to successful implementation of e-Government. Users
e-Readiness is influenced by two major factors:
users willingness to use the technology and
users skills (competencies to use the technology)
and the perceived usefulness and usability of the
technology applications.
Successful e-Government
Implementation
The success of e-Government implementation can
be measured by four major indices: frequency of
use of e-Services, users levels of satisfaction with
e-Services, impact of e-Services on the individual,

and the impact of e-Services on the organization.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD

The main objective of the study was to develop a
causal model which can be implemented to attain
e-Government success in developing countries.
In order to achieve this objective, we conducted
the following steps of analysis:
1. The first step was aimed at exploring and
investigating factors influencing e-Government success by comparing literature on ICT
implementation as described in the preceding section. The findings from the literature
review were reinforced by interviews with
government officials and policy makers;
2. Based on the findings from the first step,
we proceded to the second step - that is developing an interdependency model which
relates to the three factors that influence
e-Government success;
3. The model linking four (4) latent variables
namely ICT infrastructure, Organizational
e-readiness, User e-readiness, and
E-governance success implementation was
developed. Because latent variables are, by
definition, unobservable, their measurement
must be obtained indirectly by using some
indicators; and
4. Then, we developed a questionnaire based
on seven (7) Likert scale which consists of
the following items:
Latent variable ICT infrastructure

quality is measured by system quality and information quality perception. The first measurement uses five
(5) indicators including adaptability, availability, reliability, responsivenes, and ease of use. Whereas the
second measurement used seven (7)
indicators including effectiveness,
efficiency, integrity, confidentiality,

availibility, compliance, and reliability of information;
Latent variable organizational e-Government readiness is measured by
organization culture, e-Leadership,
e-Governance, and human resources
competency;
Latent variable user e-Readiness is
measured by willingness and competency in using ICT; and
Latent variable of e-Government success is measured by frequency of use,
user satisfaction, individual impact
and organizational impact.
The questionnaire also had questions about

respondents background, namely; education
and their experience of using ICTs. To estbablish
the validity and reliability of the instrument, we
conducted a pilot study where the questionnaire
was distributed to a sample of 20 respondents.
This step aimed to check the degree of instrument
consistency or repeatable instrument competency
(Kerlinger, 1991). We used the Cronbach Alpha
as reliability test method which is based on the
correlation between each item in the research
instrument or questionnaire. The results of the
pilot study are presented below:
1. Reliability testing with 31 items was 0,978
Cronbach Alpha. Based on George and
Mallery criteria, this value shows very good
internal consistency.
2. Validity test results all of items were valid,
with validity value ranging from 0.638 until
0.869. Based on both values, we concluded
that the research instrument could be applied
to the larger sample size.
The final questionnaire was then distributed to
more than 200 government officials of Yogyakarta
Local Government. In order to minimize the possibility of errors, researchers assisted respondents
199
in completing the questionnaire. The result of this

step, was then used to test the reliability and the
validity of the instrument.
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)

Structural equation models are models of relationships among constructs that encompass and
extend regression and factor analysis procedures
(Hayduk, 1987). Why was SEM selected for the
data analysis in this study? There are at least three
main reasons. First, this study uses measures to
represent constructs because this research has a
corresponding interest in measurement and measurement techniques. SEM casts factor analysis
in the tradition of hypothesis testing, with explicit
tests of both the overall quality of the factor solution and specific parameters (e.g. factor loadings)
composing the model. SEM deals directly with
how well the measures reflect the intended constructs. Second, this study was principally interested with questions concerning the relationships
among the measures. The focus of this study is
on the mediational relationships (rather than the
simple bivariate) and the causal processes that
give rise to the phenomena of interest. Thirdly,
SEM provides a flexible and powerful means of
simultaneously assessing the quality of measurement and examining the predictive relationships
among constructs.
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

As part of SEM, Exploratory Factor Analysis is
used to test 27 items (indicators) in the questionaire
that are part of the three (3) latent variables including ICT infrastructure quality, organizational
e-Government readiness, and user e-Readiness.
The goal of EFA is to describe and summarize data
by grouping together variables that are correlated.
EFA proves useful for consolidation of numerous variables (construct validity). Therefore, by
using factor analyses we may test whether the
given indicators are a good measurement for the
200
three latent variables. If so, the indicators must

be grouped as independent factors or variables
which were included in the three postulated latent
variables. From the factor analysis we defined a
factor structure which underlines the ICT infrastructure, Organizational e-Readiness, and User
e-Readiness. When the necessary calculations
were completed, we obtained the result that shows
the degree of importance of each indicator to the
related factor.
Path Analysis
After the factor structure had been defined from
the previous steps, we then conducted the Path
Analysis. In other words, the proposed structural
relationship model (Figure 1) was now providing
the underlying structural model which relates the
three latent variables: ICT infrastructure, Organizational e-Readiness, and User e-Readiness to
the latent variable e-Governance success implementation through a regression-type relationship.
Before applying the Path Analysis, we conducted
reliability tests by using the new sample size (212
respondents) to make sure that the instrument was
still reliable. Reliability refers to the property of
a measurement instrument that causes it to give
similar results for similar inputs. From the Path
Analysis we hoped to obtain the priority factors influencing e-Government implementation success.
RESULTS
The findings of the study are presented under the
relevant sub-headings in the sctions that follow
below. These include:

Profile of respondents
Structural analysis
Profile of Respondents
Yogyakarta Local Government has an ICT department which coordinates and manages ICT
implementation in every Local Governments
department. Although it has a central ICT departement, each department has a small ICT unit
which is directly responsible for the management
of its ICT implementation process. In order to
arrive at a representative sample, we decided to
choose respondents who work in the central ICT
department, each IT unit, and other units that have
adopted ICT in their operations.
The total number of respondents was 217
computer users in Yogyakarta Local Govern-
ments. These were ICT workers and managers.

The findings show that the gender and education
backgrounds of the respondents are generally
good. It can be seen that 60% of the respondents
were males and 40% were females. ICT workers and managers educational backgrounds are
dominated by bachelors and masters degrees,
representing 47% of the respondents. The number
of respondents who have diplomas was 12% of the
respondents, while 41% of the respondents had
attained junior and senior high school education.
Figures 2 and 3 provide a summary of educational
backgrounds and gender of the respondents.
Figure 3 shows the respondents composition
of gender.
Figure 2. Educational background of respondents
Figure 3. Respondents gender composition
201
The levels of ICT literacy among respondents

were high. Most of the respondents (60%) had
been using ICT since 2003. In addition, they
had also been trained to use the Internet; many
information system applications such as human
resources information system; Windows application, MS Office, Oracle and had been exposed
to the e-Government concept and policy. In
general more than 50% of the respondents had
used Websites and human resources information
system; 56% had received training on use of the
Internet, Windows, Microsoft Office, and Oracle;
and 45.2% had been trained on e-Government. It
can be concluded from this information that most
of the sample respondents could comfortably use
ICTs in undertaking their work.
Structural Testing
Structural testing entailed transforming the conceptual model presented in Figure 1 into a path
model presented in Figure 4. The structural model
wastested using the Structural Equation Modelling
(SEM) which employed factor analysis and path
analysis measures.
Figure 4. Path model
202
The path model shows the different factors

that were considered on each particular attribute.
Factor Analysis
In order to determine the dimensional structures
from different instruments, a factor analysis was
performed using SPSS version 11.0 for Windows.
The loading rule was, choose a loading number
greater than 0.5 on one factor, and less than 0.5
on all others (Hair, Anderson, Tathan, & Black,
1995). The result of factor analysis using 217
respondents is presented in Table 2. A summary
of the factor analysis is shown in Table 1.
The results of factor analysis were used to
analyze latent variables. It can be seen from Table
3 that Factor 1 is dominated by information quality items, including items INFO1, INFO2, INFO3,
INFO4, INFO5, INFO6, and SYSTEM6, and
human resources items including HR1 and HR2.
We call Factor 1 as Information Quality and Human Resources Factor. Factor 2 is dominated by
corporate culture items and e-Governance competency. Although Culture 2 has high factor loading on Factor 1 and Factor 2, this was done for
Table 1. Summary of factor analysis

Initial Eigen values
FACTOR
Total
% of Variance
Cumulative %
16,564
61,347
61,347
1,430
5,297
66,644
1,217
4,508
71,152
Table 2. Result of factors analysis of ICT infrastructure quality, organizational e-government readiness,
and user e-readiness
No
FACTOR
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
SYSTEM1
0.362
0.175
0.748
0.081
SYSTEM2
0,197
0.321
0.799
0.243
SYSTEM3
0.324
0.300
0.687
0.394
SYSTEM4
0.423
0.488
0.519
0.266
SYSTEM5
0.402
0.400
0.586
0.266
SYSTEM6
0.677
0.130
0.223
0.281
INFO1
0.566
0.318
0.378
0.351
INFO2
0.649
0.334
0.381
0.251
INFO3
0.796
0.236
0.289
0.146
10
INFO4
0.732
0.361
0.203
0.272
11
INFO5
0.701
0.214
0.332
0.293
12
INFO6
0.657
0.309
0.124
0.257
13
CULTURE1
0.499
0.570
0.349
0.140
14
CULTURE2
0.635
0.507
0.209
0.193
15
CULTURE3
0.162
0.785
0.389
0.162
16
CULTURE4
0.220
0.821
0.273
0.189
17
CULTURE5
0.217
0.786
0.269
0.173
18
E-GOVERN1
0.483
0.683
0.197
0.237
19
E_GOVERN2
0.454
0.651
0.053
0.258
20
E-GOVERN3
0.451
0.711
0.153
0.325
21
E-GOVERN4
0.481
0.693
0.256
0.227
22
HR1
0.620
0.426
0.248
0.169
23
HR2
0.599
0.389
0.276
0.184
24
WILLINGNESS1
0.332
0.428
0.367
0.602
25
WILLINGNESS2
0.388
0.393
0.281
0.595
26
COMPETENCY1
0.222
0.268
0.223
0.807
203
Table 3. Reliability test

Factor
Number of
items
Cronbach
Alpha
FACTOR 1
0.940
FACTOR 2
0.957
FACTOR 3
0.917
FACTOR 4
0.898
the purposes of interpretation. We call Factor 2

as culture and e-Governance competency of organization factor.
Let us take a look atthe factor for ICT infrastructure quality. From the results of factor
analysis, it can be concluded that most of the items
can be used for the ICT infrastructure factor.
Figure 5. Path diagram
Figure 6. The simplified model of path analysis
204
Therefore, we call Factor 3 as ICT infrastructure

quality factor. Whereas, if we take a look at Factor 4, we find that this factor is dominated by
willingness and competency of user items. So,
we call Factor 4 as user e-Readiness factor.
Path Analysis
Using the results from the factor analysis above,
we conducted a Path analysis. The path model
which is shown in Figure 5 was transformed into a
path diagram as can be seen in Figure 6. This path
diagram was used to analyze the interelationship
among factors.
Before doing the path analysis, we conducted
a realiability test using the 212 completed ques-
tionaires which had been filled by the respondents.

The result shows that the Cronbach Alpha score
reached more than 0,89. Therefore, it can be
concluded that all the items of the instrument were
reliable. This result was also similar to the pilot
testing based on 20 respondents. The summary
of the result can be seen in Table 3.
The Path Analysis was done by using AMOS
5 to examine the interrelation between the factors as shown in Figure 5. The results of the path
analysis were as follows:

The Model has chi square statistics 0.000

(df=4, p=1.000), GFI = 1.00, dan RMSEA
= 0.000).
This data shows that the model has a significant

degree of fit. The result of the path analysis among
the factors can be seen in Table 4.
Table 4 shows that each of the factors has a
direct influence on the e-Government success
factor. Although the model has significantly fit,
there is no interdependency among the factors
(see the first three rows of Table 5). In summary,
the above result can be simplified as Figure 6.
Based on the value of the estimates shown in

Table 4, we conclude that Factor 2, namely corporate culture and e-Governance competency, is
the most influential factor in reaching e-Government success compared to the others. The second
highest ranked element is Factor 4, namely users
willingness and competency in using ICT. This
factor influences e-Government success less than
factor 2 but more than the others. Factor 1,
namely information quality and human resources
competency, influences e-Government success
less than Factor 2 but more than Factor 3. Finally, Factor 3, namely ICT infrastructure quality, has the lowest score which can be interpreted
as having less influence in attaining e-Government
success. It can also be seen that the four factors
are independent of each other (the value of the
estimate was 0).
After the Path analysis, the moderating variables (factors), including Factor 1, Factor 2, and
Factor 3, that influence e-Government success,
were examined. Using a schematic diagram
(Figure 7), Factors 1, 2, and 3 can be assumed to
strengthen or weaken the relationship between
Factor 3 and Factor e-Government success.
Table 4. Path analysis among factors

Estimate
FACTOR4
<---
FACTOR2
0.000
S.E.
0.069
C.R.
0.000
Label
1.000
ns
FACTOR1
<---
FACTOR4
0.000
0.069
0.000
1.000
ns
FACTOR3
<---
FACTOR1
0.000
0.069
0.000
1.000
ns
FAC_E-govt Success
<---
FACTOR2
0.498
0.037
13.622
***
FAC_E-govt Success
<---
FACTOR1
0.409
0.037
11.176
***
FAC_E-govt Success
<---
FACTOR4
0.479
0.037
13.112
***
FAC_E-govt Success
<---
FACTOR3
0.271
0.037
7.408
***
ns = not significant, s = significant ----> = the direction of the causal effect
Table 5. Result of regression method

Model
1
R
0.856
R Square
0.732
Adjusted R Square
0.723
Std. Error of the

Estimate
0.52619719
Durbin-Watson
1.968
205
Figure 7. Moderating table
To examine the assumption, we adopted an

absolute deviation model which was proposed by
Frucot & Shearon (1991) in Ghozali (2001). According to Frucot and Shearon, this model can be
used to examine the interaction between Factor
3 and moderating variables including Factor 1,
Factor 2, and Factor 4. This model can be used
to reduce the impact of multicolinearity diagnostics when adopting a regression method. Examining a model using a regression method requires
a number of assumptions such as no multicolinearity (evident when the variables are strongly
correlated [r = 0.9 and above]), no otocorrelation,
normality distribution of the error, error variant
homogeneity, and homoscedasticity. Based on the
results of the test, it can be seen that all of the

assumptions can be satisfied at5% significance.
Therefore, the regression method is assumed to
be valid for examining the interaction.
From Table 5, the model has 0.732 determination coefficient. It means 73.2% the variance of the
dependent variable (e-Government succsess) can
be explained by the independent variables (Factors
1 to 4 and the interactions). Table 6 provides the
result of the regression analysis.
From Table 6, it can be concluded that, according to the relation between Factor 3 and
Factor e-Government success, Factor 1 has an
important role as a moderating variable. Factors
2 and 4 have no important roles in influencing
Table 6. Regression analysis

Unstandardized Coefficients
Model
Standardized
Coefficients
Std. Error
Constant
-0.072
0.064
Factor 1
0.441
0.039
Factor 2
0.499
0.037
Factor 3
0.258
Factor 4
Interaction of Factor 3 and
Factor 1
Beta
Sig.
Label
-1.134
0.258
ns
0.441
11.294
0.000
0.499
13.408
0.000
0.036
0.258
7.069
0.000
0.477
0.037
0.477
12.960
0.000
0.143
0.047
0.136
3.030
0.003

Factor 2
0.010
0.042
0.010
0.244
0.808

Factor 4
-0.083
0.045
-0.079
-1.841
0.067
ns = not significant, s = significant
206
s
ns
ns
Figure 8. Proposed model
the interaction between Factor 3 and Factor eGovernment success. Based on this conclusion,
the final model is presented in Figure 8.
As a result of the multi-variate analysis performed in the study and shown above, the different factors that impact on positive development
of e-Government in Indonesia are shown in the
proposed e-Government development model
shown in Figure 8. It can be seen that only five
(5) factors have been identified as having a direct
impact on the development of e-Government and
these account for 73.2% variance (R2 = 0.732)
impact on e-Government development for the
case study of Indonesia.
The factors highlighted here can be one and
the same factors that may impact on e-Government
in developing world countries with a contextual
environment as that of Indonesia. To conclude the
discussion of the factors, the following section
succinctly presents an in-depth discussion on the
factors impacting on e-Government development
in Indonesia.
DISCUSSION
The findings of this study show that four factors
including corporate culture and e-Governance
competency, user e-Readiness, human resources
competency and information quality, and ICT
infrastructure quality influence e-Government
success in the Local Government of Yogyakarta,
Indonesia. This finding is in accord with other
findings which used similar factors to measure eGovernment readiness (Mcconnell International,
2001; UNDESA, 2005). Although Mcconnel
International (2001) does not provide statistical
analysis to prove the relationship between the
factors and e-Government success, this study has
provided the statistical proof.It can therefore be
logically argued that these factors influence eGovernment success.. It can be seen that enhancing
the ICT infrastructure alone does not siginificantly
improve the impact of ICT implementation success in the public sector. As observed by Feran
and Salim (2005), technology on its own is not
enough to improve the quality of e-business.
Governments implementing ICT projects should
prioritize other factors including corporate culture
207
and e-Governance competency, user e-Readiness,

and human resources competency and information quality. The result also supports the policy
of Yogyakarta Local Government in enhancing
their digital government services which emphasizes the role of other factors discussed above to
attain e-Government success (Governor Regulation, 2006).
According to Zlatko (2005), national culture
influences e-Government success. The need to
imbed organizational culture in e-Government
projects should be taken into consideration as this
will enhance chances of successful implementation. One of the strategies that can be used to
align organizational culture within e-Government
projects is through organizational awareness
campaigns in using ICT. In addition, the role of
e-Leadership is crucial in achieving e-Government
success. COBIT (2000) has emphasized that
competence in planning, executing, delivery and
support, and monitoring should be developed by
the organization to reach ICT implementation
success. In the public sector, it can be seen that
these competences play important roles when
adopting digital government services.
The second important factor in this study, user
e-Readiness, influences e-Government success.
According to Pasuraman (2000) and Davis (1989),
users perceptions in using ICT have a close relationship with the willingness to accepting and
using ICT. In this study, user perception, including
safety and comfortability played important roles in
promoting the adoption of the technology. Besides
that, easy of use and easy of innovation when
using ICT influences the e-Government success.
The study has also shown that information
quality and technical competence among the ICT
workforce were the third most important factor that
influences e-Government success. This finding
is in line with the findings of Mcconnell International (2001) and President Law (2003), where
information quality was found to have a close
relationship with ICT implementation success.
On the other hand, competence of the ICT work-
208
force plays an important role in the maintenance

and implementation of the technology to resolve
daily work problems which ICT users may face.
This study has shown that ICT infrastructure
quality plays the least factor in influencing eGovernment success. This finding is in agreement
with the findings of similar studies by Feran and
Salim (2005) and Heeks (2002). Statistical analysis
shows that this factor is moderated by information
quality and ICT workforce competence. It can
be concluded from this finding that better ICT
infrastruture without better quality ICT workforce
and better information quality, is not enough to
attain e-Government success. In other words, to
ensure e-Government success, the quality of ICT
infrastructure must be combined accompanied
with better information quality and ICT workforce.
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
Successful implementation of e-Government
projects requires careful planning that takes into
consideration a number of factors besides the
technology. It can arguably be stated that most
of the e-Government projects that have failed
have taken a technology-centric approach where
technology has been seen as the main driver for
e-Government development. Studies, including
the present one, have shown that other factors
including corporate culture, e-Governance competence, ICT workforce, and information quality
should also be prioritized to ensure e-Government
success. In addition, e-Leadership that drives the
implementation process through planning, execution, delivery, supporting, and monitoring the ICT
adoption, should be prioritized when adopting ICT
in the public sector.
For further research, we propose that similar
studies, at local government level, should be
conducted based on this model to measure its
efficacy as a tool for measuring the factors that
may influence e-Government projects success.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to
Prof Achmad Djunaedi and Ir. Surat Djumadal
for their valuable support and also to the Local
Government of Yogyakarta Province, which
supported us during this research. This research
has been funded by Directorate of Research and
Community Services, Ministry of National Education, and the Government of Indonesia, which also
equally deserves our gratitude, as part of Penelitian
Kerjasama Antar Perguruan Tinggi (Collaborative
among Indonesian Higher Education Research
Grant) 2008-2009.
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E-Government: The use of ICTs in government business processes in a view to interact with
the citizens and business in the realm of business
opportunities exchange and for e-Inclusion in the
government processes.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs): Used as an umbrella term for
all the technologies and platforms used in the
generation, storage, retrieval, access, manipulation and transmission of information in various
scientific, technology, socio-economic, and political frameworks.
Jogja Cyber Province: Provincial model

which transformed its services into citizen-centric
service delivery to reach based on business
process, information, and knowledge by using
ICT as a development accelerator to reach better
competitive advantage, convenient, independent,
efficient, and effective.
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM): A
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ENDNOTE
1
The preliminary findings of this research has

been published on Electronic Government
Proceedings of Ongoing Research, General
Development Issues and Projects of EGOV
2009, 8th International Conference, Linz
Austria,August 31-September 3 2009.
211
212
Chapter 11
E-Government in Syria:
Obstacles and Interoperability Framework

Elias Farzali
Ghassan Kanaan
Petra University, Jordan
Raed Kareem Kanaan
Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Jordan
Kamal Atieh
ABSTRACT
The information technology revolution has forced many governments to create new mechanisms for
delivering services in order to reduce costs, increase the ease of administration, and overcome some
of the economic and social problems. E-Government uses the methods of new technology to simplify
administrative procedures and assist decision-makers in their operations. Using the survey method
and interviews, this chapter investigates e-Government activities in Syria in order to explore the main
barriers of e-Government. It focuses on how to utilize the necessary frameworks in policy, economics,
administrative procedures, society, and technology, with the aim of showing the benefits of Enterprise
Integration in e-Government. The chapter extensively reviews the literature on barriers to e-Government
and Enterprise Integration technologies. Based on the investigation of barriers to current e-Government
activities in Syria, the chapter proposes an e-Government Interoperability Framework that is designed
to address effective implementation of e-Government in developing countries.
INTRODUCTION
Many developing countries have begun to develop
new policies to fit the requirements of the digital
revolution. This is aimed at facilitating the proviDOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch011
sion of public services in an appropriate, accountable, and efficient manner. The public sector is
characterized by intermittent bureaucracies that
must be restructured to suit the requirements of
the digital revolution as a strategy towards global
application of e-Government. E-Government
presents new opportunities for changing the

way in which citizens and businesses can access
public services through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). E-Government
is a paradigm shift away from the traditional
practice of visiting a physical government office
to obtain a service. Transition to e-Government
makes it possible to access public services in the
shortest period of time, at a lesser cost, and at the
convenience of the recipient of the services. The
main requirements to successfully implementing
e-Government include solving technical, social,
political, and legal problems. It entails providing
an appropriate ICT environment to citizens that
results in increased number of home computers,
Internet service providers, telephone home lines,
and Internet high-speed communications.
Collaborative strategies for information flow
among public sector organizations are very
critical issues for successful implementation of
e-Government projects. To achieve this there
is need for enterprise integration and interoperability to enable easy access to data and to be
able obtain information from many sites, across
different applications platforms, and databases.
Data integration (DI) has become very important in
e-Government (Sapsford & Jupp, 2006). The main
objective of enterprise integration is to facilitate the
collection of information from different sites and
make it accessible from a single entry point. Lack
of IT skills, complex Enterprise Integration tools,
and high cost in deploying Enterprise Integration
between systems are among the major problems
associated with enterprise integration projects
(Magic, 2008). In addition, there are many types
of enterprise integration technologies (Janssen
& Cresswell, 2002). In e-Government, the old
models of independent silos of information must
be replaced by an integrated environment.
Due to the availability of a variety of integration technologies, in most situations it is not easy
to identify the best technology to use to achieve
appropriate enterprise integration (Themistocleous, 2004). Furthermore, many applications are
written in different languages, and run on different

platforms. This makes it difficult for independent
applications to readily share network resources.
Vendors such as Microsoft and IBM have typically
delivered proprietary and restrictive solutions that
perpetuate and even exacerbate the problem of
integration (Amin, 2007).
Approaches to implementing e-Government
will depend on the technical, socio-economical,
and political environment where it is being
implemented. There are few empirical studies
that have focused on understanding the impact
of demographic variables on implementing information systems in Syria (Al-Shehry, Rogerson,
Fairweather, & Prior, 2008). National efforts
towards articulating e-Government strategies in
Syria could be traced to the first conference on
e-Government that was held in 2007 (Sana News,
2007). Unfortunately, since the conference, there
has been very little done by the government to
put in place the necessary measures to facilitate
the development of an affluent e-Government
strategy (Vassilakis, Lepouras, Fraser, Haston, &
Georgiadis, 2005; Amber, 2007; Al-Assad, 2010).
However, such interventions lack appropriate
awareness campaigns so that citizens can buyin. One of the reasons why there has been little
progress towards implementing or articulating a
robust e-Government strategy has been lack of
political will by the government.
An e-Ready environment is one of the prerequisites for successful transition to e-Government.
An e-Ready environment is characterized by,
among others, higher penetration of broadband
Internet and computer usage; political will; and
financial resources. abundance of e-Skills within
among citizens and systems operators; Some of
the main impediments of e-Government are the
lack of technical knowledge, difficulty to access global network (WWW), lack of a robust
e-Government strategy, and lack of awareness of
e-Government benefits by various stakeholders
including business, the civil society and citizens
at large. In addition, amongst the key issues
213
that need to be addressed before sustainable eGovernment implementation can be achieved

are: ensuring availability of technology in public
sector organizations; development of appropriate
social and technical infrastructures for effective
e-Government penetration; putting in place the
necessary institutional, legal, and regulatory
frameworks; and the selection of information technology systems to achieve enterprise integration.
This study attempts to highlight the obstacles
facing e-Government development in Syria. It
sheds light on the level of e-Readiness in terms
of ICT infrastructure development, number of
Internet users, how people use Internetand outlines
the importance of training in the framework of
offering managerial and technical leadership in
the e-Government environment. The study finally
proposes a conceptual framework that can be used
to achieve integration of business processes in
e-Government in Syria.
LITERATURE REVIEW
For some time now, governments in Western
Europe, America, Malaysia, and Japan have been
developing the necessary ICT infrastructure to
provide a framework for electronic services. For
example, Bill Clinton (former President of the
USA) declared upon his election in 1992 that
appropriate technical and social infrastructure of
electronic business would be the ultimate priority
of his administration (Alan, 1995). In Malaysia, the
government began the implementation of a highspeed electronic highway in 1997 (Kuppusamy,
2006). This was done to facilitate efficient running
of a variety of ICT applications.
The lack of technology and infrastructure in
developing countries is one of the factors that has
limited effective e-Government development in
these regions of the world. Comparisons in access to ICTs between citizens of developed and
developing countries reveals the following patterns: in 2010, the ratio of telephone lines per 100
214
citizens in Syria was 18, lineswhile in Germany

it was 69 lines; the ratio of Internet access was
37.6 in Europe, while it was 4.8 in Africa (World
Bank Statistics, 2010);. In the UK 30.1 million
adults (60 per cent) accessed the Internet every
day or almost every day; this is nearly double the
estimates for 2006 of 16.5 million, and the number
of adults in England who had never accessed the
Internet in 2010 decreased to 9.2 million, from
10.2 million in 2009 (Statistics-gov, 2010). The
apparent declining digital divide from these figures on the UK is definitely not the case for most
developing countries. Some studies have indicated
that there is a relationship between the information revolution and popular demographics. For
example, increased level of education leads to the
increased acceptance and of usage new technology
(Ecommerce-hostip, 2000). Windstorm Deloitte
conducted a study looking at the top management
of an organization, and their plans to cope with
the radical transformations in the concepts of the
contemporary (e-Governments) and future governments. The findings revealed that governments
focus on the use of technology to share information
should be considered as an essential element in
moving towards e-Government. The study also
identified six steps to be followed by government
institutions in the transition to e-Government
(Deloitte Consulting, 2000). A study done by the
Damanhur institution shows the different stages
of e-Commerce, legal aspects and benefits. This
study indicated that most companies that deal
with e-Commerce deal in non-traditional activities, and need training to increase performance of
employees (Damanbur Institution, 2002). A study
by Hart-Teeter conducted in USA consists of three
parts which hinge on the concept of e-Government.
The study includes a number of research surveys,
such as the public, government officials, private
companies, and non-profit organizations. The
study included the views of respondents on
technical experience, practical experience in the
methods of e-Government, expectations, and
their desired future goals. The study highlighted
the respondents concerns on the low level of security in Internet applications. It also highlighted
the low levels of citizens participation on public
discourse using ICTs (GSA, 2003).
Darrell West (Brown University) reviewed
the current situation of e-Government in the
world covering 188 countries through a survey
that was conducted in the summer of 2008. The
survey included 1813 Information Technology
(IT) government employees (Brookings, 2008)
and outlined the state of e-Government development across countries and found, among others,
that operations of e-Government vary greatly
from country to country, that a few e-Government
operations catered for disabled people, just over
50% of the websites offer translation services.
The Jordan e-Government Council study shows
that there are many barriers that prevented eGovernment proliferation in Jordan. Some of
these barriers included political, social, technical, legal, and administrative issues (Almawared
News, 2008). Many governments in the world
have attempted to study their situations, and built
their own interoperability frameworks to achieve
integration between public organization systems
(UK Government, 2004). The Forrester research
study identified three stages that essentially need
to be followed when implemeting e-Government.
These are: experimentation, integration, and
e-Invention (re-invention). The testing phase
was extended to include the provision of simple
services and selective view of experimentation,
troubleshoot problems and reduce risks. They
included the integration phase of the process of
linking a double between information systems and
networks used by different government agencies.
The advanced stage coincides with the maturity
of the public putting pressure on the government
for the overall improvement of the quality of
e-Government services to be integrated in all its
dimensions (Webber, 2006).
Many studies have indicated the existence
of impediments for transition to e-Government.
These obstacles should be given the due attention,
studied and analyzed. Many studies reviewed

these obstacles and grouped them into the following categories: ICT infrastructure, policy and
society, legislative, administrative procedures, and
the economy. Many governments have worked
to bridge the gap to overcome these obstacles by
analyzing each of these barriers and finding ways
these impact the overall endeavors to encourage
positive e-Government development (Duttonand
& Eynon, 2007). Some studies have indicated
the need to overcome the technical roadblocks
to implementing effective e-Government. For
instance, there are a lot of software applications
and platforms in public organizations. The different solutions impede access to the necessary
data running on different databases and different
operating systems. It is essential to find ways on
how these different systems can be made to work
in an integrated manner (Egovbarriers, 2009).
Current IT architecture is the result of years
of accumulating numerous enterprise-scale, integration solutions that include many technologies
and protocols, like Midrange, DCE (Distributed
Computing Environment), CORBA (Common
Object Request Broker Architecture), DCOM
(Distributed Component Object Model), MOM
(Message-Oriented Middleware), EAI (Enterprise Application Integration),.NET, Java EE,
and Web Services (Fenner, 2008). A variety of
vendors that consider themselves major players
in the Integration field, including Sonic Software,
Systinet, Tibco, Fiorano, IONA, and others, each
of which has their own unique definition of Enterprise Integration. Some Enterprise Integration
vendors use Web services as a technology for
integration (Microsoft Co.: BizTalk Server 2006;
IBM: WebSphere MQ; BEA Systems: BEA WebLogic; Oracle, Oracle Fusion Middleware; TIBCO
BusinessWorks: TIBCO BusinessWorks Smart
Mapper and TIBCO Adapters), achieving leading
vendor status in Web services and integration
backbone (Waseem, 2008). Some Enterprise
Integration vendors offer additional features
including message transformation, validation,
215
logging, and auditing. While other vendors place

their products as a single solution that solves all
integration needs, but still rarely for Integration
product to deliver a single solution for Enterprise
Integration (Fenner, 2008, pp. 953-957). Using the
standard approach is very important in Enterprise
Integration to provide useful method to access
information from different systems; each system
has a unique database from a different brand name,
and obviously with different technical capabilities.
Therefore, there is a need to integrate information
from heterogeneous sources to obtain needed
information. The Extensible Markup Language
(XML) is an example for the standard method. It
is designed to describe the contents of Web applications and make connection between systems
(Chaitanya, 2008).
Todays rapidly changing business environment demands that organizations must use
integration in order to create accurate, reliable
information, handle the exponential growth of
data within the enterprise, reduce IT costs, remain
competitive, and support change in the business
processes (Peyret, 2003). There are number of protocols and tools that are used to provide integration
of processes or applications. These include: File
Transfer, Shared Databases, Remote Procedure
Calls, Web Services, and Messaging. Integration
may also be achieved using patterns such as File
Transfer Patterns, Shared Database Patterns,
Remote Procedure Call Patterns, Request-Reply
Patterns, Publisher Patterns, Durable Patterns,
Guaranteed Delivery Patterns, Message Broker
Patterns, Enterprise Integration Architecture, and
the Interfaces (Neville, 2003; Al-Shehry, 2008).
Moreover, enterprise integration solutions
must cover every part of the system including
business processes, application integration, data
integration, and platform integration (Vinoski,
2002, pp. 83-85). There is a wide range of techniques that may be used in enterprise integration.
According to these techniques, enterprise integration can be divided into four main parts (Amin,
2007). These are:
216
1. Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) is a

framework that assimilates data, usually
through batch processing, from the operational environment of heterogeneous technologies into integrated, consistent data suitable for consumption by the decision support
processes. The target for ETL technology is
a database such as a data warehouse, data
mart or operational data store.
2. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)
is a framework by which an organization
centralizes and optimizes application integration, usually through some form of push
technology that is event driven. The target
for this technology is usually an application.
3. Enterprise Information Integration (EII) is
a framework for real-time integration of
disparate data types, from multiple sources
inside and outside an enterprise, providing
a universal data access layer, using pull
technology or on-demand capabilities. The
target for EII is a person, via a dashboard
or a report.
4. Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a
framework by which an organization centralizes, and optimizes all non-data content
integration such as email, video, pictures,
images, etc. application integration, usually
through some form of push technology, that
is event-driven. The target for this technology is usually an application.
The ultimate goal of enterprise integration is to
connect all the information systems to all organizations, in such a way that any application can access
any other application. Once the applications are
integrated the cross-organizational processes can
deliver timely and accurate information. Enterprise
Integration also enables improved e-Services
and e-Business by providing a better-integrated
picture to citizens and business. Citizens can
better interact with organizations than individual
departments. This can lead to increased customer
satisfaction. In e-Government, various criteria
need to be considered when deciding on which

type of enterprise integration technology can be
used. Connecting systems is a major driver to
reducing costs, improving operational efficiency,
and capturing new business opportunities. Therefore, selecting the integration technologies are a
high priority for many technology executives. But
there are a variety of technologies, for example:
ETL (Extract Transform Load), EAI (Enterprise
Application Integration), Middleware, and B2B
(Business-to-Business) technologies. Major questions include; how are these technologies used
in e-Government? And how can the technical
staff select necessary solutions in e-Government
implantation?
More recently, several emerging trends and
technologies have expanded the potential number
of integration scenarios. These include Business
Process Management (BPM), which builds on
the existing EAI and B2B stacks with capabilities
such as business activity monitoring, business
process orchestration, and Web services, which
provide industry standards for secure and reliable
transacted communication across platforms (Tschammer, 2001). Existing and emerging business
and technical practices are leading the need for
a new approach to integration. However, there
are major challenges that need to be overcome.
These challenges prevent moving forward with
automating business processes techniques such
as ETL, SOA and Web services, batch transfer,
pattern, and replication and file transfers, (Janssen,
& Cresswell, 2007). Therefore, it seems very important to use integration solutions which become
a straightforward task in organization. These tasks
are not easy. Also worth mentioning is the fact
that it is very difficult for public organizations to
achieve connection between their inter-application
or connect with other organizations.
The main concern is how to build integration
to overcome all requirements to all goals. We also
need to decide how to select the best approach in
enterprise integration. This selection emphasizes
that integration challenges must be faced and
overcome. It is better to build a new framework

to overcome all that is lacking in the existing
framework. Interoperability must have standard
issues, Portals, Networks, Government Secure
Intranets, E-Identification infrastructures, and
Government Gateways. E-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) is a set of components
that achieve interoperability and integration for
information systems across the public sector. It
facilitates the access to data for all public sector
systems. Defining the essentials for re-requisites
to join-up a Web enabled government. The e-GIF
is a cornerstone in the overall e-Government
strategy (Heeks, 2006). Each e-Government
service aims to help local organizations improve
their efficiency and connect more effectively with
their customers and with central government. EGovernment uses several types of technologies
to enable local organizations to take advantage in
their investment (Joseph, Hellerstein, & Caccia,
1999). Integration is generally considered to go
beyond interoperability to involve some degree
of functional dependence. Integrated systems
must be interoperable. Integration also deals with
organizational issues, possibly in a less formalized
manner due to dealing with people. Integration
is much more difficult to solve, while Interoperability is more of a technical issue.
E-GOVERNMENT
In traditional government, organizations have limited hours; citizens have to visit local government
offices to obtain the service, stand in queues, and
fill in a paper form. Then an employee would enter
the information from the form into the relevant
back-end computer system. The data is then processed, and weeks later the citizen would receive
a response to the request. Using e-Government
services, citizens can use services 24/7 from
everywhere. Therefore, the Government wanted
to shorten the waiting time and reduce the paper
work by providing both the citizens and busi-
217
nesses with more convenient access to services

using the ICTs. E-Government provides many
opportunities to improve the quality of services
presented to the citizens. Citizens should be able
to get services or information in a few minutes or
hours. Employees should be able to do their work
more easily and efficiently. E-Services should
provide a platform where public services are
accessed by citizens and businesses in a simpler
manner, and the government employees should
find it simple (and in some cases effortless) to
deliver the service to recipients.
Over the past few years, an increasing amount
of both popular and scholarly attention has been
focusing on E-Government. E-Government goes
by different names such as: electronic government
and e-Gov. All of these are different statements
but they have the same meaning. E-Government
is the use of ICTs to promote more efficient and
cost-effective government, to facilitate more
convenient government services, allow greater
public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens (Serian, 2002).
E-Government can also be defined as the electronic
provision of information and services 24 hours a
day, seven days a week (Tschammer, 2001). EGovernment expands and extends the ability of
public organizations to serve their constituencies
and to promote a host of other mainly positive
benefits to both the government and its citizens
(Lourdes & Royo, 2008). It also refers to Webbased services, focuses on the use of ICTs by
governments as applied to the full range of functions, and enables citizens to interact and obtain
services from local governments 24/7.
The following definition of e-Government will
be adopted throughout this chapter: it is a government project aimed to increase the efficiency of
service delivery to businesses and citizens. This
can be achieved by facilitating their access to
information and submission of applications and
electronic payment procedures in order to save
time, efforts, and reduce paper use, which in return
leads to reduced bureaucracy and redtape. Some of
218
the pronounced advantages of e-Government are:

increase the speed of service, reduce administrative
expenses, highest degree of citizen and customer
satisfaction, reduce bureaucratic procedures, and
compilation of all activities and electronic services
in one Website location.
CATEGORIES OF E-GOVERNMENT
E-Government can be categorized into the following:
1. Individuals/Citizens: Government-toCitizens (G2C), use the Web for accessing
services such as benefits, loans, recreational
sites, and educational material. The key lines
of business are social services, recreation
and natural resources, grants/loans, and
taxes. The Website, as the major platform
for accessing e-Government services, must
be easy to find, easy to use, one stop pointsof-service that makes it easy for citizens to
access high-quality government services.
2. Businesses: Government-to-Business
(G2B), reduces the burden on businesses
by adopting processes that enable collecting data all at once for multiple uses and
streamlining redundant data. The key lines of
business are regulation, economic, development, trade, permits/licenses, grants/loans,
and asset management.
3. Intergovernmental: Government-toGovernment (G2G), share and integrate data
for multi-agents. The key lines of business
are economics, development, recreation and
natural resources, public safety, law enforcement, disaster response management, and
grants/loans, which makes it easier for states
and localities to meet reporting requirements
and participate as full partners.
4. Employees: Government-to-Employees
(G2E) is the online interactions through
instantaneous communication tools between

government units and their employees.
E-GOVERNMENT FRAMEWORK
The main purpose of e-Government is to provide
electronic services to citizens. These services need
to gather information from public organizations,
so the connection between these organizations is
very important in order to provide clear information to citizens. The G2G forms the backbone of
e-Government as it allows integration of government databases, applications and services therefore
culminating into the possibility of providing an
efficient public service delivery. First of all, it
is necessary to achieve G2G relationships, after
that the government is directed to G2C and G2B.
The following model represents the relationship
between G2G, G2C, and G2B (Seifert, 2008)
(see Figure 1).
The relationship with all government-citizens
and government-business is the main purpose of
the e-Government project. Therefore, any eGovernment project should be aimed at building
Websites to provide different services for both
citizens and businesses. The key concepts of eGovernment are:
1. Communications infrastructure is a term that

requires availability of computers and communication lines and access to the Internet.
2. Shifting from traditional form to automated
form, providing an experience for managing the change and re-engineering the institutions, providing experience to choose
appropriate software to link institutions,
and developing human capacity to run
e-Government.
3. Cooperation of public sector institutions for
studying business integration, and participation of private institutions to support multiple
applications for E-Government.
4. Advertising on e-Government and providing
the necessary information to use them in this
research.
E-GOVERNMENT IN SYRIA
E-Government in Syria is a response to the needs
imposed by the nature of administrative work
in a traditional public organization. Because of
the complexities involved in providing efficient
public services using traditional ways, it was
deemed that e-Government was a very necessary
project to transform public service delivery in
Syria (Al-Assad, 2010). The first conference of
Figure 1. The e-government model
219
e-Government in Syria was in 2007, but since then

nothing has been planned nor have preparations
been made for e-Government (Syrianeconomic,
2010).
The government has worked for transition
to electronic society by providing the necessary
training in computer science, and by making the
subject of basic computer materials a requirement
in the elementary and junior high schools. Some
government agencies have made serious steps towards the automation of administrative regulations
such as the Ministry of Interior, but there are still
many institutions that need to be provided with
automation. The lack of knowledge in computer
science and e-Government in public organization
is the most important obstacle. To date, there
have been no systematic studies to inform the
implementation process for e-Government. The
government has realized that there were risks in
delaying the process, and there is a necessity for
expediting the implementation of e-Government
(Al-Assad, 2010). There are currently several
Web-sites of public institutions in Syria. These
websites has provided some services to citizens,
especially information and inquiries about the bills.
This study looked at the constraints of politics,
society, economics, legislations, administrations,
and techniques and other factors. The study also
examines the current reality associated with these
constraints and reviews what the government has
done to address these constraints and what must
be done to implement e-Government. Then, the
study considers infrastructure issues, examines
the issue of linking systems, and proposes ways
of selecting the integration software.
THE ENVIRONMENT OF
E-GOVERNMENT IN SYRIA
Before discussing the major obstacles towards
transition to e-Government implementation in
Syria, some basic information about Syria are
presented. We mention the most important as-
220
pect associated with the constraints of policy,

economic, and society:

Syrias population is approximately 21

million people (Words Statistics, 2011).
The proportion of citizens who have a
phone line is 19%, (STE Statistic Report,
2010).
The number of citizens who have a mobile phone line is 2 million people, (STE
Statistic Report, 2010).
The number of Internet subscribers is
1,100,000 (STE Statistic Report, 2010).
Political Situation
Syria is now in a transitional phase in the modernization of laws and legislations (Al-Assad,
2010). Any observer of the political situation in
Syria will find that there are a lot of presidential
decrees being issued. During the recent years,
some laws have been updated, but there is still an
apparent lack of necessary laws targeted towards
guiding e-Government implementation. One of
the major problems in Syria is bureaucracy and
the long time required for the issuance of new
laws. (Al-Assad, 2010). In addition, politically
motivated decisions become impediments in some
places. For example, the delay in allowing private
companies to operate Internet services has led to
lack of growth in the number of Internet users in
the country. Further more, there are restrictions
to accessing certain types of websites. These
restrictions discourage users and potential users
alike from using the Internet.
Syrians access to the Internet is further compounded by sanctions that have been imposed by
the American government , through the Syria Accountability Act. This Act does not allow American companies to operate in Syria. The USA has
accused the Syrian government of supporting
terrorist organizations. One of the most important
factors in the success of e-Government project is
to put in place an institutional framework to guide
the process of developing and modernizing service delivery on an e-Government platform. The
success of e-Government cannot be guaranteed
without an institutional framework. Absence of an
institutional framework results in slow decisionmaking processes, reform processes, integration,
and unnecessary bureaucracy (Al-Assad, 2010).
The Syrian government is working on developing
policies that will support the use of the Internet
by allowing an increase in the number of Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) increase wide bandwidth
gates, and mitigate administrative procedures to
acquire or obtain a high speed, wide bandwidth
Internet gateway (ASDL).
Economic Situation
The limited budget and the inability to put in
place a financing framework for e-Government
are the main economic barriers. The increase of
Internet service providers has led to falling prices
for Internet usage. The ever reducing prices of
computers entails that individuals can now acquire
them easily.
The Syrian economy is suffering from some
economic bumps, but these are not able to deter
e-Government growth. Despite the ever- reducing costs in accessing the Internet, its cost is still
above the ability of all the citizens to access it
because of generally low salaries. There is need
to mention that the government has recently
significantly increased wages and salaries of the
public sector workers, and this may be a sign of
better things to come in as far as e-Government
may be concerned (Al-Assad, 2010). Currently,
the Syrian government is working to increase the
use of the Internet by reducing the cost of the use
of broadband gateways (Abbas, 2009).
management, lack of awareness of managers and

employees about e-Government issues, and lack
of cooperation among government institutions.
Legislative Analysis
The legislative framework entails putting in place
the necessary guidelines to provide the legal basis
of any online transactions. These may include
the different laws which are used to protect the
user in an online environment, description of the
minimum documentary requirements in a bid to
maintain confidentiality and privacy of electronic
businesses, recognition of the usage of electronic
signature and fingerprint, recognition of electronic documents, and electronic identification.
In Syria, there is a project that aims to encourage the issuance of a law to help combat cyber
crime, which helps the growth of e-Business and
e-Payment. Although this is the case, laws are still
inadequate. The following provides a list of some
of the most important legislation needed to build
e-Government:
1. Issues related to relations between governmental organizations and citizens, especially
regarding non-use of paper and document
requests;
2. Fees and stamps;
3. Bidding procedures;
4. Issues related to electronic payment and the
extent of the law to accept e-Payment as a
substitute for cash payment;
5. Problems in protecting the security of electronic correspondence;
6. Issues relating to electronic contracting, and
electronic authentication; and
7. Electronic signature.
Administrative Procedures Analysis
Technical Analysis
The most important administrative obstacles

encountered in government institutions are:
resistance to change, lack of support of senior
The absence of technology in some public organizations is a big problem. Furthermore, a lot of
public organizations are not linked to the Inter-
221
net. The lack of appropriate ICT infrastructure

constitutes a major obstacle towards effective
e-Government development. Selecting software
and suitable databases for e-Government is difficult due to the great diversity and the difficulty
of conducting interoperability to achieve complementarity among systems.
The most important technical impediments are:
1. Lack of skills towards developing applications that are highly interoperable.
2. Lack of knowledge about the link between institutions, and the absence of manufacturers
of these solutions in Syria (IBM, Microsoft).
3. Lack of technical staff and expertise to run
the e-Government project.
METHODOLOGY
This study has analyzed social, technical, administrative, legal, and economic barriers using a
quantitative approach. This survey was conducted
to determine the barriers in the use of the Internet
and e-Services. Two types of questionnaires were
developed. One questionnaire targeted employees
and another targeted the institutions e-Readiness.
The employee questionnaire sought to establish
the following:
1. To investigate the actual rate of Internet
usage in Syria
2. To investigate the actual usage (e-Participation) by the general citizenry, and
3. To investigate the employee knowledge in
using the Internet and their awareness of
new (and emerging) technologies.
In order to address the questions above, a
questionnaire was administered on a randomly
drawn sample of 1472 participants. The first
section of the questionnaire sought information
about individuals. The second section focused on
Internet usage and the barriers. The questionnaire
222
included some questions about the issues related

to Internet usage, infrastructure, cost, and social
aspects. These questions covered Internet access
and performance and type of Internet access (dial
up, broadband).
The institutional questionnaire sought to determine the level of e-Readiness of government
departments in delivering e-Services in terms of
the IT skills among the available human resources,
knowledge about e-Government services and IT
infrastructure. To do this, face-to-face interviews
were conducted in the following ministries: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry
of Health, Ministry of Information and Communication, Ministry of Social Services, and Ministry of Transportation. The interview instrument
contained three sections. The first section sought
information about organizational characteristics,
and what objectives they wanted to achieve with
their e-Government initiatives. The second section sought information on IT infrastructure and
focused on network usage, particularly the use
of Internet, the hardware and software used and
whether it was developed in-house or outsourced.
The third section also required the identification
of areas impacted by the implementation of eGovernment and the barriers encountered when
implementing e-Government. Interviews were
conducted with the top level information management staff in public sectors. The purpose of
this study was to understand the needs of IT staff
related to the usage of new technologies. Interviews were arranged through an initial approach
by letter, and follow-up telephone call. The time
constraint with managers was a big problem as
most of them alluded to the fact that they were
too busy to be able to participate. The average
interview was 60 minutes. Processing of the data
obtained from the interviews was done manually.
The following questions were asked first in
each interview:
1. What are the aims of your organization?
2. How do you provide services to citizens?
3. Does the organization have a Website, and

what are the services that can be accessed
through this Website?
4. What network, hardware, software, and operating systems are in use in your organization?
5. What major technology-related problems
do you face inyour work?
6. How do you deal with new technologies?
Has this changed your approach to working?
7. In what ways does top management affect
issues of using new technologies?
8. What do you know about e-Government?
9. What barriers do you face in effectively
interacting with e-Government platforms?
These questions were tested in a small pilot
study, which was used to fine tune the data collection instrument
RESULTS
Using data collected from the survey questionnaire and interviews, the general finding is that
there are major obstacles facing Internet usage
in Syria. These obstacles adversely affect the
expected usage of the different e-Government
services. Amelioration of these barriers requires
putting in place appropriate procedures, systems,
and strategies. The current study adopts the technology acceptance theory (Unified Theory of
Acceptance and Use of Technology - UTAUT)
as posited by Davis (1989) and Venkatesh et al.
(2003) (see Table 1).
Out of this survey, the main results are presented in Tables 2-8.
The questionnaire results showed the following patterns: The percentage of those who were
accessing Internet amounted to 71.3%, and the
proportion of citizens who do not access Internet
totaled 28.7%; citizens who did not have a computer at home amounted to 17.2%; while citizens
who do not have a phone line at home were 22.5%.
Employees who do not have knowledge of r the
Internet were 34.6%, employees who have never

accessed Internet were 33.5%. Employees who
access Internet at work were 37.8%. Citizens who
use cafes to access Internet were 72. 2%. People
who consider that the cost to access Internet is
not commensurate with their income amounted
to 85. 2%. Citizens who consider that the speed
of the Internet is a major obstacle to use Internet
amounted to 77.7%. Citizens who use the Dial up
lines to access Internet amounted to 87.5%, while
employees who have no experience to utilize the
Internet were 40.9% (see Table 9).
Barriers to e-Government
Development in Syria
Out of the survey, the major barriers impacting
e-Government development in Syria can be classified into the following categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Lack of technology;
Issues relating to Internet usage;
Need to upgrade technology;
Fear of a large project such as E-Government;
Shortage of staff, especially in building
relevant Web applications;
Lack of experience and knowledge;
Lack of knowledge about what e-Government is;
Cost to engage in e-Government
Difficulties to obtain technology;
Lack of support from senior management;
and
Lack of trust and confidentiality in the
Internet system (privacy and security issues).
Political Dimensions
From the findings of the survey, it can be surmised
that political support (support from top management) should be provided if e-Government is to
take root in Syria. This support must come from the
top of the political pyramid. The (e-Governance)
management of e-Government project is very
223
Table 1. Question categorization

construction
Items
Intention
1. Do you have any intention to access the Internet? Yes, no
Performance expectancy
2. Do you expect any benefit from using the Internet? Yes, no, I dont know
3. I find that Internet access will increase my educations level. Yes, no, dont know
4. I expect Internet access to increase my productivity. Yes, no, dont know
5. I expectInternet access to improve my ability to work. Yes, no, dont know
6. I expectInternet access to increase my income. Yes, no, dont know
Effort expectancy
7. Which of these reasons make you not access Internet (you can choose more than one): Cost, not having a connection at home, have no knowledge, Have no time, I dont care
8. I find Internet access is easy? Yes, no
9. Which Internet connection do you use? Dial up, Mobile network, High speed modem, not connected
10. From where do you connect to the Internet? Home, work, Caf net, in public places, never use any network
connections
11. Do you have a computer in your house? Yes, no
12. I can easily utilise the Internet. Yes, no
13. How is the Internet connection speed? Slow, high, acceptable, not connected yet
Social influence
14. Are you akin to access Internet? Yes, no, dont care
15. There are motivations from my friends to access Internet? Yes, no
16. The information that I hear about using the Internet makes me enthusiastic to access Internet. Yes, no
Facilitating conditions
17. Do you think that you are able to utilize the Internet with your present salary? Yes, no
18. What do you think about the cost of the Internet? Expensive, inexpensive, Normal, dont connect yet
19. The procedures to access the Internet are easy? Yes, no, dont know
20. Are there adequate facilities to access the Internet? Yes, no, dont know
21. Do you have a Personal Computer (PC) in your home? Yes, no
22. Do you have a telephone line in your home? Yes, no
Age
23. AGE 1-Age 18 25, 26 35, 36 45, 46 55, 56 65
Voluntariness off use
24. Do you think that your work needs Internet access for you to remain productive? Yes, no
25. Did your management force you to use Internet? Yes, no, dont have management
Education
26. Education: Secondary school, High school, Intermediate institute, Bachelors degree, Master, PHD,
Gender
27. Gender: male, female
Married
28. Married: yes, no
Job
29. Job: Employee in public sector, Employee in private sector, Unemployed
experience
30. Your experience in use computer: good, normal, bad
access Internet
31. Have you accessed the Internet before? Yes, No
Time of use of
Internet
32. How many hours do you spend using the Internet daily? Few minutes, <1 Hour, <2 Hours, more than 2 Hours
Table 2. The cross tab between access internet and age

AGE
18 - 25
ACC
Total
224
26 - 35
36 - 45
Total
46 - 55
56 - 65
yes
248
457
150
42
15
912
No
43
100
126
74
25
368
291
557
276
116
40
1280
Table 8. The cross tab between internet access and the period of use internet (hour)
HH
ACC
yes
Total
Few minutes
<1 H
<2 H
more than 2 H
147
304
174
102
never access
no
Total
147
304
174
102
185
912
368
368
553
1280
Table 3. The cross tab between internet access and level of education
EDU
ACC
Secondary school
High school
Bachelor degree
Master
PHD
yes
168
198
480
44
21
912
no
88
116
150
10
368
256
314
630
54
25
1280
Total
Table 4. The cross tab between internet access

and gender
GEN
ACC
Total
Total
male
female
Yes
570
342
912
No
215
153
368
785
495
1280
Total
Table 5. The cross tab between internet access

and marital status
MAR
ACC
Total
yes
no
Yes
554
358
912
No
245
123
368
799
481
1280
Total
Table 6. The cross tab between internet access and employment

JOB
ACC
Total
Total
Employee in public sector
Employee in private sector
Unemployed
yes
267
298
347
912
no
105
132
131
368
372
430
478
1280
Table 7. The cross tab between internet access and technical experience
EXP
ACC
Total
Total
good
normal
bad
Yes
323
464
125
912
No
53
204
111
368
376
668
236
1280
225
Table 9. List of research hypotheses

Hypothesis
Result
H1
There is a significant intention for people to access Internet
Accepted
H2
There is a significant relation between Internet access and the improvement of human knowledge
Accepted
H3
There is a significant relation between Internet access and job productivity
Accepted
H4
There is a significant relation between clarity of Internet usage and Internet access
Accepted
H5
There is a significant relation between the education level to use the Internet and Internet access
Accepted
H6
There is a significant relation between external influence and Internet access
Accepted
H7
There is a significant relation between the human skills and Internet use
Accepted
H8
There is a significant relation between available Internet access and Internet use
Accepted
H9
There is a significant relation between necessity and Internet access
Accepted
important. This can guide ministries and influence

their response. Political support is also necessary
to consider all proposals, make the appropriate
development of administrative procedures and for
the creation of laws. The success of e-Government
will require serious policy, leveraging efforts to
develop national strategy, building appropriate
frameworks, and the increasing the awareness of
decision makers as to the importance of the project
as well as making personal computers available to
a wider spectrum of society at affordable prices
relative to incomes of citizens. Political support
cuts across all the requirements of e-Government.
Legislative Aspects
There are a lot of laws related to e-Government.
For the case of Syria, successful implementation
of e-Government requires putting in place an appropriate legislative and regulatory environment.
The following pieces of legislations are required
in an electronic environment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
226
Electronic Crimes Act;

Protection of Intellectual Property;
Issuance of electronic Commerce Act;
Issuance of E-signature law; and
Electronic authentication and digital
certification.
Socio-Cultural Dimensions
For e-Government to prosper there must be a critical mass of users of the anticipated e-Services.
This entails creating an e-Ready environment
among the citizens through skills training, accessibility, connectivity, affordability, awareness
to engender buy-in and support of the services
by citizens. The content must be relevant to the
needs of the users and the cultural context of the
citizens. These mitigations should result in the
following outcomes:
1. Increase in the number of Internet users;
2. Increase in electronic awareness;
3. Internet access in all sectors of government,
and activate usage at work;
4. Increase in Internet connection speed;
5. Increase in the number of Internet cafes offering cheaper Internet access and broadband
connections; and
6. Increase in ownership of ICTs (computers,
access lines, phone lines).
Economic Dimensions
An environment where people are able to meet the
basic needs to afford access to technology including ownership should be created. The ICT tariffs
should be minimized to enable citizens to afford
the technology on a sustainable basis. Creating a

conducive economic environment should result
in the following:
1. Reduced the cost of usage of the Internet
which will contribute to the spread of
e-Culture;
2. Updated payment methods by encouraging
electronic payment methods; and
3. Get rid of some forms of corruption and
mismanagement.
Administrative Dimensions
Re-engineering the work processes, procedures,
structures, and systems in public organization
is very important to ensure a seamless flow of
e-Government activities.
Technical Dimensions
Due to political and economic sanctions from the
Western countries, it is very difficult for Syria
to acquire appropriate hardware, software, and
technical knowhow from established sources
in the West. In addition, Syria faces budgetary
constraints as scarce financial resources have
to be shared among many needy national areas
where it may be seen to be politically incorrect
to invest in ICTs at the expense of, for example,
of building a school.
The design of e-Government should take into
account interoperability, shareability and scalability of the systems. Government integration
solution which aim at selecting methods that
will link public organizations through interfaces
among disparate systems. This will entail putting
in place systems of accessing data and determining
the authentication and authorizations within the
proposed framework based on features of open
standards. Open standards recognize the national
and international platform independent standards.
They are developed collaboratively through due
processes, are vendor neutral and do not rely on
commercial intellectual property, and imply an

underlying philosophy, a set of principles and
practices. Appropriate principles for defining open
standards include availability, maximize end-user
choice, no royalty, no discrimination, extension
or subset, protection against predatory practices,
(Anderson, 2009). Open standards are important
in the development of networked services for
several reasons:
1. Support Interoperability: Interoperability
is often critical to those creating digital
services. There will be a need to ensure that
services and data can be used not only within
a correct environment, but also across other
digital services and across other application
areas. A prime purpose of open standards is
to provide such interoperability.
2. Maximize access: Cultural heritage services
normally seek to maximize access to their
resources and services. Ideally, access will
not be limited by constraints such as the
device used by the end user; their physical
location; their location on the network; or
personal factors such as disabilities.
3. Provide application and device independence: The dangers of lock-in to particular
applications or hardware platforms are
widely acknowledged.
4. Ensure architectural integrity: Unlike
proprietary solutions, for which the development and intended usage is likely to be
constrained by commercial and competitive
factors, open standards which are developed
within a wider context can help to ensure
architectural integrity across a wide range
of scenarios.
5. Provide long-term access to resources
and services: Long term access to scholarly
resources and cultural heritage resources is
of particular importance for public sector
organizations as it directly contributes to
placing them at a competitive edge in as
far as service provision is concerned (Kelly,
227
Wilson, & Metcalfe, 2007). One of the most

effective ways to facilitate long-term and
ready access to resources is by encouraging open standards. Open standards further
encourage interoperability of different applications on a common programming and
process integration environment (interoperable layer of e-Government).
SYRIAN E-GOVERNMENT
INTEROPERABILITY FRAMEWORK
An Interoperability framework can be defined
as a set of guidelines components that describes
the way in which organizations have agreed, or
should agree, to interact with each other. An Interoperability framework is, therefore, not a static
document and may have to be adapted over time
as technologies, standards, and administrative
requirements change. The relationship between
the major components of Interoperability is shown
in Figure 2.
The major components of Interoperability
Framework are:
Figure 2. Interoperability major components
1. Data Integration Layer: Data Integration

layer enables organizations to extract, transform, and load data to create consistent and
accurate information. Data workflows must
be built, input and output data flows must
be quickly built, taking on processes to create metadata, all of which enable the rapid
generation the method to deal with data and
data streams. That enables rapid generation
of integration data, and provides multiple
platform scalability and interoperability.
Enterprise Data Integration must be a comprehensive solution that can access all data sources,
extract, transform, conform, load and support
manage data, migration, and synchronization.
Enterprise Data Integration enables organizations
to extract, transform and load data from across
the enterprise to create consistent, accurate information. Data integration makes it easy to build
logical process workflows, quickly identify the
input and output data flows, and create business
rules in metadata. Data integration Increases
returns on existing IT investments by providing
multiple platform scalability and interoperability.
Enterprise Data Integration must be comprehensive solution that can access all data sources,
extract, cleanse, transform, conform, load and
manage data, migration, and synchronization,
and create real-time data integration services in
support of service oriented architectures, (Lourdes
& Royo, 2008).
2. Business integration layer: provides the
backbone linking e-Government services.
The relationship between organizations to
provide services must be clearly defined,
and the analysis for this relationship must
be done, rethinking this relationship and
re-Engineering may be occurring.
3. Portals: These are Web applications methods
representing the leading concept for integrating many different information sources
into a single mechanism for interacting with
228
the user. They also must facilitate services

in a secured manner that can comply with
requirements. Multiple e-Government
Initiatives can share a portal, and multiple
portals can be linked to integrate even more
information sources and applications.
With the emergence of pervasive computing
devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
and Internet-enabled mobile phones, Internet can
now be accessed from anywhere and at anytime.
This provides a very flexible form of mobile
government (m-Government) which is at the
convinience of both the consumer and provider of
e-Government services. Other channels include
Intranet, Virtual Private Network (VPN), direct
connection
Data Integration is one of enterprise integration
solution, consisting of applications, techniques,
technologies and products. To help better understand these components, the following definitions
are provided:
Applications are software solutions which are
custom-built or vendor supplied that utilize one
or more data integration products. Products are
solutions that support one or more data integration technologies. Technologies: implement one
or more data integration techniques.
Techniques: technology independent approaches for performing data integration. Four
components of interoperability model reflect the
way to achieve interoperability security must be
addressed from the beginning for every component of interoperability model. Authentication
Common Services to Access control by Requestor
Application and Transaction Services, Authorization: to provide the authority to execute the
service, Network interconnected: to connect all
the parents which include infrastructure, physical
layer, and accessibility of e-Government solutions
is a requirement for all user facing components
of interoperability model.
Engine Access: technique to enable the access
to multi type of data.
Data providers: software technique to avail

connection target data source that is stored in
different types of databases that make another application access target database (Sapsford & Jupp,
2006). Increases returns on existing IT investments
by providing multiple-platform scalability and
Interoperability. Enterprise Data Integration must
be comprehensive solution that can access virtually all data sources, extract, cleanse, transform,
conform, aggregate, load and manage data, support
data warehousing, migration, and synchronization,
support both batch-oriented and real-time master
data management solutions, and create real-time
data integration services in support of service
oriented architectures (see Figure 3).
Governance and Management of

e-Government
Leadership and top management of e-Government
is very necessary. The daily management and
leadership will be provided by:
1. Senior agency officials, who comprise the
Presidents Management Council.
2. The Office of the Associate Director for IT
and e-Government and other management
staff.
3. Members of the CIO, CFO, and Procurement
Executive and Human Resources Councils.
One of the most significant barriers to successful e-Government implementation is the resistance
to change. The success of an e-Government project
will require an effective governance structure to
overcome the barriers and implement the necessary changes. This includes substantial and longterm commitment by senior management (Lata &
Chandra, 2005).
So the government needs to do so much at
the level of preparation, training, and review the
experiences of other governments and the software
provided in the area of enterprise integration. According to the results that we have seen through
229
Figure 3. E-government frameworks
230
the survey, interviews, articles and Websites, we

can summarize them as follows:

Figure 4. Keys for building e-government project
There is no clear idea of e-Government in

Syria;
There is fear of the high costs that are
involved in effective e-Government
implementation
A careful analysis of e-Government readiness in Syria reveals that there are several procedures and initiatives that need
to be taken in order to effectively implement e-Government. Some of these initiatives involve developing robust ICT infrastructures, which should be built with
careful consideration of the local context
dynamics, encouraging wider adoption
of ICTs, put in place far-reaching awareness programs to encourage citizen buyin, and providing relevant e-Government
applications.
Starting from the general structure for implementation of an e-Government project, Figure 4
presents the proposed requirements that should be
considered for building a successful e-Government
project in Syria.
Any effective e-Government implementation
should address the multi-dimensional factors
shown in Figure 4. Overall implementation of
e-Government should be vested into an e-Government implementation team mandated to coordinate all the e-Government interventions. This
team should also draw the change management
strategy which should detail how government
employees will be capacitated to provide public
services on the virtual environment, ICTs rollout
in the government departments, and interaction
specifications of the different e-Government applications. There should also be robust monitoring
plans to adapt e-Government applications as ICTs
evolves. Another important aspect of ustainable
e-Government implementation is the interoperabity framework (e-GIF) which provides detailed
technical and managerial specifications of eGovernment implementation. Other key building

blocks of e-Governemnt are shown in Figure 4.
To achieve the desired goal of this chart, teams
should work in different components as in the Agile Methodology to ensure rapid implementation
compatibility with the needs of the citizens and
requirements of the customer. Agile methodology
is an approach that is mostly utilized in software
development, which enables programmers to develop pieces of work (in iterations), testing them
as standalones before they can be assembled into
a shipable product at the end of the development
endeavors. For the case of e-Government, each of
the different blocks shown in Figure 4 are pro-
231
cured and modified to fit the local context and

tested to ascertain its relevancy. Thereafter, each
of the factors presented in the blocks is rolled out
in the e-Government implementation framework.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following are the recommendations emanating from this study:
1. There is need to improve the ICT infrastructure in Syria to pave the way for robust
e-Government implementation;
2. Laws and regulations should be put in place
to enable the recognition of electronic payments this will create trust and engender
the system to users;
3. The highly beauracratic business processes in
the public sector of Syria should be subjected
to appropriate Re-Engineering procedures;
4. There is need to aim to provide broadband
Internet connections in all the socio-economic hierarchies of the Syrian society to
promote global e-Participation (engagement
of citizens and businesses in e-Government);
5. Development of technical personnel knowledge in field of electronic services to all
government institutions through appropriate
technical and managerial training;
6. Positive cooperation among government
institutions in decision-making processes
with regard to e-Government should be
encouraged;
7. Small and complex projects need to be
restructured before rolling them out to all
sectors of the state. This will provide a feedback mechanism to gauge the probability of
their success or failure;
8. Increase awareness campaigns for e-Government projects so that the general citizenry
and businesses learn the basic concepts of
e-Government. This will ensure meaningful
engagement with all the stakeholders.
232

RESEARCH AREAS
Although there seems to be some level of commitment to advance e-Government implementation
in Syria, there has not been any succinct planning
for any local digital government project. There is
no e-Government framework that has been developed to assess the level of implementation of local
digital government in Syria. Lack of a robust eGovernment strategy and framework in Syria and
the major ICT adoption barriers that are evident in
Syria have made effective e-Government development a far-fetched dream. E-Government barriers
do not justify the situation to remain traditional
and not to change towards effective public sector
transformation. Because of the socio-economic
outlay of Syria, it has delayed in coming up with
meaningful initiatives to proactively implement
e-Government. This chapter has highlighted the
contextual environment of Syria and identified
the different factors that affect appropriate eGovernment in Syria.
Simplicity of the delivery services to citizens
and businesses and the ease with which these services are provided constitute the main concern of
e-Government. E-Government presents itself as an
efficient platform which may facilitate access to
ICTs to all citizens and enable them to participate
in the governance hierarchy (e-Participation), reduce the cost of public service delivery, promote
transparency and accountability in governance,
promote efficient public service delivery, and
generally encourage the development of the democratic institution. For these benefits to be amassed
there is need to overcome the different factors that
affect e-Government development. These factors
(such as lack of a robust ICT infrastructure, lack of
a coherent e-Government strategy, lack of relevant
context, and lack of appropriate human resource
to develop tailor-made applications) have been
highlighted in this chapter.
These key factors in building e-Government
rely heavily on linking the organization of the
various systems and applications in different institutions to become one system and one application.
In this chapter, the researchers took e-Government
in Syria as an example of a study to try to shed
light on the difficulties and challenges in the
construction of highly integrated systems, and
how it can be overcome by building the basic link
between systems and applications of various public
institutions. The rapid development of business
in the light of the electronic revolution and technology has made the building of e-Government
systems a very complicated task that needs a
multi-disciplinary approach. The emergence of
the relationship between business development
and structure of information systems cannot be
ignored, and it is clear that it must tie in with
the relationships between business and IT. This
research shows that it is necessary to update the
infrastructure in Syria to do e-Business, reduce the
cost of Internet connection, and encourage the use
of Internet and raise the awareness of the technical benefits. In terms of institutions, the study has
highlighted the importance of training the IT staff
to implement a project similar to e-Government,
with regard to the integration of systems and to
look at the experiences of other governments. On
one hand, it is clear that the government must
first study the need for the government to form
management teams of the e-Government project.
Among the areas for future investigation would be
to investigate the extent to which businesses and
citizens use ICTs in their day-to-day activities,
their state of e-Readiness, and their perceived
barriers/benefits to/of electronic systems. These
studies should be conducted across various strata
of business, social groups, and regions in Syria.
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E-Government: A situation where public
services are provided using online applications
(access to public services is facilitated using ICTs).
236
E-Government Strategy: A set of initiatives

that are lined to achieve successful implementation
of e-Government. It is a roadmap with carefully
designed steps aimed at encouraging successful
implementation of e-Government with reference
to the local context.
E-Participation: The act of engagement on
online discourses and participation into online
applications.
Integration: A situation where applications are
made to run in a distributed network or on many
systems but appear to be running on one system.
The different applications are made to run on an
open middleware.
Interoperability: ICTs gadgets regardless
of the manufacturer are able to run applications
from all other hardware and software platforms
in a system.
Re-Engineering: To change the business
processes according to the review done at certain
intervals.
237
Chapter 12
Benchmarking Botswanas
e-Government Initiatives
with WSIS Principles:
A Review of Progress and Challenges

Saul F. C. Zulu
Peter M. Sebina
Balulwami Grand
Stephen M. Mutula
ABSTRACT
The chapter assesses the state of e-Government projects to anchor Botswanas drive towards attainment
of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Data for the study was obtained
through a survey research design, which employed desk research and interviews with strategic respondents in the ICT sector in Botswana. Botswanas e-Government projects are then benchmarked against
the WSIS Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action and other international and regional strategic
frameworks for ICTs. The findings reveal that while Botswana, through its various e-Government projects,
has made some progress towards laying the foundation for meeting the goals of the WSIS and has reached
other international milestones for ICTs, a lot remains to be done as the e-Government projects have yet
to positively impact the lives of the majority of citizens. This is due to a number of factors that have to
be addressed, including inadequate infrastructure, low citizen capacity in terms of skills, accessibility,
and affordability of ICT systems, and absence of an enabling e-Legislative and policy framework. Among
the proposed areas for future studies are measuring the levels of ICT uptake at the citizen (individual)
level to determine levels of e-Participation.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch012
Benchmarking Botswanas e-Government Initiatives with WSIS Principles
INTRODUCTION
There is a symbiotic relationship among the
concepts of Information Society, Information and
Communications Technologies (ICTs), the Digital
divide, and e-Government. Businessdictionary.
com (2011) has defined the Information Society
as Post-industrial society in which Information
Technology (IT) is transforming every aspect
of cultural, political, and social life, and which
is based on the production and distribution of
information... Businessdictionary.com further
sees the Information Society as having different
impacts on society: (1) influence of IT on home,
work, and recreational aspects of the individuals
daily routine, (2) as a stratification agent of society
into new classes of those who are information-rich
and those who are information-poor, and (3) as a
tool for loosening of the nation states hold on the
lives of individuals with both positive and negative consequences such as and the rise of highly
sophisticated criminals who can steal identities and
vast sums of money through information related
(cyber) crime (Businessdictionary.com, 2011).
Information Society is also seen as referring to a
stage in human development where human activities are largely enabled by information processing
driven by computing and telecommunications
devices and systems (Whatis, 2011). Information
society is perceived both as a tool for eradicating
the digital divide (with positive impact on human
development) and as a tool for perpetuating the
digital divide and domination of the information
rich over the underprivileged information poor.
The former view is largely held by development
agencies such the United Nations (ITU, WSIS 1
[2003], and WSIS 2 [2005]); the latter view is held
by human rights advocates who see neo-liberal
motives in international calls for the promotion of
the attainment of the information society (Stallman, 2003; Burch, 2006).
This chapter adopts the view held by development agencies where information society, theoretically, is perceived as ... a society where all people
238
without distinction should have the opportunity

and the right of access to and use of information
through the application of digital technologies...
(Mutula & Moahi, 2008, p. 179); an information
society that caters for all people by providing them
with information in many formats, and exposing them to the different technologies used for
collecting, manipulating, and disseminating the
information. And also where there is increasing use
of computers; convergence of computing and telecommunications; e-Governance; e-Commerce;
online education; universal access to telephony,
the use of technology for community development; and use of information technology in the
management of public utilities (Martin, 1995).
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) simply refer to pieces of equipment,
networked infrastructure, and associated knowledge and skills for creating, manipulating, transferring, and using information or knowledge
(Tiamiyu & Aina, 2008, p. 4). The digital divide
refers to the barriers that, for a variety of reasons,
exclude individuals, communities, nations, social
groups, and regions from participating in an ICTdriven environment.
Mutula (2008) has characterised the digital
divide as essentially being inequitable access to
ICTs. Webopedia (2011) has defined the digital
divide as:
A term used to describe the discrepancy between
people who have access to and the resources to
use new information and communication tools,
such as the Internet, and people who do not have
the resources and access to the technology. The
term also describes the discrepancy between those
who have the skills, knowledge, and abilities to
use the technologies and those who do not. The
digital divide can exist between those living in rural
areas and those living in urban areas, between
the educated and uneducated, between economic
classes, and on a global scale between more and
less industrially developed nations.
The digital divide is also associated with the

concept of digital exclusionreferring to those,
who for one reason or the other, are excluded
from participating in the digital environment.
In fact, the victims of the digital divide are also
the digitally excluded. There are various factors
for the digital divide including infrastructure,
literacy, language, information, knowledge,
economic, cultural, and others (Mutula, 2008;
Reddy, et al., 2004; ITU, 2005). Digital inclusion either directly or indirectly impacts on the
adoption of ICTs within the various sectors of
the socio-economic hierarchy. With the concept
of public service transformation gaining ground
in most of the countries worldwide, government
interaction with citizens and businesses is being
promulgated using the virtual environment in the
realm of electronic government (e-Government).
The extent of digital inclusion may dictate the
direction e-Government development may take
in one given area.
Okpaku (2003, p. 3) defines e-Government
as the adoption, by governments at local, provincial, state, and national levels, of information
and communications technology applications
in the delivery of administrative products and
services to the widest possible population and
geographic spread. Okpaku identifies the objectives of e-Government essentially being to make
governance more efficient, more cost-effective,
more responsive to the will and needs of the
people, more responsible and accountable, more
accessible, and more affordable. The overarching
goal for e-Government service delivery platforms
is to overcome the handicap of inadequate infrastructure and financial resource constraints both
of which limit governments ability to reach and
deliver to the average citizen without that citizen
having to go through extraordinary efforts to access
civil services. And that ultimately, e-Government
should enable administrations to make better use
of scarce financial, human, and other resources,
resulting in an increase in the portion of such
resources available to service critical needs such
as food, education, health services, and more

(Okpaku, 2003, p. 3).
The common thread running through the concepts of information society, ICTs, digital divide
(exclusion), and e-Government issues can be
summarised as follows:
1. Information Society is the state of ICT connectedness to leverage human creativity at
every level of time and space for individuals,
communities, organizations, nations, and
regions. Put another way, the Information
Society is the higher state of human development where individuals, communities,
nations, and regions should aspire to be;
2. Access to ICTs provide the technical means
to getting into the Information Society. In
other words, equitable access to ICTs by all
in society is the means to attaining the status
of an information society. To this end, for
a country to attain the information society
status, it must be e-Ready (in terms of ICT
infrastructure, skills, and accessibility);
3. The Digital divide will be eliminated once
countries attain information society status as
everyone will have the means to participate
in an ICT enabled society, and;
4. E-Government projects and initiatives are
means for mobilizing collective national
efforts towards the attainment of the information society by putting in place platforms
for governance and service delivery that
are ICT-enabled to enhance operational efficiency and promote equitable participation
by citizens in government programmes.
Governments the world over are more than
ever before preoccupied with promoting digital
inclusion because of the belief that there is a
direct correlation between low digital gaps and
economic development (World Economic Forum,
2003). The United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development UNCTAD (2006) notes that a
person in a high-income country is over 22 times
239
more likely to be an Internet user than someone in

a low-income country. Similarly, secure Internet
servers, a rough indicator of electronic commerce,
are over 100 times more common in high-income
than in low-income countries. In high-income
countries, mobile phones are 29 times more prevalent, and mainline penetration is 21 times that of
low-income countries. Relative to income, the cost
of Internet access in a low-income country is 150
times the cost of a comparable service in a highincome country. UNCTAD concludes that greater
use of technology in business, schools, and home
could raise standards of living and help people
prosper. WSIS perceived an Information Society
as a society in which the following components
are connected seamlessly with ICTs: villages;
universities, colleges, secondary schools, and
primary schools; scientific and research centres;
public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post
offices, and archives; health centres and hospitals;
local and central government departments, etc.
During the 1990s, governments the world
over, began efforts to bridge the digital divide in
order to realise digital dividends for their citizens
in the social, economic, and political spheres.
Among the digital dividends envisaged were
improved service delivery, prudent management
of public resources, and overall good governance.
Similarly, since the year 2000, governments the
world over have been preoccupied with putting in
place strategies on how to meet the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015.
Universal access to digital technologies is seen as
an important catalyst in this endeavour (Mutula,
et al., 2010).
The World Summit on Information Society
(WSIS, 2003) noted that the digital revolution fired
by the engines of ICTs had fundamentally brought
new ways of creating knowledge, educating
people and disseminating information, conducting
economic and business practices, running government, engaging politically, providing speedy
delivery of humanitarian aid and healthcare, and
improving the living standards for millions of
240
people around the world, among others. Bridging

the digital divide therefore creates opportunities
for the previously marginalised groups. Such
opportunities include, among others, access to
education, equal employment opportunities, and
medical care.
The United States government integrated ICT
in its policy documents to achieve largely economic development and increased productivity.
The US advanced this idea by advocating a Global
Information Infrastructure (GII) through the World
Trade Organization and the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Similarly, at the
1994 ITU international conference in Buenos
Aires, Albert Gore noted that National Information Infrastructure (NII) and GII would lead to
sustainable economic progress, improved health
care, etc. Moreover, GII would lead to global free
market and global decentralized democracies,
more freedom of individuals, and more choices
(Miranda, 2006).
The world over, countries that have low
digital gaps are also best performing in terms of
economic development. For example, countries
such as Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark,
Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany,
the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom are
the worlds top ten performing economies according to The Global Competitiveness Report
2006-2007 (World Economic Forum, 2006).
These countries are also leaders in e-governance
systems and score highly on digital opportunity
index, e-readiness rankings, information society
indices, and e-Government indices
Botswana, like any other country in the world,
is working towards the attainment of the information society. To this end, Botswana has, since
the 1980s, invested in the development of its ICT
infrastructure which is seen as core for the realisation of the information society as articulated in
the WSIS principles.
This chapter, therefore, assesses the state of
e-Government projects to anchor Botswanas
drive towards attainment of the goals of the World
Summit on the Information Society. The chapter

reviews the current status of e-Government initiatives in the country vis--vis the information
society principles and goals as set out by the World
Summit Information Society (WSIS) and other
international and regional frameworks.
METHODOLOGY
Data for the study was obtained through a survey
research design, which employed desk research
based on findings from numerous relevant studies
commissioned by the national telecommunication regulator, the Botswana Telecommunication
Authority (BTA) and the backbone provider,
the Botswana Telecommunication Corporation
(BTC). In addition, the review made use of the
following sources:

The 2008, 2009, and 2010 annual reports of the BTC, BTA, Botswana Power
Corporation (BPC);
The Botswana national development plans,
national budgets, national ICT policy, eGovernment strategy, Vision 2016 (the
Botswana long term vision for development); and
Botswana Human Development Report for
2005, Botswana government website, and
ITU website, among others, have also been
used in compiling this report.
The use of various sources to gather data for

this report was complemented by interviews
with strategic respondents in the ICT sector in
Botswana, which included the Director of the
Department of Information Technology (Ministry
of Communications, Science, and Technology),
two senior technical officers from e-Government
Office, a senior technical officer in charge of infrastructure development at the Botswana Innovation
Hub, the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana
Telecommunication Authority (BTA), Two techni-
cal officers at the Botswana Telecommunication

Corporation, Manager for Information Technology
in the Ministry of Sport, Youth, and Culture, and
others. A focus group session involving experts
from the ICT industry, telecommunication sector,
NGOs, and government was also held to validate
the initial study findings. In addition, the findings
were further validated by the Thetha discussion
Forum of 2010 held in Gaborone, Botswana, which
brought together about 50 researchers, academia,
government officials, and other stakeholders from
Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and
Mozambique.
Framework of Analysis for

Benchmarking Botswanas
e-Government Initiatives
As a member of the community of nations, Botswanas drive towards accelerated development
of ICT infrastructure to serve as a platform for
mounting its e-Government projects is predicated
on a number of regional and global initiatives.
The United Nations (UN) in conjunction with the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
through the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) has developed the Declaration of
Principles and a Plan of Action, which countries
desirous for attaining the information society
should follow and benchmark their progress or lack
of against it. It is the Declaration of the Principles
and the Plan of Action, which provide the international framework upon which to understand the
goals of the information society as well providing
the basis for gauging success in its realisation by
Botswana through its e-Government initiatives.
The WSIS Declaration of Principles

Botswana subscribes to the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) whose principles
include, but are not limited to, building of information infrastructure through telecommunication
and investment in technology, achieving universal
241
and equitable access to information technology,

provision of information and knowledge that is
relevant to the culture and needs of all communities, cooperative development of information
society among various stakeholders including
government, the private sector, civil society
organizations, regional, and international organizations, empowering communities with ICT
skills to enable them to exploit knowledge and
information resources, putting in place an appropriate legislative and regulatory framework
that ensures the creation and maintenance of a
conducive environment to foster growth of the
ICT sector, and making information a common
good (WSIS, 2003).
The World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS) held in Geneva in 2003 was explicit and
clearly defined the trajectory for countries to reach
the status of being an information society. This
would include:
Other International and

Regional Frameworks
1. Connecting villages with ICTs and establishing access points;

2. Connecting universities, colleges, secondary
schools, and primary schools with ICTs;
3. Connecting scientific and research centres
with ICTs;
4. Connecting public libraries, cultural centres,
museums, post offices, and archives with
ICTs;
5. Connecting health centres and hospitals with
ICTs;
6. Connecting all local and central government
departments; and
7. Adapting all primary and secondary school
curricula to meet challenges of the information society, enabling national capability in
ICT research and development, and capacity
building.
This chapter therefore assesses these parameters in the context of how Botswana, through its
e-Government projects, is attempting to achieve
them.
242
In addition to the global WSIS principles, Botswana also subscribes to other international,
regional, and national ICT frameworks that anchor
the countrys drive towards the information society. These include, among others, the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs); New Economic
Partnership for Africas Development (NEAPAD)
ICT Framework; African Regional Action Plan on
the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE); the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Regional Indicative Strategic Development
Plan (RISDP); SADC ICT Declaration; SADC
Protocol on Transport, Communications, and
Meteorology; and the 1996 African Information
Society Initiatives (AISI) An Action Framework
to Build Africas Information and Communication
Infrastructure.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
that provides the broad human development goals covering targets that are designed to improve human living conditions
by 2015. The MDGs were agreed upon by
world leaders at a United Nations conference held in 2000 (UK Mission to The
United Nations, 2011). They cover eight
broad areas that are critical to human development including education; health (including reduction of child mortality and
improving maternal health); gender equality; HIV/AIDS; the environment; eradication of extreme poverty and developing a global partnership for development.
Application of ICTs was seen to be critical
in the realization of these goals and therefore signify some move towards realisation
of the information society;
New Economic Partnership for Africas
Development (NEAPAD) ICT Framework
is the African Unions ICT strategy designed to mobilize resources from both
public and private sources for the development of infrastructure for harnessing the
potential of ICTs towards Africas development efforts (UNECA, 2001);
African Regional Action Plan on the
Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE) is a
joint initiative of the African Union and
UNECA to put in place an African multistakeholder strategy for the implementation of the resolutions of the WSIS held in
Tunisia in 2005 (African Union/UNECA,
2005). Its goal is to prepare Africas ICT
infrastructure to facilitate the continents
participation in the global digital economy;
Southern
African
Development
Community (SADC) Regional Indicative
Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). A
15-year strategy for accelerating the integration of various sectors of the Southern
African Development Community. The
strategy includes the deployment of ICTs
as tools for achieving accelerated regional
integration process within the SADC region (SADC, 2008);
SADC ICT Declaration. A regional strategy for ICT development and application to
enhance regional integration. It addresses
issues of the regulatory environment for
ICT, infrastructure for ICT development,
community participation and governance
in ICT development, ICT in business development, and human resource capacity
for ICT development (Unuth, 2007);
SADC
Protocol
on
Transport,
Communications, and Meteorology. The
protocol seeks, among other things, to
develop national telecommunications
networks that allow for the provision of
reliable, effective, and affordable telecommunications service; provide high quality
and efficient services; and achieve regional
universal service [and] enhance interconnectivity in the region and globally
(Unuth, 2007), and;
The 1996 African Information Society

Initiatives (AISI) An Action Framework
to Build Africas Information and
Communication Infrastructure. The framework called for countries on the African
continent to put in place, by 2010, mechanisms to anchor the development and
growth of an information society including institutional frameworks; legal and
regulatory frameworks; the requisite ICT
human resources to drive the information
society; community-based, appropriate,
and relevant content in the infostructures;
and investment in the development of appropriate ICT infrastructures (AISI, 1996).
The goals of all these international and regional frameworks and initiatives are unanimous
in desiring to create an enabling environment for
attaining the goals of an inclusive global information society.
Botswanas National
Development Plan 2010-2016
The need to evaluate Botswanas progress towards the information society also emanates
from Chapter 8 of Botswanas 10th National
Development Plan (NDP 10) entitled Information Society(Government of Botswana, NDP 10,
2009). The chapter notes that Botswanas desire
for an information society is tied to the ideals
of the Long Term Vision for Botswana: Vision
2016, Towards Prosperity for All, which states
that Botswana will have entered the information
age on an equal footing with other nationsand
will have sought and acquired the best available
information technology, and have become a regional leader in the production and dissemination
of information (Government of Botswana, 1997,
p. 5). As a consequence, Vision 2016 has identified the importance of information, developing
of efficient information systems and networks to
support research, education, development, and
243
communication with the rest of world (Government of Botswana, NDP 10, 2009). NDP 10
further observes that Botswana must therefore
take immediate and decisive action to build its
ICT sector capabilities to position itself also as an
effective international player in the global market
placeNational Development Plan 10 needs to
harness ICT in order to fast track delivery ofa
globally competitive knowledge and information
society in order to achieve Vision 2016.
It was as result of the desire to attain the information society that the government in 2002
established the Ministry of Communications,
Science and Technology, to ensure that information about all aspects of the economy, such
as education, health, environment, and business,
will be available through the different information
dissemination channels, which include telecommunication, electronic, and print media (Government of Botswana, NDP 10, 2009).
FINDINGS
In view of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and
the Plan of Action and An Action Framework to
Build Africas Information and Communication
Infrastructure of the AISI, other international
and regional frameworks, and Botswanas own
national development goals, particularly those espoused by NDP 10, how has Botswana performed
in line with the global and African information
society benchmarks? In other words, to what extent
has Botswana achieved the information society
through its e-Government project initiatives? In
the sections that follow, Botswanas performance
in each of the 11 WSIS Declaration of Principles
and targets of the Plan of Action, together with
the goals of the other international and regional
frameworks, is evaluated.
244
Principle 1: Cooperation
among Stakeholders
The development of clear-cut roles and responsibilities among the various stakeholders, including
the government, the private sector, civil society
organisations, regional and international organisations, and other stakeholders is essential towards
building an effective information society.
The Government of Botswana has been cooperating with stakeholders at the national, regional,
and international levels, although the depth of
these cooperative activities varies from one set
of stakeholders to the other. At the regional and
international levels, the Government of Botswana
is a participant in various ICT initiatives through
a number of frameworks to which the country is a
signatory such as the WSIS, ITU, SADC, NEPAD,
etc. At the national level, some consultations have
taken place for example during the formulation
of the national ICT policy, and in particular, the
formulation of the Botswana e-Government national strategy involved consultations with over
1,000 individuals and organizations (Government
of Botswana, 2011).
Principle 2: Information and

Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Investment in ICTs is core to the achievement
of the information society. Government alone
cannot sustain the required levels of investments
in the ICT sector. Hence, it is pertinent that the
private sector should also play some lead role
in the investment on ICTs. Where the roles and
responsibilities are clear and the proper environment has been set for their effectuation, investment
in ICTs by government and the private sector or
through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) will
be easy to come by. It should be noted that the
investment by Government in the acquisition of
ICT has been rising since NDP 7. For instance,
Pula 19 million (US$ 3.5 million) was allocated
for ICT during NDP7 (1992 to 1997). This invest-
ment rose to Pula 487 million (US$ 88.5 million)

in NDP8 (1997 to 2003) and to Pula 602 million
during NDP9 (2003 to 2009) (DLIS, 2010). Many
projects have been lined up for completion during
NDP 10, all of which are intended to improve ICT
access and use. For instance, all the ministries will,
during the duration of NDP 10 (i.e. 2010-2016),
embark on computerisation projects which are
meant to improve service delivery (Government
of Botswana, 2010).
Below is a summary of some of the major ICT
infrastructural programmes that the government
of Botswana has undertaken or are planned for
implementation before 2016. The major ones are
the construction of community access centres,
e-Government (government online) initiative,
Nteletsa II (Rural Telecommunications Strategy), the universal access fund; the SchoolNet;
Botswana Innovation Hub; e-Health initiatives;
and Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) business
centres. A short description of the status of each
of these projects is presented below.
Connecting Communities
(Community Access Centres)
The aim of the Community Access Centres (CACs)
is to provide residents of rural areas with affordable access to ICTs. These public access venues
should facilitate access to online information (local
and community information services, health, jobs
and link to other types of information generally).
Under this project, Kitsong (knowledge) Centres and the Sesigo e-Public libraries are being
implemented to provide access to technology for
various communities. Kitsong centres, which are
operated by the BotswanaPost (a postal parastatal
body), offer a range of services - among them,
government information, health and job-related
information, and business technology services
such as photocopying, faxing and production of
business cards. To-date, 69 of the 192 CACs proposed for the entire country have been completed
(ITU, 2010; Mpete, 2010).
The Sesigo e-Public libraries project is a collaborative effort between African Comprehensive
HIV AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP), the Ministry
of Sports, Youth and Culture, and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation).
The primary objective of Sesigo e-Public Libraries Project is to transform Botswana into an
information and knowledge society as envisioned
in Vision 2016 and National Development Plan
(NDP) 10. To this end, the project aims to equip
78 libraries and Village Reading Rooms (VRRs)
with 430 computers with Internet access, train
70,000 users in basic computer literacy by June
2013. As of 2010, 18 public libraries had been
equipped with computers and 4000 members of
the public had received basic computer literacy
training (Mooketsi, 2010; ACHAP, 2010).
Universal Access Service Fund (UASF)

The Government of Botswana has drafted a Universal Access Service Fund (UASF) Policy. The
goal of the UASF is to ensure that all Batswana
do enjoy access to essential communications services, increasing household telephone penetration,
as well as progressive access to a wide array of
additional and more advanced communications
and information services (BTA, 2010, p. 11).
However, the policy is yet to be approved by
Parliament. The Botswana Telecommunications
Authority (BTA) is currently servicing this fund.
As of 2010 the fund stood at about P20 million
(US$ 3.5 million) being primarily seed money
provided by the BTA (BTA, 2010a, 2010b) to
subsidize the provision communications facilities and services to vulnerable communities in
remote areas. When the policy is approved and
implemented all communications services providers (including those in the private sector) in the
country shall be required to contribute to the fund.
245
Nteletsa II Project
Nteletsa is a Setswana word meaning call me.
Under the Nteletsa II Project the government
aims to provide access to technology (voice,
data, Internet, and desktop publishing) to 197
villages through telecentres/community centres
by April 2011. As of 2010, the project was being
completed in the last 35 villages. The project
aims at setting up ICT infrastructure in villages
in Botswana in order to bridge the technology
gap between rural and urban areas. The project
is expected to improve Internet access and also
access to mobile communication to facilitate
socio-economic activities within the communities
(Radijieng, 2009). By the end of the Nteletsa II
project, every village in Botswana is expected
to have a telecentre where the public can access
Internet facilities and other telecommunication
services. Nteletsa I, the predecessor of Nteletsa II,
was aimed at extending telecommunication connectivity and services only to a limited number of
villages. Nteletsa II therefore builds on Nteletsa
I and expands the geographic coverage of rural
telecommunications connectivity by government,
through the Ministry of Communication, Science,
and Technology.
Rural Electrification
The availability of adequate and reliable power is a
pre-requisite for effective adoption and expansion
of ICTs. The Botswana Governments National
Development Plan 9 (2003-2009) targeted the
electrification of 105 villages between 2003/04
and 2008/09. This electrification plan is being addressed by implementing two major electrification
projects: the first project carried out in 2008, 30%
of the villages were completed, with the balance
being scheduled for the period to September
2010. In the second project, Government funded
the electrification of 30 villages to an amount of
P115 million (US$ 23 Million). In addition to
the electrification of the villages, Government
246
is also financing network extensions on existing

infrastructure in 20 already electrified villages to
an amount of P75 million (US$ 15 million) (BPC,
2008). Moreover, the Corporation has invested in
both urban and rural areas towards the installation of new distribution network capacity and the
reinforcement of existing networks. Provision of
electricity to rural areas is part of Governments
initiative to promote rural development to alleviate
poverty and improve the quality of life in those
communities. The Botswana Power Corporation
is involved in providing cost effective electricity
through Photovoltaic (PV) systems to the rural
populace that is not yet connected to the national
grid. The projects products and services include
Solar Electric Systems, rechargeable lanterns,
recharging stations for lanterns and batteries, efficient cooking appliances, mini grids, solar water
heaters, as well as the installation and maintenance
of photovoltaic facilities for Government institutions and large enterprises in rural areas (BPC,
2008). More recently, the government introduced
the National Electricity Standard Connection
Fund (NESC) to enable Batswana to connect the
electricity grid at a standard price of Pula 5000
(US$ 761.00).
International Connectivity Projects

The Government of Botswana is actively engaged
in a number of international connectivity initiatives
to afford communities cheaper access to telecommunications and other public access technologies.
The major projects include an investment of P500
million (US$ 75 million) to install fibre optic
cables that will link the country to the undersea
West African Cable Systems (WACS). This will
be done in conjunction with Namibia and regional
telecommunications companies (Zain [now called
Airtel], MTN, Noetel, and Vodacom) (Mediaclubsouthafrica.com, 2011; Mmegi, 2009). It is
expected that once completed, this investment will
afford Botswana a secure, reliable, and cheaper
bandwidth. The WACS will link London with
Africa. Moreover, the Botswana government, in

partnership with other countries in the sub-region,
is also investing in the US$210 million Eastern
Africa Sub-Marine Cable Systems (EASSy)
(Mediaclubsouthafrica.com, 2011; Mmegi, 2009).
EASSy, which is 90% owned by African countries,
is laying an undersea fibre optic cable along the
Africas eastern seaboard. The EASSy project,
which was completed in 2010 and went live in the
same year, has already resulted in reduced costs
of broadband transmissions. For example, it has
been reported that in Botswana, ADSL charges
were expected to drop by 17% (Mediaclubsouthafrica.com, 2011). The project was also expected
to substantially improve bandwidth not only in
Botswana, but in the region.
E-Government (Government Online)

The e-Government project is a part of the reforms
intended to enhance service delivery within the
public sector through improved government
processes and citizens interactions. This project,
which has been running since 2008, has two phases
namely, the development of the e-Government
portal to provide an electronic platform and the
e-Information services. To date, the government
web portal with information and e-Services is
being developed. The portal is being designed to
be customer focused, making the organizational
structure of government more transparent to citizens and business. It is anticipated that when the
project is completed it will extend the reach of
government and will provide everyone with access
to information and services, from virtually any
location and at anytime (Ministry of Communication Science and Technology, 2007). In addition,
all government services that are appropriate for
on-line delivery will be available over the Internet. Already drivers licenses are accessible at all
government Road Transport Offices and Depots
across the country. The Ministry of Agriculture has
developed a Livestock Identification and TraceBack System to maintain a record of all the cattle
in the country and tracks the exposure level of each

animal to contagious diseases. The system uses
data from other government departments like the
National citizen identification system for identifying cattle owners (IST Africa, 2007; Kalusopa,
2009). The complementary activities such as the
ongoing amendments of the relevant enabling
legislation under the auspices of the e-Legislation
framework, work processes re-engineering, etc,
are still ongoing. It is expected that once these
supporting activities are completed they will go
a long way towards enhancing the realisation
of the e-Government project. Botswanas draft
national e-Government strategy, 2011-2016, provides a comprehensive roadmap for the countrys
e-Government goals (Government of Botswana,
2011). The current status of e-Government projects
is given below.
Status of e-Government Projects

As stated above, the e-Government project in Botswana has been running since 2008 with a focus
on integrating the administration of government
procedures for efficient service delivery. The key
activities have revolved around the development
of a portal wherein government agencies are currently uploading information on the services they
offer. The portal has now been established and the
project is getting feedback from stakeholders. It
also offers limited access to Information services
such as downloadable forms (applications for
drivers licenses, Omang [National identity cards],
etc.) (Chadna, 2010). Unfortunately, the portal
does not yet allow for the completion of these
forms online.
It is also important to mention that all government Ministries and agencies have very active
websites, which are updated regularly. Most of
these sites offer services such as a Question and
Answer forum; contact details for key personnel
and information on relevant data of interest to
citizens and forms for accessing services they
offer. The next stage will entail the development
247
of an interactive service which would allow for

e-Citizen and e-Services to minimize travel to
service centres (Government of Botswana, 2010).
Equally noteworthy are two other initiatives,
the development of both the e-Government
master plan and the e-Government strategy.
The strategy, in particular, is desirous, as it will
guide collaborations between the e-Government
project and other e-Projects. Government sees
the potential of the e-Projects as vehicles through
which e-Government services could be delivered
to the grass roots such as: the Nteletsa I and II
(both designed to connect villages to modern
telecommunications infrastructure and services);
the Sesigo e-Public libraries project; and Kitsong
Centres. The Government has an opportunity to
exploit the high-level cell-phone ownership rate in
the country (estimated at 57% of the population)
as a vehicle to deliver e-Government services.
Besides these initiatives, the e-Government Office is working towards acquiring appropriate
enterprise architecture to facilitate the integration
of all government systems that form the primary
back-end support for the portal.
SchoolNet (ThutoNet)
The ThutoNet programme is an expansive project
that incorporates the Schools Connectivity Initiative, to link all secondary schools to the Internet
and reduce the digital divide between students
in urban and rural areas. In order to achieve this
goal, the project refurbishes used computers and
redistributes them to secondary schools in various parts of the country. Once fully implemented,
this project will be aligned with the nations
e-Learning strategy. As of 2010, 104 secondary
schools throughout the country had access to the
Internet and the program is being rolled out to
other secondary schools. All secondary schools in
Botswana have computer laboratories comprising
about 15-20 computers. A similar initiative will be
rolled out to primary schools through a program
of refurbishing computers retired from govern-
248
ment departments with appropriate programs for

primary schools (IST Africa, 2011).
Botswana Innovation Hub

The Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) is responsible for stimulating start-ups in science
and technology innovations and providing an
enabling environment for investors. Through the
Hub, technology-driven and knowledge intensive
industry, researchers, higher education, and the
ICT industry are provided a forum to interact
together to foster innovation and new business.
The success of these projects depends on good
infrastructure. The innovation hub has proposed
sectors through which businesses, research and
training could be explored. These areas include
ICT, Bio-Technology, Energy, and Mineral
Technology, where Botswana is believed to have
comparative advantage. (Technopolis Plc, 2008;
IST Africa, 2011). The infrastructure for the BIH
is currently under construction and is to be completed by the end of 2011. The revised Science
and Technology Research Policy, which is at the
draft stage, is another key development that will
likely impact positively on the activities of the
innovation hub.
I-Partnership
The Government of Botswana initiated a project
dubbed, a computer for me, to allow civil servants to obtain a zero interest loan to purchase a
computer and appropriate accessories as well as
connectivity to the Internet (IST Africa, 2007).
This is a public-private partnership spearheaded
by the Ministry of Transport and Communications
(MTC) with the support of Microsoft Corporation.
This project is currently under review (IST-Africa,
2011; MTC, 2010).
E-Health Initiatives
A number of projects have been implemented
to enhance the delivery of patient care and key
among these are (IST Africa, 2011):

The District Health Information System

(DHIS) a district health information
management system designed to provide aggregated health information from
health districts from both central and local
governments.
Health Professionals Registration System
(HPRS), which maintains a database of all
health practitioners and professionals in
the country.
Integrated Patient Management System
(IPMS), a patient information management system which currently is available
at 4 hospital sites in the country (Princess
Marina, Nyangabwe, Sekgoma memorial,
and Letsolathebe) and associated satellite

clinics.
Telehealth, the telemedicine infrastructure, through a bilateral partnership with the Government of India is in
place at Nyangabwe referral hospital in
Francistown.
Other ongoing ICT4D related infrastructural

projects are summarized in Table 1.
When all these projects are fully implemented,
they will go a long way towards facilitating access
to government services by both citizens and business organizations.
Role of the Private Sector in ICTs

Infrastructure Development
In Botswana, the private sector has been playing
a key role in extending the ICT infrastructure that
has resulted in improved information services to
the people. The private sector provides services to
Table1. ICT infrastructural projects

Authority
Ministry of Sport, Youth and Culture
Project
National Archives and Records Management systems (NARMS) (to be completed in 2011)
Library Management System (computerising library operations) (to be completed in 2011)
Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
Births and Dates Registration System (BDRS)

National Identification System
e-Passport System (issuance of passports and travel documents)(under implementation).
Ministry of Transport and Communications
Vehicle registration and licensing (VRLS)
Ministry of Agriculture
Livestock verification and Trace-back system
Administration of Justice
Computerised case Management System
Fleet Tracking, maintenance and Management System (FLMMS)
Digitalisation of Botswana Laws

Ministry of Finance
Government Accounting and Budget Systems

Automated Systems for Customs Data (Asycuda)
Ministry of Land and Housing
Stateland Information Management System

Tribal Land Information Management System
Local Enterprises Authority (LEA)
Operates 13 business centres each with a resource centre that offers public access to technology
(Internet, photocopying services, etc)
Source: Field data
249
both government and the general public through

consultancy and advisory services (where they sit
on various government task forces on ICTs, and
conduct studies and other consultancy services on
government projects). The private sector is also
the major supplier of ICT hardware and software
to government and the general public. It also
services and maintains hardware and software
through repairs to both the government and the
general public.
Following the liberalization of the telecommunications sector, private sector investments have
seen the establishment of privately owned radio
and television broadcasting services. Currently
there are two privately owned television stations
in the country (E-Botswana and Multi-Choice
Digital Satellite Television [DSTV]). There are
also three privately owned community radio stations (Yarona FM, Duma FM, Gabz FM).
The private sector has also been a significant
player in the development and provision of wireless communications services. The two privately
owned mobile telephone services providers, Orange and MASCOM have established extensive
telecommunications infrastructure that covers the
whole country. This has extended cellular telephony services to most parts of the country. The
private sector is also working in partnership with
government to extend communications facilities in
rural areas that are not commercially viable. For
instance, MASCOM has been awarded contracts to
extend communications services to villages under
the Nteletsa II project (Mosinyi, 2008).
The private sector is also involved in the development of electricity generation capacity in
the country through setting up of private power
generation companies. For instance, Debswana
has built a diesel powered 90MW power plant
and there are plans to construct coal fired power
plants at Mamabula and Mamantswe villages of
Botswana. The participation of the private sector
in the generation and distribution of electricity will
go a long way in ensuring a stable and affordable
power to the communications sector in the country.
250
With regards to human resources development

for the ICT sector, the private sector participates
in various ways in terms of education and training
as well as being an employer of ICT graduates.
Private sector organizations provide various types
of training activities including offering internships
where ICT trainees from both the public and the
private institutions are given on job practical
training; private sector employers offer on-thejob training to their newly employed workers;
they also offer formal training at tertiary level
via privately owned training institutions (colleges
and universities).
Principle 3: Access to
Information and Knowledge
Access to information and knowledge, as espoused
by the WSIS Action Plan, is that the ICTs, which
governments invest in should provide the populace
with access to information wherever they may
be. The government of Botswana has initiated
programmes and projects, which are intended
to ultimately enable equitable and universal access to information. To this end, the government
has developed a web portal, which will provide
information and e-Services with the intention
of it going live in the first quarter of 2011. It is
expected that the portal will extend the reach of
government and provide everyone with access
to information and services from any location
in the country (Government of Botswana, 2007,
2011). The government hopes that once the portal is operational, there would be adequate local
content that would lead to improved community
access. Access to information and the resultant
knowledge that would be built from it, through
the facilitation of the portal has the proclivity of
creating an effective e-Citizenship for the country.
However, access to the Internet and web-based
information is also dependent on the bandwidth.
Studies have shown that bandwidth is generally
low in Botswana. For instance, Mutula (2006)
observed that network quality problems gener-
ally resulted from low bandwidth. Issues of

bandwidth have not changed much as of 2010. A
study to assess ICT public access venues by the
Department of Library and Information Studies
of the University of Botswana (DLIS, 2010) for
the Sesigo e-Public Libraries project revealed that
citizens of Botswana wanted greater network
access. As mentioned earlier, the government
of Botswana, in partnership with other countries
has invested both in WACS and EASSy to address the problem of low bandwidth. Even with
the investments in ICTs that have taken place in
the last decade a lot more needs to be done as the
bandwidth remains one of the major bottlenecks,
where radio and television reception is still poor
in remote parts of the country.
Another factor affecting access to information
is the low ownership of computers by individual
members of communities. It is estimated that only
4% of the population of Botswana own a computer.
The study for the Sesigo e-Public Libraries Project
cited above (DLIS 2010) also revealed that public
servants, especially librarians, were among the
many that did not own computers. This is despite
the fact that the government of Botswana had initiated the i-Partnership Scheme, which was meant
to enable public servants to acquire computers
through an interest-free credit line and to have
them connected to the Internet.
Communications tariffs and the cost of ICT
equipment are still very high in Botswana and are
in themselves impediments to access to information. ICTs in Botswana are generally highly priced
compared to those of neighbouring countries
such as South Africa. This could be attributed to
a lack of a local IT manufacturing capacity and
the high taxation on computers and telecommunications products and services. In 2010, the
government increased tariff charges for Valued
Added Tax (VAT) to 12% from 10% on various
imported items including ICTs. The 12% VAT is
in addition to other tariffs such as customs duty
that imported goods attract. The cost of computers has gone beyond the buying reach of most
ordinary people and this means that the majority

of citizens and small business enterprises cannot
afford them. For example, a study conducted
in 2010 by the Botswana Telecommunication
Authority (BTA), that was designed to develop a
cost model and pricing framework, revealed that
mobile telephony subscribers are over-charged
by service providers by as much as 60% (Echo,
2011). This was obviously one of the barriers to
citizen access to information and knowledge in
Botswana. The BTA, following this study, issued
a directive to the cellular technology operators
namely be-Mobile, Orange, and Mascom to have
reduced their tariffs by end of April 2011 (Kavahematui & Konopo, 2011).
It should be noted that effective access to information and knowledge by the citizenry is greatly
enhanced when supported by access-friendly
policies and legislation. One such legislation that
ensures improved access to information is Freedom of Information (FOI) law, which the country
is yet to promulgate. The absence of such a law
poses challenges for citizens to access government
related information with ease.
Principle 4: Acquisition
of Basic ICT Skills
Effective uptake of ICTs can only take place
when the general population has acquired the
basic skills through which they can gain access
to ICTs, manipulate them, and being able to access the information they provide. It is important
therefore that whilst investment is made in the
acquisition of ICT infrastructure, similar investment ought to be made towards ensuring that
citizens will be able to harness and manipulate
the information provided. This is made possible
through investments made in training citizens to
acquire basic ICT skills. ICT training in Botswana
is done through various avenues such as:

the formal education systems (i.e. primary, secondary, and tertiary education
251
levels). Through the formal education system, schools as discussed under ThutoNet
above, the government of Botswana has
undertaken to provide primary schools
with reconditioned computers, which
would have been boarded from the public
service system. Through these computers,
primary school going children learn basic
computing such that when they reach secondary school they are able to benefit from
a government programme, which provides
Internet to these schools. ICT training programmes in schools will ensure that the
current and future graduates of the school
system are ICT literate (see under Thuto
Net above). In addition the children from
the school systems can pass on their ICT
skills to their parents and siblings at home;
the formal employment sector. In the employment sector, employees are continually trained and retrained in ICT related
skills and competencies so as to enable
their employers remain competitive, and;
partnerships with civil society and community based organizations.
At the grassroots levels the Government of

Botswana has entered into partnerships with two
philanthropist organizations that seek to improve
provision of library services to grass root communities. One of the organizations is the Rothschild
Foundation, which seeks to build two modern
community libraries per year for 10 years in villages as a way of facilitating community access
to information. All these community libraries
have modern amenities including computers that
are connected to the Internet. The other partner
organization is the Melinda and Bill Gates-funded
ACHAP Global Libraries Project, which seeks,
through the Sesigo e-Public Libraries Project, to
install modern ICTs with Internet Connectivity
in all public libraries throughout the country.
The Sesigo Project also trains communities in
the use of ICTs, especially the use of computers
252
and access to the Internet. The Sesigo Project

has also gone all out to train library personnel in
basic and advanced ICT skills to enable them to
continuously impart what they would have learnt
to members of the communities that they serve.
The other community-based ICT training
initiative is that of the Department of Out of
School Education and Training (DOSET), which
uses public libraries for its literacy programmes
for out of school learners. Its literacy training
room, within the library, is also equipped with
ICTs with Internet connectivity which learners
are free to use. When members of the communities acquire these skills, they are likely to pass
them on to their peers, or act on behalf of those
without the ICT skills in accessing information.
Another training opportunity is availed through
Hole-in-the Wall Education and Learning (HiWel)
initiative, a project established by the Botswana
Training Authority (BOTA) in partnership with
the German Development Corporation (GTZ), the
Construction Industry Training Fund (CITF), and
Botho College (NIIT).
According the African Regional Action Plan on
the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE) (ARAPKE,
2005) the civil society should be considered as a
strategic partner in the planning, designing, and
implementation of ICT projects in Africa because
they are close to community needs and hence
crucial to promoting a sustainable people and
African-centric development. It further observes
that (ARAPKE, 2005, p. 5):
...civil society participation to the information
society is crucial for promotion of sustainable and
balanced development, human development that
is equitable; sustainable; holistic; inclusive of all
sectors of society; gender responsive; participatory; people centered; and Afro-centric. It can
influence policy and ensure that strategies and
plans enable the development and the formation
of an Information Society based on social justice
and human development.
The civil society groups in Botswana have thus

far not been very involved in the deployment of
ICTs in their activities. Various reasons may be
advanced for the limited use of ICTs in civil society
organisations such as limited human capacity, lack
of access to resources, lack of awareness about
the potential of ICTs, inability to cope with rapid
changes in the technology landscape, etc. They,
however, remain a platform to be exploited in
expanding ICTs to communities.
But by and large, the majority of the citizens
in Botswana have no access to ICT training. The
end result is that ICTs, particularly, the computing
and the Internet is largely the preserve of recent
graduates from the formal education sector and
those in formal employment. Such a condition
is not ideal for attaining universal e-Citizenship.
Principle 5: Secure Technologies

Secure technologies create confidence and trust
on the usage of ICTs and the information they
create and disseminate. Generating trust in the
use of the technologies and the information they
hold is arduous and involves government, the
private sector, non-governmental organisations
and the citizens who are to reap benefits from
them. As the WSIS Action Plan advises: governments and other stakeholders should create a
framework within which they will work together
to develop and implement guidelines that are
intended to curb misuse of the technologies as
well as ensuring there is integrity of the systems
deployed. This can be assured through putting
in place relevant laws, regulations and policies.
Although the Government of Botswana has set
the first quarter of 2011 as the expected launch
of its e-Portal, most of the requisite legislations
for the electronic environment are not yet in place
save for the Cybercrime and Computer Related
Crimes Act 22 of 2007. Government needs to put
in place relevant legislation such are e-Signatures,
freedom of information, e-Documents, etc., which
will create an environment in which citizens will
build trust and confidence in the use of the technologies more especially the portal.
Principle 6: Develop, Implement, and

Monitor Appropriate Policies, Laws,
and Other Regulatory Frameworks
Public policy, regulatory and legislative framework could help or hinder the development of a
mature networked economy. A favourable climate
created by an appropriate legislative and regulatory regime is needed to encourage communities,
organizations, and individuals to invest in and use
ICTs. Important areas, such as Internet availability, the use of ICTs in schools, and the growth of
e-Commerce, are all influenced by public policy,
regulatory, and the legal framework. Moreover,
citizens must be able to trust the electronic environment because issues of transactional security,
privacy, and data integrity have been addressed.
The potential for fraud and cross-border transmission of objectionable content, as well as
new criminal behaviour must be addressed and
enforcement arrangements established. To this
end, since 1990s, the Government of Botswana
has put in place some policy, regulatory and legislative initiatives that anchor the drive towards
e-Citizenship in the country. Some of the major
policy initiatives are:

The move towards liberalization of the

telecommunications and broadcasting sectors (initiated in the 1990s) which has seen
the introduction of the private sector telecommunications service providers, radio,
and television operators;
Enforcement of liberalization policies
through passage of relevant legislation for telecommunications (Botswana
Telecommunications Corporation [BTC]
Act of 1980, revised in 1996, and the
Telecommunications Acts of 1996, revised in 1999 and 2004) and broadcasting
(Botswana Broadcasting Act of 1999, re-
253
vised in 2001). These pieces of legislation

have made it possible for private operators
to enter the communications sector which
had hitherto been the preserve of government, and;
In 2007, the Government of Botswana
launched its national ICT policy document
(Maitlamo). This policy document embeds
ICTs into all the sectors of the national
development agenda. It lays the foundation on which legislation and other sector
specific policies necessary for effective eCitizenship will be built.
However, a lot more needs to be done in the area

of policy and legislation to entrench e-Citizenship.
For instance, sector specific policies and attendant
legislation need to be put in place to anchor such
areas as such emerging technologies, e-Commerce,
e-Banking, e-Signatures, e-Fraud, etc to engender
trust among e-Citizens in the emerging networked
environment. In addition, effective media operation has been hampered by the enactment of the
Media Practitioners Act (2008) which seeks to
regulate the media.
Principle 7: Consultative Approach

to Technology Adoption, Information
Audit, and Needs Assessment
Adoption of technology to drive the information
society should be predicated on the needs of all
communities in the country. This can be best
achieved when implementation of ICT4D projects are preceded by needs assessment studies of
the communities that are to be the beneficiaries
of such technologies. Botswanas ICT4D and
associated e-Projects drive has largely been not
informed by a comprehensive information audit
nor a needs assessment survey that involved
broad stakeholder consultations. It is through such
studies, that the government will learn about the
types of information it holds, where it is held, the
form it is in, its level, and complexity of access.
254
In addition, government through the information needs assessment study will understand the
information needed by the various strata of communities. Quintessentially, the studies will assist
the government to ensure that ICTs that are being
invested touch on all aspects of the populace in the
country. Other than this, the studies will enable
government to appreciate and be in a position to
protect and promote cultural diversity of the people
of Botswana in all in its e-Projects and e-Services.
Principle 8: Cultural Diversity,

Language, and Local Content Issues
As noted under Principle 7 above, lack of information audits and needs assessment studies
anchoring ICT4D activities cannot ensure that
issues of cultural diversity, language and content
are addressed. The end result of this is that what
may be put in place may just be addressing the
needs of sections of society and the exclusion of
others. An analysis of the Botswana environment
shows that local content remains a challenge to
the countrys drive towards e-Citizenship as ICT
access is not enabled through local languages
such as developing spell checkers, keyboards,
and translating computer software in vernacular.
Besides, there is limited websites with the bw
domainsBotswanas domain name pre-fix. This
makes Internet access meaningless to the majority
of citizens who prefer to access information in
local languages. In addition, the Botswana ICT
industry is dominated by foreign companies with
limited local content in this area. For example,
there is hardly any locally assembled hardware
or developed software. Hardware and software
needs are met largely through imports, typically
from South Africa, Europe and the United States.
The lack of locally generated content implies
that the ICT sector in Botswana relies on foreign
products and lacks the capacity to innovate and
export in order to generate employment and foreign exchange needed to plough back into socioeconomic development projects. Such foreign
technology platforms and contents are difficult

to embed in society.
Principle 9: Effective
Role of the Media
The media, as the Fourth Estate in its different
forms, has been known to play a central role in
effecting Freedom of Expression as a human right
as espoused by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (United Nations, 1966) and Section 12
of the Constitution of Botswana (Government
of Botswana, 1966). WSIS sees this role as an
important element towards building an effectual
information societyculminating in e-Citizenship.
As NDP 10, (p.152) observes, the media:
is at the heart of global knowledge dissemination.
The instruments of modern communication have
grown in their importance to facilitate wealth creation through innovation and knowledge sharing.
Well developed media will facilitate Botswanas
participation in the global trade in knowledgebased products and services.
This role of the media can only be achieved
where the media, both government and private
owned, are free to research and to disseminate
information without fear of reprisals. The passage of the Media Practitioners Act (2008) by the
Government of Botswana has not been welcomed
by some sections of society because it is seen as
impeding reporting by the media (Ditshwanelo,
2008). This does not augur well for an effective
information society as over-control of the media,
could compromise dissemination of information
to the broader populace.
Principle 10: Moral and

Ethical Issues to Control
Abuse of Technology
Any move towards an information society should
be guided by the principle of doing what is right and
knowledge of what is wrong to ensure that there
is no abuse of the technology and/or the information it peddles. To this end, ethics should guide
the use and management of the technology. Moral
and ethical issues have been little researched, let
alone thought of in Botswanas move towards the
information society and the attendant e-Projects.
Lack of ethical considerations is not only unique to
Botswana, but permeates the Africa ICT landscape
(Capurro, 2007; Sembok, 2003).
However, pioneering work towards embracing
ethics in an ICT environment in Africa has been
initiated by academics in Africa. Groundwork
towards this was made through an Information
Ethics conference hosted by the University of
Botswana, Department of Library and Information
Studies in 2010. The conference explored among
other things, moral and ethical challenges and
opportunities brought about by the use of ICTs
(Michaelzimmer.org, 2010). Botswana, in line
with the recommendations of the WSIS Plan of
Action, should engage with the academia to study
and ascertain moral and ethical issues, which affect
or could affect the use of ICT and its e-Services
platforms now and in the future.
Principle 11: Local, Regional,

and International Collaboration
and Cooperation
Effective deployment of ICTs should take into
consideration connecting citizens within the
country and with other nations at regional and
international levels. This can only be done where
mechanisms for collaboration and cooperation at
all these levels exist. To this end, the Government
of Botswana has established collaboration and
cooperation networks both at the regional and
255
international levels. Botswana is a signatory of

various regional, sub-regional, and international
protocols and initiatives on ICTs as elaborated
under the section on Framework of Analysis
for E-Citizenship in Botswana. For instance,
Botswana is signatory to the Declaration of Millennium Development Goals; the WSIS Forum;
the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africas (UNECA) AISI; AUs New Economic
Partnership for Africas Development (NEAPAD)
ICT Framework; SADC Protocol on Transport,
Communications and Meteorology; ARAPKE
and the SADC IT Declaration. In addition, the
Government of Botswana has been working with
other countries in the sub-region on infrastructure
development projects that are designed to link
the country with its neighbours as well as the
international community.

This study has presented a macro overview of
the state of ICT development as a platform for
e-Government proliferation in Botswana. Additional studies need to focus on the state of ICT
uptake at the micro-levels to address some of the
following questions: what are levels of ICT uptake
in Botswana? What are the baseline indicators
to measure success or failure in ICT projects?
What is the level of citizens awareness about
e-Government projects? What uses/services are
available for mobiles, especially simple phones
with voice only limitations? What are citizens using the mobile technologies for? What impacts are
e-Projects having on citizens in Botswana; which
citizens are benefitting from e-Projects, which ones
are, why and how? What is the demand side of eServices by citizens, to what extent these demands
being met? Developing monitoring mechanisms to
inform government and to put them on their feet,
particularly since governments have previously
been focusing largely on infrastructural develop-
256
ment: the future research questions should focus

on infrastructure for what?
CONCLUSION
In concluding this section, it is clear that the
government of Botswana has achieved the bare
minimum of all the WSIS Declaration of Principles
as well as putting into effect the Plan of Action.
It is also apparent that the foundation for attaining the targets prescribed in the Plan of Action is
also being laid. On top of this, the government
has also been laying the ground for realising the
Action Framework to Build Africas Information
and Communication Infrastructure of the African
Information Society Framework. Specifically, how
has Botswana, through its various e-Government
projects, fared in attaining the seven trajectory
areas for attaining the information society status
as defined by the WSIS? The concluding analysis
on these trajectories below reveals varying degrees
of attainment.
Connecting Villages with ICTs

and Establishing Access Points
Botswana is laying the basic foundation for realizing this trajectory through the Nteletsa I and
II projects that are aimed connecting all villages
to modern communications facilities. By April
2011 the basic communications infrastructure
for connecting most of the villages throughout
the country will have been completed. While
this is a commendable effort on the part of the
Government of Botswana, the issues of accessibility to the technology in terms of ownership
of the technology, cost of access and relevancy
of content are yet to be addressed. Although the
country has a reported mobile phone density of
105%, this is not a reflection that everyone owns
a cell phone in Botswana. It is largely due to some
subscribers having more than one phone SIM card.
A telecommunications industry study shows that
57% of the population actually owns a cell phone

and this figure was expected to rise to 61% by
2014 (BTA, 2010). And that the majority of those
who own phones are urban dwellers. In addition,
the teledensity of fixed line telephony remains at
8% (largely concentrated in urban areas). Further,
access to computing facilities, such as laptops and
desktop computers, is only 4% of the population.
The cost of ICTs and telecommunications tariffs including Internet and telephony (both fixed
line and mobile) are still high for the majority of
citizens, let alone for the rural poor. This means
that even if Botswana attains universal connectivity, issues of access in terms of affordability have
to be addressed.
Connecting Universities,
Colleges, Secondary Schools,
and Primary Schools with ICTs
Although the Government of Botswana has initiated projects that are designed to install ICTs
with Internet connectivity in institutions of higher
learning and the school systems, the current status
of these projects is that, at best, these efforts are
happening at the institutional level. Nationwide
interconnection of ICTs in the education sector
to have a meaningful leverage on the education
system in the country is yet to be realized. In
addition, issues of low bandwidth, which need
to be addressed before sharing and exchange of
information and knowledge resources among
institutions can take place, remains a challenge.
Further, these institutions have mounted their ICT
systems on different platforms, which may not
be compatible to allow sharing and exchange of
information and other resources. These and other
issues need to be addressed if the goal of linking
institutions in Botswanas education sector is to
be realized.
Connecting Scientific and

Research Centres with ICTs
Just like in the education sector above, connectivity
among scientific and research institutions has not
yet taken place. At best, connectivity is happening within institutions and not across institutions.
Issues of low bandwidth and incompatible ICT
platforms alluded to above also apply here.
Connecting Public Libraries,

Cultural Centres, Museums, Post
Offices, and Archives with ICTs
The foundation for connecting various cultural heritage institutions is taking place through
various initiatives such as the Bill and Melinda
Gates-supported Global Libraries Sesigo e-Public
Libraries project under the Botswana National
Library Service (BNLS), computerization of
records management functions in Archives and
Records Management in the public sector under
the Botswana National Archives and Records
Service (BNARS), and public access venues to
ICTs under Kitsong centres through the BotswanaPost. All these projects are at varying levels of
implementation. They are yet to serve as mass
access points for the majority of the citizens. In
addition, these systems are not yet interconnected.
The Sesigo e-Public libraries project is a donordriven project whose sustainability may be under
threat when donor funding comes to an end, as
ICT infrastructure requires continuous investment.
Connecting Health Centres

and Hospitals with ICTs
E-Health projects are being implemented. But
these systems are at the piloting phase as most
of the health institutions are not yet connected
to these systems. Some of the e-Health projects
were initiated with donor funding and have since
lost momentum when donor funding came to an
end. For instance, Botswanas District Health
257
Information System (DHIS) BEANISH (Building

Europe Africa collaborative Network for applying
IST in the Health) Project was initiated under the
European Union (EU) funding. There has been
very little activity in the project since EU funding
came to an end in 2008.
Connecting All Local and Central

Government Departments
Computerization projects are taking place across
all government ministries. These systems are
designed to be the backbone of delivering government e-Services to citizens. But these projects are
operating like isolated silos. Further, these systems
are not talking to each other as they are mounted
on different technology platforms. However, the
government is exploring mechanisms for putting
in place an enterprise ICT architecture to address
issues of integration. In addition, the content on
these systems is not for the general public but
for internal operations of the various government
wings. Very few of these systems are providing
a full range of e-Services. However, some partial e-Services can now be done for processing
applications for drivers licensing and passports
downloading of some forms for tax returns, sending money electronically through the post office.
But government systems are yet to be transformed
into government e-Services delivery platforms
for citizens.
Adapting All Primary and Secondary

School Curricula to meet Challenges
of the Information Society,
Enabling National Capability in
ICT Research and Development,
and Capacity Building
While efforts are being made to introduce ICTs in
schools as a strategy to transform Botswana into a
nation of e-Citizens, what is in place is too little to
have a meaningful impact on society. For instance,
not all the schools have computers to make cur-
258
riculum in ICT practical and viable. In addition,

in schools where computers have been installed,
the number of machines per capita is very low to
cater for all students. 20-25 computers, even for
a small school of 250 pupils, are inadequate to
have the desired effect. In addition, conditions of
service for teachers are not attractive enough to
lure ICT professionals to take a career in teaching at secondary, let alone primary school levels.
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E-Government: Provision of public services
using ICTs.
Kitsong: Public information access points
for Internet applications, computers, fax, and
telephone. Kitsong is a Setswana word meaning fountain of knowledge. Setswana is the main
indigenous language spoken in Botswana and
parts of South Africa.
Maitlamo: This is the brand name for the
national ICT policy of Botswana. Maitlamo
means commitment.
Nteletsa: Setswana word meaning call me
and signifies the governments commitment to
bring about universal access to telephones, computers and the Internet to all areas in Botswana.
Sesigo: Is an e-Public Libraries project under
the Botswana National Libraries (BNLS). It is a
Setswana word meaning storehouse.
Vision2016: A list of national development
priorities which are earmarked for implementation
in the framework of the Botswanas Long Term
Development Plan.
261
Section 2
Future Prospects for Sustainable

e-Government Adoption
263
Chapter 13
Bridging From
e-Government Practice to
e-Government Research:
Past Trends and Future Directions
Kyu-Nahm Jun
Wayne State University, USA
Christopher Weare
University of Southern California, USA
ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the state of the field of e-Government research to assess strategically how scholars
may best target future research initiatives. While e-Government research is characterized by a great
deal of interaction between practitioners and academic researchers, most research continues to either
lack sufficient rigor to produce generalizable results or in search of rigor becomes too abstract to be
directly useful to guide practice. Thus, despite the explosive growth in the field, there remain numerous
opportunities to develop research projects that can both interest and aid practitioners and generate
new theoretical and empirical knowledge. Through two reviewsone of the specialized e-Government
literature and the other of general public administration and political science journalsthis conceptual
chapter identifies a number of research areas in which e-Government scholars and practitioners in the
emerging economies may target their efforts.
INTRODUCTION
This chapter examines the state of the field of eGovernment research to assess strategically how
scholars and practitioners in emerging economies
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch013
may best target future research initiatives. E-Governmentthe application of new Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) to a broad
array of governance processesand research on
e-Government are both burgeoning fields. Governments throughout the world and at all levels
Bridging From e-Government Practice to e-Government Research
of government have been making significant ICT

investments. In 2007, the United States federal
budget allocated $64 billion for ICT investments
and a similar amount is being invested by state and
local governments (Cresswell, Burke, & Pardo,
2006). Across the European Community, spending is well over $100 billion per year. In Asia,
the gross levels of investment are lower, but the
rate of growth is much higher. In the Asia-Pacific
region, excluding Japan, investments are growing by more than 8% a year. In China and India
these growth rates are even higher at around 15%
(Cresswell, Burke, & Pardo, 2006). While the current economic crisis may slow investment in the
United States, the new Administration is likely to
place renewed emphasis on e-Government given
President Obamas skillful use of the Internet during his campaign and transition and his intention
to create a chief technology officer position in the
White House. In 2009, based on President Obamas
White House Open Government Initiative, federal
government agencies were directed to implement
specific actions online based on the principles
of transparency, participation, and collaboration
(Orszag, 2009, p. 1).
At the same time, academic researchers have
been drawn to this new phenomenon. They have
been motivated by the revolutionary rise of the
Internet and the significant impacts ICTs have
had on other areas of society including political
campaigning, blogging, and e-Commerce, and
examine if and how similar changes will arise
in the public sphere. The rapid development of
e-Government has also raised concerns and new
questions. There have been notable project failures
in which technologies fail to meet their most basic
goals (Heeks & Bailur, 2007). Managers of ICT
projects continue to be buffeted by significant
political, organizational, and technological risks
that attend major investments in new technologies,
and there is wide spread doubt that public organizations have been able to fully reap the benefits
offered by these technologies. Political officials
are calling for improved evidence that their in-
264
vestments in public funds are yielding dividends.

On top of that, is the sense that e-Government
is interacting with other social trendsnotably
globalization and innovations in public management practicesto redefine the very nature and
structure of government (Dawes, 2009).
This widespread interest has sprouted a number
of specialty journals and conferences devoted to
e-Government, and these topics have begun to be
more prominent in main stream public administration and some political science journals in the U.S.
In addition, a number of research institutes have
sprung up. Major examples in the U.S. include
the Center for Technology and Government at
SUNY, Albany, the Digital Government Research
Centers at University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
the Rutgers e-Governance Institute, and the eGovernment program at Browns Taubman Center
for Public Policy. Internationally, other examples
include the e-Government program within the
European Commissions Information Society Program, Taiwans e-Governance Research Center,
and the United Nations e-Government program.
To see where the scholars and practitioners in
developed and developing countries may most
profitably target future research, we conducted two
surveys of the literature. The first focuses on the
specialized e-Government scholarship including
a number of journals and conference proceedings
focused on e-Government. The second examines
the academic literature, focusing on the top public administration and political science journals.
While the research tradition is increasingly rich,
it is also highly varied, examining a broad set of
technologies and governance questions. Thus,
many areas remain understudied. The strength of
the specialty literature is its rich institutional detail
and policy focus, but its main weakness is its lack
of theoretical and methodological rigor, which
diminishes the generalizability of its findings. In
contrast, the academic literature is firmly grounded
in theoretical traditions and typically employs
more rigorous methodological techniques; but it is
further removed from the policy matters because
the level of the analysis and operationalization of

key variable tends to be overly abstract to yield
specific and actionable policy recommendations.
The goal of this conceptual paper is to provide
guidance in crafting a niche in this increasingly
crowded field especially for scholars in emerging
economies. This chapter proceeds as follows. In
the first section, we provide a background on eGovernment and related perspectives. Next, we
review the specialty literature, and in the third, we
examine work published in mainstream political
science and public administration journals. Future
research directions and conclusions follow.
BACKGROUND
Although the prominence of e-Government research has risen greatly in the new millennium,
the field actually has older roots stretching back
to the introduction of main frame computers
in government and the advent of satellite communications technologies (Abramson, Arterton,
& Orren, 1988; Arterton, 1987; Danziger, et al.,
1982). The work has since taken off in a multitude of directions. The diversity of technological
innovations is then multiplied by the range of
government functions in which ICTs can be applied. Given this diversity of applications, it is not
surprising that the field is marked by a number
of distinct but overlapping conceptualizations of
e-Government, each leading to different research
emphases (Mayer-Schnberger & Lazer, 2007).
Four distinct perspectives are identified as follows:

ICTs in public administration perspective take a broad view of technologies

stretching into the back office of public
agencies and focuses on organizational
change and efficiency.
E-governance perspective recognizes
that the use of ICTs by governments is
one dimension of a broader set of societal
changes driven by technological innova-
tion. It analyzes how they may affect the

relationship between citizens and businesses and their governments and how
they may enable public actors to address
social problems through collaboration with
private organizations.
Transactional perspective emphasizes
how e-Government creates a new interface
between citizen and government. It focuses
on the effects of websites on changing citizen-government transactions and contacts.
Information perspective downplays the
role of technology in e-Government and
emphasizes how technological changes
interact with individual behaviors, organizations, and society to affect the availability and uses of information in governance
processes.
Within all of these emerging traditions of eGovernment research, one common thread has
been a strong underlying concern with practice.
Technology, after all, presents potential solutions
to a host of public management issues. Researchers are keenly interested in identifying how these
technologies may advance government efficiency,
transparency, and accountability and what barriers
may impede governments from reaping the potential benefits of technology. To this end, a number of
efforts have been conducted to align research agendas with the problems practitioners face with an eye
toward identifying feasible research projects that
may usefully inform e-Government policy. Two
prominent examples are Project VIEGO (Virtual
Institute for Research into E-Government) and the
eGovRTD2020 Project funded by the Information
Society Technologies Program of the European
Commission. As with other efforts, these projects
sought to engage major stakeholders groups to
develop an understanding of what are the major
outstanding questions concerning the development
of e-Government and what areas can and should
be clarified through research.
265
In 2006, Project VIEGO conducted five regional workshops in England, each centered on
a different theme such as e-Participation, metrics
of performance, and technical and organizational
issues (Elliman, Zahir, & Jackson, 2007). All
workshops brought together an eclectic group
including academics, informed citizens, elected
officials, and local and national staff level officials. The eGovRTD2020 project, funded by the
European Commission, conducted workshops
with a range of stakeholders in several countries
and followed up with surveys of a broader set of
with participants from all global regions (Dawes,
2009). The workshops were structured in four
stages. First, participants reviewed the state of
play within e-Government. Next, they developed
future scenarios of e-Government, both positive

and negative. Third, they performed a gap analysis to see what questions should be addressed to
clarify how governments were to proceed from the
current state to the future scenarios. Lastly, based
on the gap analysis, a road mapping exercise was
conducted to outline a strategic research program
detailing major research themes.
Both of these mapping efforts share two significant commonalities. First, they recommend
pursuing an ambitiously broad and diverse eGovernment research agenda. As seen in Table 1,
the eGovRTD2020 identified 13 major research
themes and the Project VIEGO final report lists 31
themes all of which cover distinct features of the
e-Government landscape, including issues related
Table 1. Research themes identified by research scoping projects

eGovRTD2020
1. Data privacy and personal identity
Project VIEGO
T1. Manage technological solution
O4. Local Regional - EU
2. Trust in e-Government
T2. Integration standardization
O5. Managerial
3. Information quality
T3. User identification and authentication
O6. Community governance
4. E-Participation, citizen engagement and

democratic processes
T5. Information security and privacy
O7. Failure management
5. Ontologies and intelligent information and

knowledge management
T6. Technological change
O8. Access means and digital divide
6. Governance of public-private-civic sector

relationships
T7. Impact of technology
O9. Impact analysis
7. Assessing the value of government ICT

investments.
S1. Citizens and users needs and views
O10. EGovernment issues
8. Mission-oriented goals and performance

management
S2. Citizens and take up
O11. Project management issues
9. Crossing borders and the need for governance capabilities
S3. Impact and value creation
O12. Organizational culture issues
10. Governments role in the virtual world
S4. Cultural aspects
O13. Change management
11. eGovernment in the context of sociodemographic change.
S5. Political engagement and inclusion
O14. Risk management
12. Semantic and cultural interoperability of

public services
S6. Resistance to change
O15. Knowledge management
13. Cyberinfrastructures for eGovernment
S7. Trust
O16. Best practice and learning lessons
O1. Structure
O17. Policy
O2. Link bodies
O18. Measurement and evaluation
O3. Political issues

Note: For Project VIEGO technical, social, and organizational themes are denoted T, S, and O, respectively.
266
to the political, social, technical, and organizational causes and consequences of e-Government
programs. Nested under these themes, there are
hundreds of more specific research questions,
each of which could be the focus for numerous
significant research projects.
In Figure 1, Dawes (2009) further develops
the scoping exercise by the eGovRTD2020 project by grouping the themes into six interlinked
areas that all feed into the one overarching question: what are the net social and political results
that will arise from the dynamic and open sociotechnical systems emerging through the sum of
e-Government initiatives? As in Figure 1, the
cluster of issues under the purpose and role of
government closely align with governance issues.
Similarly, many of the social or human issues,
such as changes in patterns of migration or acceptance of change, are more firmly rooted in
sociology, economics, and psychology. Nevertheless, Figure 1 illustrates the important linkages
between research on ICT in public administration
from e-Governance perspective to these other
research questions, and the need for governance
research to actively situate itself within this
broader research agenda. The second commonality is the call for a multidisciplinary approach,
integrating technical, social scientific and cultural perspectives. Analyzing the eGovRTD2020
project, Dawes (2009) points out that many major
policy questionssuch as, how we assure equal
access to services for individuals from differing
cultural and language groupscut across major
research themes and will require expertise in
social trends, human elements, organizational
change, and technology.
These scoping projects, however, raise a number of major challenges for e-Government researchers. First, and most obviously, is the sheer
volume of analysis being demanded. No matter
what view of e-Government one takes, the demand
for solid research continues to far outstrip available supply, even with the recent boom in conferences, specialized journals, and publications.
Second, while these scoping projects have identified policy problems and issues, they have not
yet taken the next step toward translating these
issues into specific, feasible research projects.
This stage requires a richer conversation between
the policy and research communities, if research
is to be used and useful. It is particularly important
given the relative shortage of research resources.
Finally, the multidisciplinarity driven by the strong
interactions between the technical, social, and
organizational dimensions of e-Government
greatly complicate the process of translating salient
issues faced by practitioners to feasible research
questions. It not only requires academics and
policy makers to communicate clearly, but it also
requires academics from differing disciplines to
communicate and to keep abreast of developments
in other fields. We now turn to how these issues
have been addressed by researchers to date.
THE STATE OF THE FIELD OF

E-GOVERNMENT RESEARCH
Has e-Government research been addressing the
important questions identified by practitioners
producing usable knowledge? This question has
two components: first, is it applying appropriate
theory and methods; second, is it answering policy
relevant questions. To assess this state of extant
literature, we performed two literature reviews.
The first focused on peer-reviewed journal articles
and conference proceedings specializing on eGovernment. The second focused on mainstream
political science and public administration journals. The main goal of this analysis is to identify
strategic niches in which particular methods can
be fruitfully applied to specific topics.
There have been several reviews and evaluations of the growing e-Government literature in
recent years (Flak, Sein, & Sb, 2007; Gil-Garcia
& Pardo, 2005; Grnlund, 2004; Grnlund & Andersson, 2006; Heeks & Bailur, 2007; Norris &
Lloyd, 2006). Most of these reviews are concerned
267
Figure 1. Relationships between e-government research themes (Source: Dawes, 2009 2009, Elsevier.
Used with permission.)
with the development of e-Government as an academic field, rather than its progress in generating
knowledge for practitioners. Nevertheless, their
insights are telling on how this work may inform
practice. In general, these reviews are critical of
the field in terms of both theory development
268
and methods. They find that much of the extant

literature is descriptive and fails to employ available theories to either make sense of observed
phenomena or make predictions. The generally
atheoretical nature of the work has prevented
the field from accumulating knowledge, based
on a shared understanding of basic concepts and

entities. The reviews find that little of the work
is based on sound, well-developed methods. For
example, in a review of 84 papers, Heeks and
Bailur (2007) find only one study that explicitly
tested hypotheses based on quantitative data and
drew inferences to a broader population, and
almost half of the papers either had no discernible methodology or were an ad hoc mixture of
ideas. They also find evidence of experimenter
bias in that researchers reporting the results of eGovernment projects in which they are involved
are significantly more likely to report positive
effects. One review (Gil-Garcia & Pardo, 2005),
however, find evidence that research findings are
influencing practice.
We build on these reviews by focusing more
closely on the research-policy link. We sampled
recent literature from specialized e-Government
journals and conferences and coded the abstracts
for the research methods employed and the subject matters addressed. Both of the coding lists of
methods and subjects were developed iteratively
beginning with lists suggested by the scoping
projects reviewed above and amending the lists as
the sample of literature was reviewed. The list of
topics and how they correspond to research themes
proposed by the VIEGO and the eGovRTD2020
projects are listed in Table 2.
We developed our sample from a comprehensive review of the e-Government literature compiled by the Digital Government Society of North
America that included 2,395 references. From
that, we selected peer-reviewed journal articles
and conference papers from the most prominent
sources listed in Table 3. From this smaller
population of 1,178 articles, we randomly sampled
25 percent, or 293 articles. Twenty-two of the
articles did not have an abstract, were not about
e-Government, or were published in mainstream
public administration or political science journals
that are reviewed later. Eliminating these articles
left a sample of 270. This sample is skewed toward
recent conferences and edited volumes. This will
bias the conclusions to the extent that these papers

represent preliminary findings or work in progress.
Nevertheless, given the rapidity with which the
e-Government field is evolving if academic research is to have any impact at all we must look
at what is being produced in a timely manner. In
this respect, these papers are a good representation
of what academia is able to offer.
The first question is the degree to which this
work integrates the broad themes identified by
practitioners and attempts to address the interactions between those themes. We coded each work
in terms of whether it addressed social, political,
organizational, and technical issues. In Table 4,
almost three-quarters of the research combine
multiple perspectives and over 60 percent of these
combine technical and social perspectives. In this
respect, the research community has taken up the
challenges posed by complex socio-technical issues brought about by implementing e-Government.
A second question is the degree to which these
researchers answer the call for multi-method research, and the answer, for the most part, is no.
As in shown in Table 5, 38 papers were purely
conceptual in nature or reviews of the literature
and thus, had no empirical methodology. Of the
papers mentioning some empirical method, over
70 percent (170 of 241) employ a single method.
This lack of methodological diversity is not necessarily a problem for the e-Government research
enterprise as a whole because the benefits of
examining a complex phenomenon through multiple methodological lenses can be attained through
a number of separate studies over time, each with
employing a different method. The low level of
diversity, however, highlights two issues concerning the translation of e-Government problems to
research projects. The first is the difficulty in
promoting interdisciplinary research within academia. Different dimensions of e-Government
are relevant to different disciplinespolitical
science, public administration, computer science,
etc.and each has its own methodological pre-
269
Table 2. E-government research topics employed in content analysis and correspondence with other
typologies of research themes
Current Content
Analysis
eGovRTD2020
Project VIEGO
1. Project Management
8. Mission-oriented goals and performance management

9. Crossing borders and the need for governance
capabilities
T1. Manage technological solution

S3. Impact and value creation
O7. Failure management
O11. Project management issues
2. Project Benefits
2. Trust in e-Government
7. Assessing the value of government ICT investments.
S7. Trust
O9. Impact analysis
O18. Measurement and evaluation
3. Service Innovation
3. Information quality
5. Ontologies and intelligent information and knowledge management
T2. Integration standardization

O15. Knowledge management
O16. Best practice and learning lessons
4. Organizational Innovation
6. Governance of public-private-civic sector relationships

10. Governments role in the virtual world
T6. Technological change

T7. Impact of technology
S6. Resistance to change
O3. Political issues
O4. Local Regional - EU
O5. Managerial
O10. EGovernment issues
O12. Organizational culture issues
O13. Change management
O14. Risk management
O17. Policy
5. Privacy and Security
1. Data privacy and personal identity
T5. Information security and privacy

T3. User identification and authentication
6. Citizen Participation
4. E-Participation, citizen engagement and democratic processes
S5. Political engagement and inclusion

O6. Community governance
7. Usability
12. Semantic and cultural interoperability of public

services
S1. Citizens and users needs and views
8. Digital Divide
12. Semantic and cultural interoperability of public

services
S4. Cultural aspects

O8. Access means and digital divide
9. Diffusion of Technology
Themes not examined
S2. Citizens and take up
11. eGovernment in the context of socio-demographic change.

13. Cyberinfrastructures for eGovernment
directions. Second, in the translation process from

issues to research, there are benefits if a portfolio
of projects is developed taking different methodological perspectives on common problems.
Neither practitioners nor academics on their own
are well placed to play this brokerage role, and
e-Government research centers would do well by
thinking about research portfolios in this way.
To examine how this literature is addressing
the methodological and subject areas need of e-
270
O1. Structure
O2. Link bodies
Government research, we produced a cross-tabulation of research methods and research topics

in Table 6. Because each paper could address more
than one topic and utilize more than one method,
there are 581 entries on this cross tabulation between methods and topics from the 270 papers
reviewed. As can be seen most of the work tends
toward qualitative methodologies. Case studies,
reports on efforts to apply new technologies, and
reviews of existing technologies comprise two-
Table 3. Sources of articles and conference proceedings for content analysis

#
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Electronic Government: International Conference, EGOV 2004-07
17
6.3%
International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance 2006-07
3.0
The First and Second European Mobile Government Conferences 2005-06
18
6.7
Digital Government Research Conferences 2000-08
24
8.9
Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2004-08
52
19.3
Various Conference published in Lecture Notes on Computer Science book series
76
28.1
Electronic Government: An International Journal
27
10.0
Electronic Journal of e-Government
17
6.3
International Journal of Electronic Governance
0.7%
International Journal of Electronic Government Research
3.3
Journal of E-Government
10
3.7
Journal of Government Information
1.5
Journal of Information Technology & Politics
0.4
Social Science Computer Review
1.9
PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS
Table 4. Number of major subject areas addressed

Number
Table 5. Number of methods employed
Percent
Number
Percent
72
26.7%
38
14.1%
147
54.4
164
60.7
46
17.0
65
24.1
1.9
1.1
Total
270
100%
Total
270
100%
thirds of the method-topic pairs. About 16 percent

of the papers are conceptual pieces. Some reviews
have explained this relatively high percentage of
conceptual work to the newness of the phenomenon. However, this field is over a decade old and
the percentage of theoretical papers has not declined in the last five years. There is clearly still
a need for more empirically grounded work in
this field.
This accumulated set of case studies has made
a number of contributions. Most strikingly, they
chart the promise and the perils of e-Government
research. Reports on cutting edge deployments
of expert systems that simplify regulatory compliance, computer assisted deliberative processes
that support new and compelling methods for
involving citizens in their government, or the use
of advanced Geographic Information System
(GIS) for urban planning hint at the many powerful ways that ICTs can enhance the business of
government. In addition, at this point of e-Government research, case studies are appropriate as
researchers try to get a handle on what is going
on and to develop hypotheses; and as can be seen
in the matrix, these methods are flexible enough
to address multiple topics of interest. These case
271
272
7
14
4
2
1
0
4
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
Technology Demonstrations
Theoretical/Conceptual
Review of Existing Technologies
Cross-Sectional Statistical Analysis
Development of Metrics
Survey of Users
Surveys of Government Workers
Web Content Analysis
Focus Groups
Survey of Governments
Textual Analysis
Legal Analysis
Analysis of Web Usage
Network Analysis
Review of State of Academic

Research
Scenario Construction
Small Group Experiments
18
23
Project
Benefits
16
25
49
45
Service
Innovation
Key: Number of instances in which method and topic addressed in a research
48
Case Studies
Method
Project
Management
18
35
Organizational
Innovation
Privacy
and
Security
Topics
Table 6. Instances of method applied to particular topics in e-government literature
13
11
13
Citizen
Participation
1 or 2
Usability
3 to 5
Digital
Divide
6 to 9
Diffusion of
Technology
10 or more
studies have led to important insights about the

organizational and technological risks of eGovernment programs, the importance of political and administrative leadership, and the large
role contextual details play in the design and success of programs (Gil-Garcia & Pardo, 2005).
Case studies have also focused on the organizational details important to the successful development of technology programs, and as such are of
particular interest to practitioners.
Nevertheless, it is this profusion of case studies that reviewers of the e-Government literature
are focusing on when they complain that the
e-Government field is producing numerous unassociated and poorly formulated propositions that
are not accumulating to move the field forward.
The case-study method also has limits to the extent that it can provide insights for practitioners.
Because case studies focus on contextual details
and the unique interplay of factors at work in a
particular situation, academics are comparatively
disadvantaged from understanding these details
vis--vis practitioners who live daily in the organizational processes of developing, implementing and maintaining e-Government. Thus, while
academic work can bring valuable theoretical
clarity and generate insights from the comparison
of multiple cases, the basic data arising from a
single case provides limited new information for
practitioners.
Beyond that set of work represented in the
top four rows of Table 6, there is a diversity of
methodologies, including surveys of governments, public administrators, and end users and
the application of statistical tests to these data. In
addition, there are instances of the application of
other methodologies such as textual analysis, legal
analysis, and scenario construction that can highlight different dimensions of the e-Government
experience. Some topic areasproject management, project benefits, service innovation, and
citizen participationhave received attention
from a number of methodological perspectives.
While this diversity speaks strongly to ability of
the e-Government field to respond to the multiple

demands of practitioners, there remains much
room for improvement in getting these disparate
studies to address the same fundamental questions
in a way that can best accumulate knowledge and
guide practitioners.
One welcome finding is the number of studies
developing and validating metrics. The theoretical
and methodological tools of academic work are
well suited for identifying theoretically important concepts and developing valid and reliable
operationalization of variables that measure those
concepts. Some of the metrics are general analytic
frameworks that practitioners can use as guides
for answering particular questions. But many
propose concrete measures such as scales that can
be directly applied to measure customer satisfaction with e-Government services, the degree of
e-Participation, the depths of the digital divide, and
organizational readiness or resistance to changes
brought by e-Government implementations. An
example of a major success in this area has been
the various rating systems that measure the stage of
development of government websites (Economist,
2008; Holzer, et al., 2009; La Porte, Demchak,
& DeJong, 2002; West, 2005). These measures
have their limits. They do not track e-Government
advances in non-Internet channels; they say little
about the usability of web functionalities; and it
is rarely clear how to interpret small numerical
differences on these scales. Despite these issues,
they have proven quite influential. Policy makers
understand and are aware of the rankings, and they
provide an easy way for practitioners to compare
relative performance. These specific components
of the metrics have done much to disseminate
norms of quality e-Government service provision,
and it appears that there has been a fair amount
of strategic efforts to improve state and national
level ranking on these metrics.
Another fruitful avenue has been efforts to
create evaluation mechanisms based on Return
on Investment (ROI) concepts (Cresswell, Burke,
& Pardo, 2006). Many of these models are more
273
guidelines for evaluating programs, but Australias

ICT investment framework includes recommendations for specific surveys and focus groups to
measure key performance indicators (Australian
Government Information Management Office,
2010). These two examples represent just the tip of
the iceberg, and there is much more research that
can be done developing and validating metrics to
track the progress of e-Government. For example,
there is a large economics literature on how to
design surveys to measure the valuation of public
goods. Even though e-Government services share
many of the features of public goods, there have
been few efforts that employ these techniques to
value the total willingness to pay for new services.
For example, Chen and Thurmaier (2008) is an
important exception.
At the same time, Table 6 highlights some
major gaps in the research landscape. Organizational innovation and change have been prominent
concerns voiced by practitioners. While these
topics have received a large amount of attention
from researchers, except for five studies that
survey government workers, all of this research
employs case studies or similar methods. This lack
of methodological diversity represents a host of
missed opportunities. The degree to which different legal constraints, such as civil service rules,
either promote or impede organizational change
is a central question in the organizational change
puzzle. And comparative legal analysis would be
quite helpful to elucidating what the constraints
are and how they operate. In another example, the
social networks of government workers represent
a valid and concrete method for measuring the
structure of their task environment and how it
changes over time. Research on the digital divide
finds itself in a similar place, over emphasizing
case studies and ignoring other potentially fruitful
research methods.
In general, there is room for greater use of
different methods. The lack of research based on
survey data is surprising given that the Internet
is dramatically reducing the costs of administer-
274
ing and can largely automate the process. There

are legal and other barriers involved. The United
States federal government will not allow researchers (or public managers) to integrate surveys
into website and Internet applications due to the
Reduction in Paperwork Act. It can also be difficult to get representative samples from Internet
surveys. Resolving these issues should be a goal
of e-Government research community.
The total absence of research based on
randomized, control group experiments is also
surprising. While many topics, such as digital
divide and organizational innovation, are either
prohibitively expensive or unethical to study
from an experimental perspective, there is a long
tradition of using experiments in human-computer
interface research and usability studies (Stephanidis, 2007). Finally, the reviewed literature is
almost completely lacking research based on
the gigabytes of data being constantly generated
through interactions on the web. Telephone logs,
e-mails logs, web access logs, transaction logs,
web-based discussions all present rich potential
for tracking issues of organizational change,
digital divide, and citizen participation. There
are significant privacy issues and human subjects
issues that need to be overcome, but researchers
(not to mention Google and the U.S. government)
have been able to overcome these hurdles and
anonymized data sets still of enormous use1. It
remains strange that we see immense data sets
being collected and mined everywhere except in
e-Government research.
E-GOVERNMENT RESEARCH
IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
To compliment the review of the specialty journals,
we conducted a second review that focused on
research published in six top public administration and four prominent political science journals.
Using a number of keywords, we searched these
Table 7. Sources of articles and conference proceedings for content analysis

Number
Percent
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY JOURNALS

Administration and Society
12
14%
American Review of Public Administration
20
23
Journal of Public Administration Theory and Practice
14
16
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
Public Administration
Public Administration Review
28
33
POLITICAL SCIENCE JOURNALS

American Journal of Political Science
American Review of Political Science
Journal of Politics
Political Research Quarterly
TOTAL
86
100%
journals over the last 10 years (1999-2008)2. As

seen in Table 7, we found 86 relevant articles.
This review also examined a number of books and
articles from other journals that were identified
during the search process.
It is evident from Table 7 that the study of eGovernment has generated much greater interest
in public administration as compared to political
science, which has published very little relevant
work. This work contrasts strongly from the more
specialized research on e-Government. Not surprisingly, for research published in disciplinary
journals, they are less likely to be spanning multiple subjects. While the specialty papers frequently tie together technical as well as organizational and political dimensions of e-Government
problems, academic works are more narrowly
focused on organizational or political topics. These
works are also less likely to take a multi-method
approach to their analyses, although they are more
methodologically sophisticated, frequently employing advanced statistical techniques and
rarely relying on pure case studies. More notably,
they share a greater level of theoretical develop-
ment, focusing less on the organizational and

technological details of the development of particular applications and rather focusing on developing and testing theories to explain the broad
trends and impacts of ICTs.
This set of papers draws and augments a broad
set of theoretical traditions including the diffusion
of innovations, organizational theory, political
participation, and interest group theories. Although
they draw from diverse theoretical traditions, most
of these papers contribute, directly or indirectly,
to an overarching debate concerning technology
and society that has raged on for years. One camp
in this debate, the technological determinists,
argues that the inherent characteristics of new
information and communications technologies
lead to particular social outcomes. For example,
a typical position of technological determinists is
that the decentralized, open, and interactive nature
of the Internet will necessarily require political
regimes to adopt more open and participatory
forms of democracy. The other camp, the social
construction of technology, argues that existing
social and political structures design and imple-
275
ment technologies in a manner that reinforces

existing power biases and therefore, it has little
impact on existing social and political structures
and processes.
Beyond this grand unifying debate, the literature remains fragmented with no single dominant
theoretical perspective. Rather, many researchers
have employed the introduction of ICTs into
political and administrative processes as a form
of natural experiment that enables them to study
specific organizational or political theories. To
organize this work, we first focus on the stages of
e-Government evolutions. Next, we organize other
contribution according to the stage in the adoption
and institutionalization of ICTs. We begin with
the adoption of technology then turn to questions
of design. We then examine the impacts of ICTs
on organizations, and finally, their broader social
impacts on citizen interaction with government.
STAGE THEORIES
A number of authors have sought to explain the development of web-based e-Government with stage
theories (Layne & Lee, 2001; Moon, 2002; Reddick, 2004). Moon (2002), for example, proposed
a five-stage framework at the municipal level. At
the first stage governments focus on information
provision. Next, they begin to implement applications that promote two-way communications
between citizen and public agency. In the third
stage, they provide online services and financial
transactions; and in the fourth, the e-Government
website builds on the functionalities of the previous
levels to offer services that are integrated horizontally across government functions and vertically
across levels of government. Finally, in the fifth
stage, government begins to incorporate two-way
communications in manner that promotes civic
engagement and political participation.
These stage theories are useful for providing
normative guidelines for evaluating the status
of e-Government and are often employed as
276
benchmarks in the e-Government literature.

Nevertheless, they fall short as useful theories of
e-Government. They rely too heavily on a nave
technological determinism in which technological
and parallel organizational structures develops on
an identical pathway for all governments. They
provide little insight into why, how, if and when
governments progress from one stage to another
and consequently, they do a poor job of explaining
the observed diffusion of e-Government (Coursey
& Norris, 2008).
DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION
A more theoretically and empirically grounded
set of studies focuses on analyzing the adoption
of e-Government, such as the presence of a government website, other form of ICTs, and more
sophisticated web-based transactions. This work
is firmly rooted in and extends the literatures on
policy diffusion, diffusion of innovations, and
technology adoption (Abrahamson & Rosenkopf,
1993; Berry & Berry, 1999; Davis, 1989; Davis,
Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989; Roger, 1983). It
models the adoption of a new technology as a
combination of the characteristics of the technology, in particular its perceived usefulness,
characteristics of the organization or individual
making the adoption decision (e.g., the availability
of slack resources and administrative form), and
the environment including social interactions with
other adopters, competition with other actors, and
demands from stakeholders. Most of this work has
focused on the adoption of government websites,
primarily because of the ease of tracking such
sites and the availability of a number of high
quality datasets that have tracked the diffusion
of websites.3 There are, nevertheless, studies that
examine the diffusion of more specific web-based
applications such as electronic payment systems
or the intraorganizational diffusion of technologies such as GIS or electronic approval systems
(Ho & Ni, 2004; Lee, 2008; Vonk, Geertman, &

Schot, 2007).
This work has accumulated a number of consistent finding concerning the factors associated
with adoption. There is strong evidence that the
environment plays a role in that wealthier and more
populous jurisdictions are more likely to adopt.
There is also some evidence supporting a demand
pull theory of adoption in which more educated
and more politically involved constituencies and
more complex environments promote adoption
(Jun & Weare, 2011; Weare, Musso, & Hale,
1999; West, 2005). Institutional supports such as
the presence of slack resources, more professional
legislatures, and council manager forms of government are also associated with earlier adoption.
Intraorganizational dynamics such as the need to
overcome staff resistance are also cited as key factors (Danziger, Dutton, Kling, & Kraemer, 1982;
Ho & Ni, 2004; Lee, 2008; Vonk, Geertman, &
Schot, 2007). Interestingly, in a number of studies,
Internet use among constituents is consistently
found to be negatively associated with adoption,
possibly indicating that governments consciously
employ e-Government strategies to expand the use
of advanced communication technologies within
their jurisdictions (McNeal, Tolbert, Mossberger,
& Dotterweich, 2003). Employing an institutionalization perspective, some also argue that
adoption is driven by mimetic isomorphism in
that governments adopt ICTs to seek legitimacy
from peer organizations and their constituents
(Thatcher, Brower, & Mason, 2006).
While this work does not address the long
run effects of ICTs on the public enterprise, it
has some policy relevance for practitioners. By
identifying the motivations driving government
to adopt e-Government, it helps clarify the likely
directions that e-Government will take. Some
factors associated with an interest to respond to
environmental demands or complexities suggest
that governments do have an interest in employing e-Government to improve efficiency and
responsiveness. On the other hand, to the degree
that governments adopt e-Government purely

for institutional legitimacy may explain why the
range of services offered on many public websites
remains thin. Unfortunately, identifying the barriers and facilitators to the adoption of websites,
the focus of much of this work, is no longer of
great policy relevance given that their adoption
is almost universal at this point. Over 95% of
American municipalities have a municipal website
(Coursey & Norris, 2008). However, additional
work that focuses on the adoption of specific
services or on the intraorganizational adoption
of technologies would help IT managers roll out
new ICTs more effectively.
Design of e-Government
While most units of government have adopted
at least some e-Government innovations, there
remains wide variation in the quality and breadth
of services offered and in the back office technologies employed to support these services (Coursey
& Norris, 2008; West, 2005). Compared to the
specialty literature that is rich with case studies on
the development of e-Government applications,
however, the academic literature features far less
research on the organizational, political, and environmental factors that lead governments to target
particular uses of e-Government over others or to
employ certain technologies. This is unfortunate
given that practitioners are keenly interested in the
success of particular projects. Despite the general
optimism evident in the literature(Blackstone,
Bognanno, & Hakim, 2005), the success of eGovernment is constrained by the inherent difficulties in implementing major projects and the
large number of resulting failures (Garson, 2006;
Goldfinch, 2007).
The progressive elaboration of e-Government
by government entities has followed highly varied
paths calling into question the value of the strict
evolutionary design process proposed by stage
theories (Coursey & Norris, 2008). Other work
has extended theories of technology adoption in
277
an attempt to explain this variation in technology

design. Several studies find that at the municipal
level business-related services tend to be given
greater emphasis compared to service delivery
applications and that deliberative technologies
directed at improving communications between
government officials and stakeholders and decision support systems are given the least emphasis
(Kulchitsky, 2004; Musso, Weare, & Hale, 2000;
Pratchett, 1999). In the United States, others have
found that legislative professionalism and fiscal
resources are important factors in expanding the
general breadth of e-services offered by states
(Tolbert, Mossberger, & McNeal, 2008; West,
2005). In an international comparison, Welch and
Wong (2001) find that the openness and transparency of agency websites tend to improve more
within agencies that have an external orientation,
are staffed by more professional bureaucrats, and
face political and economic competition, but that
increased agency independence leads to greater
control over information and consequently, lower
levels of website openness and transparency. Case
studies of e-Government have focused on the
role of bureaucratic politics in the development
of e-Government systems in that their design is
dictated by current organizational centers of power
in ways that limit the transformational potential
of the technologies and impedes the integration of
technologies across agency boundaries (Danziger,
Dutton, Kling, & Kraemer, 1982; Fountain, 2001;
Rottman, Smith, Long, & Crofts, 2007).
Further research in this area should be of interest to practitioners. Among other factors, improved
knowledge on the role of vendors, management
structures, political support, and consultation with
stakeholders would help IT managers both direct
their efforts and identify hurdles to development.
The main constraint in further research is data.
Cross-sectional data sets, at least the existing ones,
do not include information on the organizational
and technological details necessary to examine
this set of questions. Thus, most of this work
278
has been based on case studies, which limit the

generalizability of our knowledge in this area.
Organizational Performance
Currently, there is a substantial literature examining how the implementation of e-Government may
lead to innovations and improved performance
in public organizations. Danziger and Anderson
(2002) propose a four-part typology of possible
organizational impacts of ICTs. They may affect 1) the productivity of organizations, 2) the
interactions between subunits of an organization
reordering intra-organizational power relationships or between the organization and its environment such as citizen-administrator contacts,
3) organizational orientations such as increasing
reliance on collaboration, and 4) value distributions by elevating some criteria over others. The
range of organizational performance dimensions
considered is quite broad, including organizational
restructuring (Fountain, 2001; Heintze & Bretschneider, 2000; Smith, et al., 2001), red tape (Moon
& Bretschneider, 2002; Peled, 2001; Welch & Pandey, 2007), administrative and managerial reform
(Taylor, 1999; Tolbert, Mossberger, & McNeal,
2008; West, 2001; West & Berman, 2001), administrative effectiveness (La Porte, Demchak, &
Weare, 2005), improvements to decision-making
(Lim & Tang, 2008; Wood, 2000), realignment of
organizational power centers (Kraemer & Dedrick,
1997), knowledge sharing (Kim & Lee, 2006),
and productivity (Baker, 2007; Danziger, 1979;
Lee & Perry, 2002).
This work draws broadly from organizational
and institutional theories, much of it adopting some
variant of socio-technical theory (Fountain, 2001;
Welch & Pandey, 2007). This perspective recognizes the mutual causation between technology and
organization. It posits that the complex process of
implementing new technologies in an organization
is substantially determined by the social context
of the organization. Thus, while technologies to
provide organizations with new capabilities and
create the potential to alter organizational processes and power structures; the implementation
process involves a mutually dependent series of
organizational and technological adaptations that
tend to make implementation a slow and tortured
process with uncertain outcomes.
Many of these studies find a positive relationship between the use of ICTs and organizational
capabilities. The manner in which technological
investments translate into improved performance,
however, remains murky in that the pattern of
public ICT investments that benefit most from
technology does not differ substantially from
government that garner fewer benefits (Brown,
2007). These works employ either survey data
based on administrator perceptions of organizational performance and e-Government use or
integrates objective measures of e-Government
such as content analyses of websites. In the eGovernment field, it is the most sophisticated set
of analyses, often employing multiple equation
models that explicitly address the types of mutual
causation predicted in socio-technical theories.
As with the adoption of ICTs, these studies find
that the demographics of a governments jurisdiction, experience with e-Government, and internal
organizational factors are important predictors.
Jurisdictions that are wealthier and have more
educated populaces, governments with more
experience with e-Government and organizations
characterized by managerial risk taking, solid
leadership, and stronger organizational capacity
are more likely to improve the quality of their
e-Government programs, which in turn leads to
improvements in capacity. Encouragingly, an
implication of these studies is that e-Government
investments may unleash a virtuous cycle where
e-Government improves organizational capacity,
which then feeds back to improve the uses of ICTs.
In contrast, most studies do not find significant evidence of changes to more fundamental
organizational processes, power structures, or
organizational cultures (Danziger & Andersen,
2002; Fountain, 2001; Heintze & Bretschneider,
2000; West, 2005). Because this work entails

higher level and multi-dimensional evaluations
of organizational effects, case studies are more
prominent, though some survey-based work has
also been done. As such, it is more difficult to
draw generalizable conclusions about the nature
of public organizations that impede such changes;
but risk aversion, the stovepipe structure of public
organizations, and the training and predispositions
of public employees are often cited as impediments.
This line of work is policy relevant given that
practitioners are focused on improving organizational performance through ICT investments. The
positive results should help practitioners justify
further e-Government investments and the negative results begin to identify the organizational and
political barriers to success that practitioners must
address. This work, nevertheless, leaves many
practitioner questions unanswered. These studies
rely on fairly crude measures of e-Government
development such as the number of transactions
and information services available on websites.
Thus, we still know little about exactly what
particular forms and uses of e-Government most
improve organizational capacity. Certain applications, such as Web 2.0 social networking or
GIS, are likely to have differential effects, but
the analysis as of yet are not sufficiently refined
to inform these questions.
Another problem is related to data, which often
relies on surveys of administrators perceptions
of e-Government and organizational attributes.
Such data may lead to confounding variables in
that administrators who have positive views on
e-Government may tend to have positive views
on organizational capabilities. Nonetheless, it is
not impossible to study e-Government employing more objective measures. For example, in
an analysis of a private sector firm Aral and his
colleagues (Aral, Brynjolfsson, & Van Alstyne,
2007) related worker productivity to use of IT
and network based activities. Although such
research presents difficulties in data collection
279
and confidentiality for human subjects, similar

research could illuminate how e-Government is
or is not changing the task of government officials
and what types of structures allow these workers
to be most productive.
Citizen Interaction with Government

The rise of e-Government and the Internet more
generally are having significant impacts on how
and how much individuals and organizations are
participating in politics and social problem solving. To the extent that e-governance, as opposed to
e-Government, implies that public actors address
problems by coordinating public and private actors
within policy networks rather than implementing top-down solutions, these macro trends are
having important impacts on governance as they
fundamentally alter the manner in which individuals interact with government. Moreover, how
individuals utilize e-Government and the Internet
is a critical topic to the success of e-Government
investments. The rate and breadth of uptake will
have significant effects on whether governments
will need to increase expenditures to support
multiple channels of service delivery or whether
they can economize by replacing traditional officebased service offerings. Concerns with potential
digital divide issues also depend on the pattern of
uptake by different segments of the population.
Finally, the ultimate social benefits to be reaped
by e-Government depend on the degree to which
citizens and businesses use e-Government productively and innovatively to solve their problems.
A larger body of work has been devoted to
examining the impacts of e-Government and the
Internet more broadly on contact with political
and administrative decision makers and political
participation, which is interesting given the evidence that the use of e-Government to get involved
in policymaking is not the focal concern of the
average citizen. Here the results are highly varied.
The Internet has enabled new interest groups to
rise and challenge the dominance of traditional
280
players (Brainard, 2003; Brainard & Siplon, 2002)

which can lead to new perspectives on old issues
(Rogers, 2004), and to changing policy dynamics
in which interest and activism can swell rapidly
(Bimber, 1998). Despite these challenges to the
status quo, many researchers conclude that new
ICTs tend to reinforce the existing power structures
in policy networks (Rethemeyer, 2002, 2007), and
mainly increases the voice of those who already
active in politics (Norris, 2001). That is, Internet
use has minimal impacts on participation or actually disproportionately advantages those who
already participate extensively (Bimber, 2001;
Davis, 1999). Others, however, find associations
between Internet use and increased participation,
participation by new actors, or improved collaboration (Robbins, 2008; Stanley & Weare, 2004;
Tolbert & McNeal, 2003; Welch & Fulla, 2005).
E-Government is also changing the way that
citizens view and interact with their government.
Instead of bureaucrats at the end of long lines,
government is increasingly part of a rich media
landscape accessible through the Internet. While
government is now easier than ever to reach and
the evidence points out that many appreciate the
availability of anytime and anywhere services,
the relative position of e-Government websites
vis--vis the rest of the Internet is less certain.
Some research shows that the perceived quality
of e-Government lags behind that of private sector sites and that although millions of websites
link into government sites, this number is still
far below the number of inlinks to popular commercial sites (Escher, Margetts, Cox, & Petricek,
2006; Morgeson & Mithas, 2009). Moreover,
there continues to be lingering concerns that the
uptake of e-Government services by citizens and
businesses is lagging behind the profusion of eservices being offered (Webber, 2006).
This set of issues has not been a major focus of
academic research yet. A small literature examines
the uptake of e-Government services by residents
and businesses. Studies find that people still tend
to prefer to interact with government through tra-
ditional channels, such as phones. E-Government

use is negatively associated with age and positively
associated with perceived usefulness and interest
in government (Dimitrova & Chen, 2006; Thomas
& Streib, 2005). Based on surveys of Georgia
residents Thomas and Streib (2003, 2005) find
that users are more likely to employ e-Government
for research or business matters, and less so for
political participation. Overall, concerns about
the digital divide are valid, at least in these early
years, in that race and education do have significant
impacts on the use of e-Government, and more
generally, broadband adoption, which is required
to employ more sophisticated e-Government applications like GIS, remains flat amongst the poor
and African Americans (Horrigan, 2008).
Given the significant shifts in the way people
interact with government, a major question is
whether e-Government can mitigate historical
declines in the degree of trust of government and
satisfaction with government. It may influence
citizen perceptions by making government appear
more efficient and responsive or by increasing
the transparency of government. To date, the
results are mixed. For instance, Welch, Hinnault,
and Moon (2004) find that government website
use increases satisfaction with e-Government,
which in turn improves trust in government. West
(2004), in contrast, finds that web usage has no
effect on trust but it does improve perceptions of
e-Government effectiveness. Lastly, Tolbert and
Mossberger (2006) find that e-Government use
improves perceptions of trust of local governments but not state or federal governments. All
of this work, however, is based on relatively old
surveys conducted in 2000 or 2001. Hence, they
do not capture the accumulated experience with
more recent e-Government. Nevertheless, studying social implications of e-Government is a difficult empirical problem because they constitute
second and third order effects of e-Government.
Consequently, while broad trends in behavior are
easily identified, it is much more difficult to cor-
relate such trends back to specific e-Government

practices.

For future research, there is a number of ways to
further develop the field of e-Government. The
first is to focus on understudied topics. For example, the questions of usability and the manner
in which e-Government changes the ways people
interact with and perceive government is an important set of questions from a policy perspective
but has received little attention. Understanding
the social implications of e-Government and the
Internet are policy relevant because these may
entail some of the more profound and enduring
effects of the ongoing technological revolution.
Public officials should be interested in these
larger social trends for justifying and guiding the
evolution of e-Government. Given the rapidity
with which new innovations, such as Web 2.0,
are having significant effects on communication
behaviors, there is a lot of work to be done in the
area. Another area is the governance of publicprivate-nonprofit sector relationships, possibly in
the realm of cyber security.
The second is to develop new sources of data
and a methodological niche. Many of the major
findings concerning the organizational effects
of e-Government are limited by the narrow and
relatively old set of surveys and datasets that are
available. A more ambitious path, possibly involving engineering expertise, would be to employ data
mining and human language recognition technologies to measure changes in intra-organizational
operations and communication patterns related to
e-Government initiatives. Recently, organizational
research has begun to use such data on organizational communications that are automatically
collected through web usage, emails, and phone
calls (Aral, Brynjolfsson, & Van Alstyne, 2006).
Such research examining the impact of ICTs on
organizational structures and communication pat-
281
terns would be methodologically innovative and

could break fresh ground on issues of performance
management. In addition, almost no work has
been done employing small group experiments to
research on how individuals use e-Government and
how this use affects their perceptions of government. Also, employing social network techniques
is another possibility. The successful development
of e-Government should be related to changing
structures of intra-organizational network and
networks of communication between government
officials and stakeholders, but no research has
examined these propositions
A third recommendation is to develop policy
relevant topics. While the best policy research is
both rigorous and relevant, there is a major gap
between the specialty, which tends toward greater
relevance at the loss of rigor and the academic
e-Government literature, which tends to sacrifice
relevance for rigor. It would be productive to have
an extended conversation with practitioners in
government to find questions for which they need
answers and researchers can provide useful information through a well designed research project.
Finally, the scholars could begin work to develop new metrics for measuring and evaluating
the progress of e-Government. The web-based
measures of e-Government performed by the
United Nations, the Taubman Center, E-governance Institute at SUNY, Albany, and others, have
created benchmarks for e-Government development in practice and have been the springboard
for important research. A new metric for customer
satisfaction is having similar effects (Morgeson
& Mithas, 2009). E-Government scholars worldwide and specifically in emerging economies
should strive to develop a new metric for other
concerns such as citizens willingness-to-pay for
e-Government services, the uptake and use of
e-Government services, or the usability of webbased e-Government services.
282
CONCLUSION
In this conceptual chapter, we identify a number
of research areas in which e-Government scholars
and practitioners in the emerging economies may
target their efforts through two literature reviews
one of the specialized e-Government literature
and the other of general public administration
and political science journals. Our comprehensive
review indicates that the e-Government research
field has grown and progressed prodigiously over
a short period of time. Little over ten years ago,
writings in this area were dominated by speculative pieces debating between optimistic visions
of the power of new ICTs to enhance democracy
and revolutionize government service provision
versus pessimistic dirges on the forthcoming security state and invasions of privacy. Since, the
field has matured to include much empirically
grounded and theoretically sophisticated works.
While the debate between technological determinism and social construction perspectives
continues to motivate much work, the overarching debate has progressed toward efforts to parse
apart the mutual causation between technology
and the social systems in which they are introduced. This intermediate position is much more
interesting from a policy perspective because
the extreme positions in the debate leave little
room for useful interventions to improve practice. Taking this position, however, we are left
with a complex interplay of mutual causation in
which technology both acts on and is acted upon
by individual psychological predispositions,
organizational and social structures. While this
perspective leaves room for interventions that
either change technologies or social systems to
improve e-Government performance, it also poses
a major research challenge to understand how
these complex interactions operate. Despite the
profusion of e-Government research, thus, there
remains much work to continue disentangling how
technology affects governance and how styles
of governance influence the adoption, design,
and use of technology. Success will depend on a

great deal of interaction between practitioners and
academic researchers in e-Government research.
This collaboration will allow scholars in emerging
and developed countries to produce results that
are rigorous and generalizable to directly guide
practice.
Bimber, B. (1998). The internet and political

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E-Governance Perspective: A view that recognizes that the use of ICTs by governments is
one dimension of a broader set of societal changes
driven by technological innovation.
E-Government: The application of new information and communication technologies (ICTs)
to a broad array of governance processes.
ICTs in Public Administration Perspective:

A broad view of technologies stretching into the
back office of public agencies and focuses on
organizational change and efficiency.
Information Perspective: How technological changes interact with individual behaviors,
organizations and society to affect the availability
and uses of information in governance processes.
Transactional Perspective: How e-Government creates a new interface between citizen and
government. It focuses on the effects of websites
on changing citizen-government transactions and
contacts.
ENDNOTES
1
It is, nevertheless, an enduring problem on

how to anonymize microdata successfully.
The keywords were e-Government, digital
and government, internet, and information.
These data sets include the United Nations E-Government Readiness reports, a
series of surveys by the International City/
County Managers Association, an early
study of international e-Government by the
CyberPolicy Research Group, and surveys
conducted by the e-Government program
at the Taubman Center for Public Policy.
289
290
Chapter 14
E-Government in Malaysia:
A Decade After
Erlane K. Ghani
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Jamaliah Said
Noraini Mohd Nasir
ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of e-Services among Malaysian local government authorities. Using content analysis on 147 Local Government Authorities (LGAs), this chapter shows that all
agencies have Web sites with a marked improvement in the availability of each category of e-Services.
Among the motivating factors to the drastic increase of e-Services were meeting the Key Performance
Indicators (KPI) established by the state and federal governments, meeting the governments requirement
of providing most of the essential services online, easing the burden on staff, improving transparency,
and providing more convenient service to the customers. The findings in this chapter indicate that the
LGAs are implementing e-Services, which should make it easier for the government to rollout more eServices to the LGAs under its NPM policy to help drive the country into developed nation status by the
year 2020. However, there are issues that need to be addressed in order for the government to deliver
services effectively and efficiently to its citizens.
INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of the Internet services
has provided the public sector with plenty of
opportunities to enhance its reach to the public.
Thus, governments of many countries have taken
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch014
initiatives to make use of the Internet in order to

alleviate the relationship gap and to build new
partnerships with the public (Ndou, 2004). The
use of such initiatives is known as e-Government
(Ndou, 2004). Specifically, e-Government refers to
a way for governments to use the most innovative
(ICTs) to provide the public and businesses with
E-Government in Malaysia
more convenient access to government information and services (West, 2004). Fang (2002) argues
that e-Government provides a vast technology
development and innovation platform and it represents a trend in governments provision of higher
quality and better services as well as enhancing
communication with the public. In recognition of
such benefits, many government agencies all over
the world have adopted e-Government as a way
to show their seriousness in providing effective
and efficient services to public.
E-GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE
IN MALAYSIA
Following governments of other countries, the
Malaysian government has also taken this opportunity in implementing e-Government from the
year 1997 to assist in the delivery of information
and services. Such services include transactions
between Government and Business (G2B), Government and Citizen (G2C), and among different
units and levels of government (G2G) (Fang,
2002; Raman, Kaliannan, & Cheng, 2007). The
vision of e-Government focuses on effective and
efficient delivery of services from the government
to the people of Malaysia, thus enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs
of its citizens.
The e-Government landscape in Malaysia was
initiated by the launch of the Multimedia Super
Corridor (MSC) in 1996 by then Prime Minister,
Mahathir Mohamed (Hicks, 2009; Raman, et al.,
2007). The MSC, a 50 kilometer long dedicated
corridor stretching from the Kuala Lumpur city
center to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport,
is a long-term strategic initiative (1996-2020) to
ensure that the country embraces the ICT revolution as one of the means of achieving its objective
of becoming a fully developed nation by the year
2020 (Raman, Kaliannan, & Cheng, 2007). As
one of the flagships launched within the MSC
in 1997, e-Government began with five projects
(Hicks, 2009). Over the years, more projects are

being added on. To date, there are eight projects
under the e-Government flagship (Kaliannan &
Awang, 2008; Masrek, 2009). These projects and
their objectives are summarised in Table 1 according to types of government interaction.
Many of the above projects have achieved
some measure of success. For example, six years
after the launch of the Electronic Procurement
(EP) project, 6,000 out of the 120,000 suppliers
registered with the Ministry of Finance use the
system actively. Another 50,000 suppliers have
systems in place that will enable them to use the
EP while the others are either inactive or casual
users of the system (Kaliannan, Awang, & Raman,
2009). Another example is the ELX, which has
managed to capture data for 300,834 job seekers,
1,544, 881 vacancies and 823,430 job matches in
2009 (MSC, 2009).
Successes like the above are not achieved
without challenges. No doubt, the success of
e-Government depends on the adoption of ICT.
Contrary to this famous assertion, according to the
Director-General of the Malaysian Administrative
Modernisation and Management Planning Unit
(MAMPU), adoption of technology is but a small
hurdle (Hicks, 2009). Much harder challenges
facing the government are creation of conducive
legal environment, organisational restructuring,
and human resource competencies (Hicks, 2009).
The legal environment was established and
developed in tandem with the development of the
e-Government program itself by the enactment of
several cyber laws such as the Digital Signature
Act 1997 and Computer Crimes Act 1997 (Ahmad
& Othman, 2007). To enhance cyber security,
MAMPU introduced the Government Computer
Emergency Response Team (GCERT) in 2001
to provide ICT security incident response for
the government agencies (Hicks, 2009). GCERT
supports the existing cyber laws of the period and
newer enactments such as the Personal Data Protection Act of 2004. To mitigate the resistance to
organisational restructuring and in recognition of
291
Table 1. Main projects under the e-government flagship and their characteristics
Government interactions
Government to government
(G2G)
Projects
Characteristics
Generic Office Environment

(GOE)
Provides a new paradigm of working in a collaborative environment where government agencies communicate, interact, and share
information.
Project Monitoring System

(PMS)
Provides a new mechanism for monitoring implementation of development projects, incorporating operational and managerial functions,
and knowledge repository.
Human Resource Management

Information System (HRMIS)
Provides a single interface for government employees to perform

HRD functions effectively and efficiently in an integrated environment.
Government to business
(G2B)
Electronic Procurement (EP)
Links the government and suppliers in an online environment. Aimed

at best value for money, timely, and accurate payment.
Government to citizen
(G2C)
Electronic Services (e-Services)
Enables direct, online transactions between the public, the government and large service providers via electronic means.
Electronic Labour Exchange

(ELX)
A one-stop-centre for labor market information, accessible to government agencies, the business sector and the citizens.
E-Syariah
Introduces administrative reforms that upgrade the quality of services

in Syariah courts. To enhance the Islamic Affairs Departments monitoring and coordination of its agencies and 110 Syariah courts.
E-Land
To achieve an updated, effective, efficient, and accurate National

Land Administration System via utilization of Information Communication and Technology (ICT).
Source: Kaliannan and Awang (2008), Masrek (2009), and MSC (2009)
the training needs of its public sector employees,

the government launched the Public Sector ICT
Strategic Plan (PSISP) in 2003 (Hicks, 2009).
Under this plan, the training needs of ICT personnel at all levels are being road-mapped.
Although adoption of technology may be
considered as a small hurdle (Hicks, 2009),
nonetheless it needs to be addressed. Thus, in
partnership with the service providers, Malaysia
is actively taking steps to widen the broadband
telecommunications infrastructure and enhance
online content (Abdul Karim, 2003) such that in
2010, it has obtained the 32nd place out of 192
countries in the United Nations index of world
e-Government development (UNPAN, 2010). This
is a vast improvement from being ranked 42nd in
2004 (Alhabshi, 2008).
However, despite the amount of expenditure
spent in developing e-Government in the country
and the trumpeting of the benefits of e-Government, there is a dearth of studies that examine
292
and provide evidence whether the evolution of

the e-Government has materialised or not, and
if yes, how much change has been made over
the last decade following the introduction of eGovernment. This study attempts to examine this
issue. It hopes to provide further understanding on
the evolution of e-Government in Malaysia and the
factors hindering or motivating local authorities
in Malaysia to fully utilise the ICT tools with a
focus on e-Services.
The remainder of this paper is organised as
follows. Section 3 describes the local authorities in Malaysia. The next section, Section 4,
reviews previous research on implementation
of e-Government by local authorities. Section 5
details the research design of the study. This is
followed by Section 6, which presents the results
and discussion of the analysis. Section 7 discusses
the future of e-Government in Malaysia and the
last section summarises the paper.
LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN MALAYSIA

This chapter focuses on the provision of e-Services in Malaysia. E-Services allow the citizens
of Malaysia to engage in transactions with the
government departments and other agencies via
electronic means (Masrek, 2009). These include
payment of rent, payment of utility bills, and
application for business licences. Many of these
services are provided by the local government
authorities.
In Malaysia, local authorities are the third tier
of the government structure, the first two being
federal and state governments. Local Government Authorities (LGAs) are generally under
the state governments. There are three types of
local authoritiesCity, Municipal, and District
councils. City council is a local authority where
the local population exceeds 500,000 people and
has an annual revenue collection of more than
RM100 million. A municipal council is a local
authority that has a population of not less than
150,000 with an annual revenue collection of
more than RM20 million. District councils have
a population of less than 150,000 with annual
revenue collection of less than RM20 million. City
councils are led by mayors, while municipal and
district councils are led by presidents. The executive powers lie with the mayors in city councils,
and presidents in municipal and district councils.
The state governments, elected every five years,
appoint mayors, presidents, and all councillors.
These appointments are for three-year renewable
terms. The council decision-making process is
through a committee structure determined by the
local authorities.
Despite the differences in size (based on the
total population and annual revenue collection),
all types of local authorities perform the same
functions. The functions of the local authorities
are divided into two. The first function relates to
the provision of basic services aimed at the upkeep
of the local community including businesses. The
second function is to regulate land use and busi-
ness activities within their administrative areas

(Hazman, 2006). Thus, LGAs have the power to
collect taxes, to create laws and rules, and to grant
licenses and permits for any trade in their areas.
They are also responsible for public health and
sanitation management, environmental protection,
building control, social and economic development, and general maintenance functions of urban
infrastructure within its jurisdiction.
Being the lowest tier in the Malaysian government, the LGAs enjoy the most interaction with
the public. As such, it is very important for them to
be able to deliver effective and efficient service to
reflect the performance of the Malaysian government as a whole. Within the local authorities, one
of the e-Sservice initiatives was the introduction of
e-PBT (e-Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan or e-Local
authority). The e-PBT initiative is basically the
computerising of the service systems at the LGA
levels (e.g. tax collection, complaint management,
and licensing systems) to enhance the convenience,
accessibility and quality of interaction of the LGAs
with the public and businesses at large. Customers can transact with the government without
having to be physically present at the relevant
LGA offices. E-PBT is also expected to improve
the flow of information and processes within the
government by improving the speed and quality
of service delivery.
RESEARCH ON IMPLEMENTATION
OF E-GOVERNMENT BY
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Research focusing on e-Government has become
evident in the public sector due to the organisational focus on enhancing performance and
meeting the publics demand (Cronin & Taylor,
1992; Wisniewski & Wisniewski, 2005). Ancarani (2005) suggests that government agencies
have recognised the need for them to be more
transparent, effective, and efficient in providing
services to the public. In order to achieve these
293
needs, the government agencies have to realise

that the key factor is to transform their system to
more customer-centric services (Saxena, 2005;
Stamoulis, et al., 2001). One of the ways to
achieve customer-centric is by the use of ICT tools
such as e-Government since such tools provide
communication to the public effectively and efficiently (Ebrahim & Irani, 2005; Torres, Pina,
& Acerete, 2005). The success of e-Government
however, falls heavily on the accommodation of
certain unique conditions, needs and obstacles
(Allen, et al., 2001; Gilbert, Ballestrini, & Littleboy, 2004). Further, government agencies would
need to face the challenges in adapting not only
the technology but also the restructuring of the
organizational chart and skills, formation of new
leaderships and transformation of their mindsets
(Allen, et al., 2001).
Within the public sector literature, researchers
have examined the link between the use of the
Internet and public sector reporting (e.g. Said,
et al., 2001; Laswad, Fisher, & Oyelere, 2005).
These studies examined the number of public
sector bodies that practiced e-Government in
terms of reporting their profile and activities
and factors that lead public sectors to practice eGovernment. For example: Laswad, Fisher, and
Oyelere (2005) examined the factors that may
have led the New Zealand government bodies
to adopt e-Government. Six variables associated
with voluntary disclosure are examined: political
competition, size, leverage, Municipal wealth,
press visibility, and type of local authority. Their
results indicate that leverage, Municipal wealth,
press visibility, and type of council are associated
with e-Government. Their study however, did not
include the factors that hinder the government
bodies to adopt e-Government. This warrants the
current study to examine this issue since it is important, particularly for the government agencies,
to identify the barriers to adopting e-Government
if they are to develop plans to increase electronic
services (Gilbert, Balestrini, & Littleboy, 2004).
294
Within the Malaysian context, the number

of studies that have examined e-Government is
very limited. Among the earliest study is by Said
et al. (2001) who examined the number of local
government authorities that have e-Government
and found only a small percentage of the local
authorities practice e-Government. Based on 144
local authorities as the final study sample, they
found that only 78 authorities maintained Web
sites and of these, 16.2% disclosed some financial
information on the Web sites. The percentage
of local councils having Web sites (54.2%) was
encouraging but the number of local authorities
adopting e-Government was relatively small (11
out of 144; 7.6%). Their study was primarily
focused on identifying the number of local authorities adopting e-Government and if they did
adopt, the extent of financial and non-financial
information provided in the Web sites. However,
they did explore other types of information or
services provided to the public.
In addition, Said, Ghani, Mohd Nasir, & Othmans (2001) study also examined the factors that
lead the local authorities to not adopt e-Government. Among the factors identified are lack of IT
qualified staff in the finance department, lack of
awareness on the importance of e-Government
among the staff, and lack of facilities. Due to the
increase in budget and staff in the government
agencies, it would be interesting to examine
whether the adoption of e-Government among the
local authorities in Malaysia has evolved over the
decade and if not, what are the factors that hinder
the government agencies to adopt e-Government.
Under the New Public Management (NPM)
policy, the Ministry of Local Government and
Housing is targeting all LGAs to offer e-Government services (Ahmad & Othman, 2007).
Their aim is to develop a common platform and
approach to e-Government in order to increase the
economies of scale and reduce the burden of the
smaller LGAs. Salleh (2004) reported that 67% of
city councils and 71% of municipal councils have
their Web sites linked to outside organizations.
However, the implementation of e-Government

has not received great response due to fundamental
problems of access, security, and privacy (Hazman,
2006). These problems have caused an increased
pressure from the public for the LGAs to increase
the quality of services provided.
In summary, this study examines the development of e-Government services or e-PBT among
the Malaysian local authorities over the last
decade in their attempt to enhance their service
quality and performance. Specifically, this study
examines the content of e-PBT by investigating
whether the local authorities are taking advantage
of the features of the Internet in providing quality
service and public outreach. The findings of this
study would, hopefully assist information system
designers in the public sector to understand how
to use and manage information technologies in
improving decision-making and to gain competitive advantage when adopting e-Government.
RESEARCH DESIGN
The main aim of the study is to examine the development of e-Services among Malaysian local
authorities. Specifically, this study examines:
1. Changes on the number of local authorities
that have their Web site from 2001 to 2010.
2. Patterns of non-interactive information disclosed by the local authorities from 2001 to
2010.
3. Development in terms of e-facilities offered
by the local authorities from 2001 to 2010.
4. Factors that hinder or motivate the development of e-Services among local authorities.
This study achieves these objectives by way
of content analysis and interviews.
Sample and Data Collection

LGAs in Malaysia are the sample chosen in this
study. At present, there are 147 LGAs in Malaysia. These local authorities comprised 12 City
Councils (CC), 39 Municipal Councils (MC), and
96 District Councils (DC). Local authorities are
chosen in this study because they are the lowest
tier in the Malaysian government and therefore,
are expected to have the most interaction with
the public at large. Since the local authorities are
supposed to have close interaction with the public,
it is very important for them to be able to deliver
government services efficiently and effectively.
The efficient and effective delivery of government services to the public is the core objective
of e-Government (Alhabshi, 2008).
The list of Malaysian local authorities and
their Web site addresses were obtained from
the official portal of the Department of Local
Authorities under the Ministry of Housing and
Local Government. Although this study extends
the earlier study of Said et al. (2001), it is necessary to update the lists of local authorities to
incorporate any changes in the number of LGAs
since the year 2001. Upon obtaining the Internet
addresses of the LGAs, each of these Web sites
was visited to obtain the data needed in this study.
A number of the local authorities Web site could
not be accessed in the first round of data collection
with reasons provided on the screen as cannot
be found or object cannot be found, indicating that either their Web sites were down or no
longer available during the attempt to access it.
The researchers made several attempts to contact
the local authorities to determine the accuracy of
their Web site addresses or to obtain the correct
addresses. The timeframe for the data collection
is six months.
Twenty managers from the local authorities
were also selected based on convenience sampling.
These managers were approached via telephone or
email requesting them to participate in this study
as interviewees. Out of the twenty top managers
295
approached, thirteen agreed to become interviewees. The researchers then set the time and place
to call or meet the interviewees based on their
convenience. On average, each interview lasted
about 1 to 2 hours. A list of interview questions
was prepared to determine the factors that promote
or hinder the adoption of e-Government in their
LGA. A summary of the interviewees answers
to each question were written down during the
interview and were either shown or read to them
for their validation.
Research Instrument
This study uses two instruments to achieve its
objectives. The first instrument is content analysis.
Under this instrument, a checklist was developed.
Basically, the checklist is adapted from Said,
Ghani, Mohd Nasir, & Othman (2001) with minor
modifications in order to make comparison with
the current study. The checklist has three parts. The
first part is concerned with identifying the number
of local authorities in Malaysia and whether these
authorities have Web sites.
The second part of the checklist involves
identifying local authorities Web site that has
non-interactive information. Non-interactive
information refers to any information available
on the Web site that does not allow interaction
with the visitors and is mostly concerned with
the profile of the local authorities. These include
all latest information and services offered online
such as mission, vision, objective, logo, and motto.
The third part of the checklist is concerned with
interactive information in the Web sites (if any).
Interactive information refers to e-Services that
allow the visitors to interact with the Web site.
There are seven features of interactive information
namely, e-payment, e-complaint, e-assessment,
e-compound, e-rental, e-licensing, e-submissions,
and e-community
The second instrument used in this study is
interview sessions. Interview sessions are used to
identify the factors that hinder or motivate the local
296
authorities to have a Web site. If they do have a

Web site, this study also examines the factors that
determine the extent and type of information or
services provided in the local authoritiesWeb site.
Research Procedure
Two stages of research procedure in this study were
performed. The first stage involved completing
the checklist developed in this study. This study
adopts the un-weighted score in order to avoid
subjectivity in judging the weight of importance of
the items disclosed in the local authoritys Web site.
Un-weighted score involves assigning the same
weight of importance to all information items.
Specifically, a local authority is given a score of
1 if it discloses an information item on its Web
site. On the other hand, it is given a score of 0
if it does not disclose the information item on its
Web site. This method is similar to the method
used by West (2004) in his evaluation of the Web
sites of the various state governments of USA. A
similar method is also used by studies examining disclosure index in public listed companies
(Cooke, 1992; Wallace, 1988).
The second stage involved telephoning or going to the respective local authorities to interview
the top managers. At this stage, the top managers
were approached to determine the factors that
hinder or motivate the local authorities to develop
a Web site. The interview questions also included
the factors that determine the extent and type of
information provided.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The primary focus of this study is to determine
development in the provision of e-Government
services among the local government authorities
in Malaysia. The results of the content analysis and
interviews conducted by the study are analysed
based on the four specific objectives discussed in
the previous section.
Changes in the Number of

LGAs with Web Sites
country as well as the levels of revenue generated by each LGA. All 147 LGAs in the year 2010
have their own Web sites, which is a marked
improvement from year 2001 when only 78 of
the 144 LGAs had them. This represents a 45.8
percentage point increase from year 2001. From
this result, it can be said that the LGAs have met
the target set by the Ministry of Local Government
and Housing, under its NPM policy, at least in the
preparation of providing e-Government services.
The first objective of the study was to examine

the changes in the numbers of LGAs that had Web
sites between 2001 and 2010. Table 2 provides
the descriptive statistics of the number of LGAs
in Malaysia by state. Panel A is the percentage of
LGAs that have/do not have a Web site in 2001
(Said, et al., 2001), and Panel B exhibits the
number of LGAs that have Web sites in 2010.
The number of LGAs by state in Panel B was
obtained from the official portal of the Department
of Local Authorities.
From Table 2, it can be seen that the number
of local authorities has increased from 144 to 147.
The changes in the number of LGAs is mainly
due to the restructuring of the LGAs in each state
since 2001 to better reflect the current status of
population spread in the various states within the
Disclosure of NonInteractive Information

The second objective of the study was to examine the pattern of non-interactive information
disclosed by Malaysian LGAs in the years 2001
and 2010. Table 3 disclosed the pattern and types
of non-interactive information disclosed in both
years.
Table 2. Number of LGAs in Malaysia with web sites

States
No. of
LGAs
Panel A
Panel B
2001
2010
Web site
No.
No.
No Web site
No.
No. of LGAs
Web site
No.
1.
Perlis
100
100
2.
Kedah
11
36
11
11
100
3.
Pulau Pinang
100
100
4.
Perak
15
60
40
15
15
100
5.
Selangor
100
12
12
100
6.
Melaka
67
33
100
7.
Negri Sembilan
86
14
100
8.
Johor
12
11
92
15
15
100
9.
Pahang
15
47
53
11
11
100
10.
Trengganu
29
71
100
11.
Kelantan
12
42
58
12
12
100
12.
Sarawak
26
23
20
77
26
26
100
13.
Sabah
22
13
59
41
22
22
100
14.
Wilayah Persekutuan
67
33
100
144
78
54.2
66
50.1
147
147
100
297
Table 3. Types of non-interactive information disclosed in 2001 and 2010

Non-interactive information
2001 (N=78)
No
2010 (N=147)
Rank
No
1.
Introduction, back-ground, Profile/ History
78
100
147
100
2.
Mission/Vission/Objective
76
97
147
100
3.
Organization Chart
57
73
147
100
4.
Services/ Facilities/Function
54
70
147
100
5.
YDP/ Mayor statement
52
66
147
100
6.
Tender and licences information
20
25
147
100
7.
Event calendar/planning
20
25
147
100
8.
Complaints/suggestion/feedback
18
23
147
100
9.
Tourism information/interesting places
13
16
147
100
10.
Quality programme
11
14
10
147
100
11.
Mascot/Logo/Official flower/flag
11
11
147
100
12.
Accomplishment/current development
12
147
100
13.
Industrial opportunities/incentives
13
147
100
Table 3 has shown an improvement in the

non-interactive information provided by the LGAs
in their Web sites. As can be seen from the table,
in year 2001, most Web sites had varying information content. The only information that was disclosed by all the 78 LGAs with Web sites was the
information on introduction/background and
profile or history of the LGA. The second and
third most popular information disclosed by the
Web sites were the mission/vision/objectives (97
percent of the Web sites disclosing this information) and organization chart (73 percent of the
Web sites disclosing this information). Among
the reasons provided by the management of the
LGAs for the lack of information provided on
their Web sites were the lack of IT qualified staff
and lack of facilities (Said, Ghani, Mohd Nasir,
& Othman, 2001).
In the year 2010, 100 percent of the Web sites
disclosed all the 13 non-interactive information
listed in the table. From the interviews with the
management of several LGAs, they mentioned that
they have increased the number of IT qualified
staff over the years to develop and maintain their
Web sites. This is in line with the governments
298
PSISP strategy introduced in 2003 (Hicks, 2009).

They also mentioned that they have used a significant portion of the government grants provided
to them under the ICT incentive to upgrade their
ICT facilities. The result from this table showed
that the LGAs are ready to provide e-Services to
the public.
Disclosure of Interactive Information

The third objective of the study was to examine
the changes of interactive facilities offered by
the Malaysian LGAs in 2001 and 2010. Table 4
shows the number of LGAs that offer the eight
type of interactive information in their Web site.
From this table, it can be seen that there is an
overall improvement in the information content
from the year 2001. For example, where, in the
year 2001, only e-complaint was available from
all the city councils Web sites and 85.7 percent
of the municipal councils Web sites, it is now
available from all of the LGAs Web sites, irrespective of their status as City Council (CC),
Municipal Council (MC), and District Council
(DC). By making this item available in the Web
Table 4. Types of interactive information disclosed in 2001 and 2010

2001(N=78)
CC
(N=9)
e-payment
77.7%
MC
(N=21)
14.3%
2010(N=147)
DC
(N=48)
4.2%
CC
(N=12)
100%
MC
(N=39)
100%
DC
(96)
38.2%
e-compound
22.2%
76.2%
18.78%
100%
86.1%
44.3%
e-complaint
100%
85.7%
16.6%
100%
100%
100%
e-rental
66.6%
57.1%
20.8%
100%
13.5%
22.5%
e-licensing,
77.7%
71.4%
8.40%
100%
50.0%
36.3%
e-submissions
66.6%
9.5%
4.2%
100%
86.5%
82.2%
e-community
66.6%
57.1%
16.6%
100%
100%
100%
e-assessment
44.4%
19%
2.0%
100%
100%
100%
sites, the LGAs are signaling to the public their

readiness to obtain feedback from the users of
their services as well as their willingness to listen
to complaints.
The other interactive information that has
shown a marked improvement in availability is
e-Community, e-Assessment, e-Payment, and eCompound. In the year 2010, all LGAs provided
interactive e-Community and e-Assessment services as compared to 66.6 percent CC, 57.1 percent
MC and 16.6 percent DC for e-Community and
44.4 percent CC, 19 percent MC, and 2 percent
DC for e-Assessment in the year 2001. According to the top management interviewed, the
provision of these services has enabled them to
enlarge their outreach to the community in their
jurisdictions as well as improve their revenue
from local authority assessments, such as quit
rent and assessment rates. As for e-Payment all
CCs and MCs provided this service in year 2010
as compared to 77.7 percent CC and 14.3 percent
MC in the year 2001. Similarly, all CCs provide
e-Compound services in their Web sites in the year
2010 (22.2 percent in the year 2001). Although not
all the MCs provide this service in their Web site,
the number of councils providing it has increased
from 76.2 percent in the year 2001 to 86.1 percent
in the year 2010. The provision of these services
has also helped the LGAs to increase their rev-
enue. What is encouraging is the increase in the

number of District Councils (DCs) that provide
these services in their Web sites, 38.2 percent
and 44.3 percent, respectively, in the year 2010.
This is a distinct improvement from 4.2 percent
and 18.78 percent respectively in the year 2001.
The result for e-Rental is mixed. Although
the number of city councils and district councils
providing this service in their Web sites has increased in 2010 (100 percent and 22.5 percent
respectively) as compared to the year 2001 (66.6
percent and 20.8 percent respectively), the number
of municipal councils providing this service in
their Web sites has decreased from 57.1 percent
in 2001 to 13.5 percent in 2010.
During the interviews, members of the top
management of several LGAs were asked to
identify the possible reasons why their LGA
or LGAs in general do not provide some of the
e-Services listed in Table 4. Among the reasons
cited by the interviewees are that some of these
services are not relevant to their constituencies or
that there is no demand for them. For example, in
areas where the majority of the people live very
far from town centers, the LGAs generally do not
provide e-Rental services. The cost of transporting
the rented property or equipment is prohibitive.
In areas where the majority of the people do not
possess credit cards due to their low income level,
299
the LGAs generally do not provide e-Payment and/

or e-compound services as these services requires
the use of credit cards.
Factors Motivating the

Development of E-Services
The fourth objective of this research is to determine the factors that motivates or hinders the
development of e-Services among LGAs. From the
analysis of the answers given by the interviewees,
it would seem that they are almost unanimous in
identifying the factors that motivates LGAs to
provide these services. Among the factors are:

300
Meeting the Key Performance Indicators

(KPI)
KPIs established by the state and federal
governments are formed to improve the
quality of service provided to the citizens,
the state and federal governments have
developed several key performance indicators for all government agencies. KPIs help
to clarify the objectives of e-Government,
and in this context, provision of e-Services.
The existence of clear objectives is crucial
to ensure successful e-Government initiatives (Raman, et al., 2007). Based on the
interviews, it was ascertained that among
the KPIs established by the government is
the time taken to process applications and/
or to provide feedback to the customers.
The provision of e-Services has facilitated
the LGAs to meet this KPI. According to
one interviewee, we have managed to
reduce the time taken to process application
for license from fifteen days to one working
day.
Meeting the governments requirement
The government of Malaysia has established
e-Government since 1997 to expedite the
transactions with its customers (Ahmad
& Othman, 2007; Fang, 2002; Said, et al.,
2001). Over the years, the government has
stepped up its efforts to increase the provision

of e-Government services amongst the local
authorities. Several interviewees mentioned
the requirement by the government for all the
local authorities to have a Web site and to
provide e-Services to foster closer relationship with the local community. Apparently,
in the year 2010, all the LGAs have managed
to fulfill the governments requirement to
have a Web site and provide some, if not
all, the e-Services listed in Table 4.
Easing the burden of the staff
One of the benefits of e-Government is that
the use of computerized information systems reduces the workload of government
employees (Masrek, 2009). Furthermore,
since transactions are done online, there is
less need for the staff to interact with the
customers on a face-to-face basis. For example, e-Complaint takes away the burden
of handling disgruntled customers. The
time freed from one-to-one interaction with
the customers can be used on other more
productive work. Perhaps, this is also the
result of the government doing away with
stand-alone systems and implementing more
integrated systems (Alhabshi, 2008).
Convenience of the customers
The non-hierarchical characteristics of the
Internet allow the users to access information
or carry out transactions at their convenience
(West, 2004), and one of the important
benefits of implementing e-Government is
the ability to deliver the services to a large
number of end-users (Raman, Kaliannan,
& Cheng, 2007). This benefit has proven to
be true for the LGAs of the interviewees. In
addiittion, the LGAs have noticed that the
queues in their officers have become shorter.
With e-Services, the customers can carry out
the transactions on-line away from the LGA
offices and outside the office hours as long
as they have access to the Internet. Thus, the
customers do not have to take time off from
their work to attend to these transactions and

wait their turn in the queue to be attended to
by the relevant officers. For some LGAs, the
e-Services they provide have enabled them
to be more transparent in their administrative
processes. For example, several interviewees
mentioned that they provide the criteria for
the application of any government tenders
and the results of the applications on their
Web sites. Thus, the tender procedures and
outcomes are made known, not only to
applicants, but also to any visitors of the
relevant sections of their Web sites.
Factors Hindering the

Development of E-Services
Similar to the factors motivating the provision
of e-Services, the interviewees were also almost
unanimous in their identification of factors that
would hinder LGAs from developing e-Services
in their jurisdictions. These factors are as follows:

Lack of computer ownership and poor

Internet services
Although the majority of the population
for the city and municipal councils own or
have easy access to computers with Internet linkages, the same cannot be said for
the population of district councils. Several
members of management of the district
councils interviewed lament on the lack of
broadband services in many areas of their
constituencies. They also highlighted that
there are many district councils where the
majority of the populations still cannot afford to own computers due to low levels of
income. The lack of computer ownership and
low level of Internet accessibility as a hindering factor was also reported by Said et al.
(2001), West (2004), and Raman, Kaliannan,
and Cheng (2007). It would seem that the
government has not managed to resolve fully
the digital divide issue. The Director-General
of MAMPU, the countrys lead agency for

government modernization, acknowledged
that the Internet access outside the city of
Kuala Lumpur is limited and that Internet
penetration is currently at around 26 percent
(Hicks, 2009).
Low demand
The low ownership of computers amongst
the population of the administrative areas
as well the lack/poor Internet accessibility
results in low demand for e-Services. This
low demand has led the LGAs to delay the
development of some e-Services until a better
Internet infrastructure is built. This outcome
has also been identified by MAMPU in its
monitoring of the e-Government implementation throughout the country (Hicks, 2009).
The Director-General of MAMPU felt that
the low demand is also due to some people
having little interest in using the Internet,
preferring instead more face-to-face interaction. Changing the mindset of this type
of citizens still poses a challenge to the
government (Hicks, 2009).
Services not relevant
As discussed in the earlier section, the management feels that some of the e-Services
are not relevant for their community. Citing
e-payment as an example, they said that, to
do e-payment you need a credit card. Many
of our people do not have a credit card. This
means that e-payment is not relevant for us.
The non-ownership of credit cards may be
a symptom of socio-economic inequalities,
which exists in the country and which the
government is continuously striving to address.
Lack of enforcement
Most LGAs understand the requirement of
the government for them to have Web sites
and offer the e-Services listed in Table 4.
However, to date, none of the LGAs that
do not provide all the required e-Services
have been taken to task by the government.
301
Thus, there is no sense of urgency for them

to develop the systems required to put all
the e-Services in place.
Lack of competent IT managers in
smaller LGAs
This factor was reported by Said et al. (2001)
as one of the factors that hinder the development of e-Government among the local
councils in Malaysia. The top management
of the city councils and several municipal
councils mentioned in their interviews that
they have competent IT staff to manage their
Web sites. Unfortunately this is not so for
the district councils and some smaller municipal councils. Added to their perception
of the low demand for some e-Services by
the public, these interviewees felt that the
funds needed to hire IT competent managers
should be used to meet other more critical
needs of the community.
Apart from the lack competent IT managers,

the other factors described above can be said to
be due to several disparities amongst the citizens,
such as digital divide and income disparity. The
government is aware of these obstacles to the
success of e-Government and is taking steps to
overcome them. For example, under the Government Transformation Program, launched by the
Prime Minister in 2009, two of the key areas to
be attended are raising the standard of living for
the poor and improving infrastructure of the rural
areas (The Star Online, 2009).
THE FUTURE OF E-GOVERNMENT

IN MALAYSIA
The government is constantly taking steps to
broaden the outreach of e-Government. Riding
on the advances in the telecommunications technology that enables mobile phones to access the
Internet, the government introduced mySMS in
2008. This initiative would make e-Government
302
accessible to the 28 million mobile phone users

in the country. Collaborating with the telecommunication service suppliers, it is targeting to be
fully web-mobile ready by 2015 (Hicks, 2009).
With respect to ICT infrastructure, the government is setting up a consortium, made up of major
telecommunication and Internet service providers,
to buy international bandwidth for Internet traffic
in an effort to lower the costs of providing access
to the Internet (Leong, 2011). This will form
the groundwork since under the Tenth Malaysia
Plan (2011-2015) the government is targeting
75 percent of the households to have broadband
Internet connection by 2015. To stimulate demand
for broadband, the government aims to introduce
several incentives, which include tax rebates for
broadband subscription (The Economic Planning
Unit, 2010).
The Tenth Malaysia Plan also lays out the
governments plans for improving G2B interactions. These include upgrading of the current
G2B interface into MyGovXchange. This portal
will become the single gateway for businessesgovernment transactions covering registration,
license application, and applications for loans
and grants. Alongside this portal, the government
is also planning to develop other portals such as
Customs portal and MyExport portal to facilitate
the import-export trade (The Economic Planning
Unit, 2010).

This study examines the development of eServices among local government authorities in
Malaysia. There are other government agencies
in Malaysia namely, the state government agencies and the federal government agencies. These
agencies have bigger responsibilities and population. Therefore, the findings of this study may
not be similar if conducted on such agencies. It
would be interesting to further examine this issue
with a focus on other agencies such as the state
government agencies and the federal government

agencies.
In addition, this study examines the development of e-Services among local government authorities in the context of one developing country,
Malaysia. The findings on the development of
e-Services in Malaysia may not be generalized to
other countries, particularly developing countries.
Future researches could be conducted to examine
the development of e-Services in other developing countries and perhaps extend the study into
comparative study between Malaysia and other
developing countries.
CONCLUSION
This study examines the development of e-Government, specifically e-Services, among Malaysian
local authorities. Four issues were examined,
which include the changes on the number of local
authorities that have Web sites over the last decade
(2001 to 2010), the patterns of non-interactive
information disclosed by the local authorities
over the last decade, the development in terms
of e-Facilities offered by the local authorities
over the last decade, and the factors that hinder
or motivate the development of e-Services among
local authorities.
The finding on the first objective of the study
revealed that all (100%) of 147 LGAs in the year
2010 have their own Web sites which is a marked
improvement from the year 2001 where only 78
of the 144 LGAs had Web sites. This represents
a 45.8 percentage point increase from the year
2001. From this result, it can be said that the
LGAs have met the target set by the Ministry of
Local Government and Housing, under its NPM
policy, at least in the preparation of providing
e-Government services.
The finding on the second objective of the
study discovered that there is an improvement in
the non-interactive information provided by the
LGAs in their Web sites. For each type of non-
interactive information, the percentage of LGA

that disclosed the information increased to one
hundred percent.
Similarly, the finding on the third objective of
the study has shown a marked improvement in
the availability of each category of e-Services in
the Web site of each type of LGAs. This finding
implies the readiness of Malaysian LGAs to go
through significant changes in service delivery
aimed at meeting ever increasing demand for
improvement in the service provision by the
recipients of the public service.
Findings from this study discovered that some
of the LGAs have gone through a significant
improvement in the e-Services. The results of the
interviews conducted revealed that among the factors motivating the drastic increase of e-Services
were to meet the Key Performance Indicators
(KPI) established by the state and federal governments, to meet governments requirement, to ease
the burden of the staff, to improve transparency,
and to provide more convenience service to the
customers.
On the other hand, lack of computer ownership and poor Internet services, low demand
on e-Services by local community and lack of
competent IT managers in smaller LGAs were
cited as the main reasons for hindering development of e-Services especially among the small
size LGAs. These disparities were also raised
by other researchers (e.g. Masrek, 2009, Raman,
Kaliannan, & Cheng, 2007; Said, Ghani, Mohd
Nasir, & Othman, 2001) on the implementation
of e-Government, efforts are being taken by the
government to overcome the disparities.
The findings of this study indicate that the
LGAs are implementing e-Services, or have
systems in place to offer e-Services that have
been identified. This should make it easier for
the government to rollout more e-Services to the
LGAs under its NPM policy to help drive the
country into developed nation status by the year
2020. However, issues of the citizens disparity
and the lack of competent IT personnel in the
303
smaller LGAs need to be addressed in order to

achieve the core objective of e-Government i.e.
effective and efficient delivery of government
ervices to its citizens.
The implementation of e-Government is still
evolving. New e-Government initiatives are in
the pipeline. In the process of developing and
implementing the new initiatives, the government should not lose sight of the core objective
of e-Government. Therefore, in its attempt to
form more collaborations and partnerships with
the private sector, the focus should be to enhance
acceptability, usability, and accessibility of eGovernment in the country.
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E-Government: A way for government to
use the most innovative technologies to provide
public and business with more convenient access
to government information and services.
ICT: Information and communications Technologies.
Local Authorities: Agencies that are the lowest tier in the Malaysian government structure.
E-Services: Services provided to customers
through digital.
307
Chapter 15
E-Waste Management in
East African Community
Edgar Napoleon Asiimwe
rebro University, Sweden
Grnlund ke
rebro University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
The rapidly increased use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) has increased
demand for electronic equipment such as mobile phones and computers. Individuals and government
institutions worldwide are adopting ICTs at a fast pace. Increased consumption has resulted in huge
amounts of e-Waste generated from scrapped electronics. E-Waste contains chemical substances that
have adverse effects on the environment and human health. Consequently, handling of e-Waste needs to
be organized in ways that minimize the adverse effects. This chapter investigates how the East African
Community (EAC) governments, i.e., Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, conceive their
role in combating negative impact of e-Waste and how their views and current actions compare to the
current state of the art practices in e-Waste management. As data on e-Waste handling in EAC countries
is not publicly available, semi-structured interviews with high government officials and a literature review
were conducted. The results show that EAC governments consider e-Waste to be an emerging problem.
Despite this awareness and attempts to mitigate the problem in some of the countries, there are currently
no solid solutions that have been crafted to rectify or mitigate this problem. The study suggests practical
solutions for resolving e-Waste challenges in EAC.
INTRODUCTION
The hugely increased use of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) has raised
concerns related to health and environmental
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch015
degradation. Despite their constructive role in

improving public sector activities, their farreaching implications are surfacing critics. From a
perspective of a green environment and sustainable
development, Green IT is required for the safety
of living things and the environment. Tedre et al.
(2009) suggest that ICT development without an
E-Waste Management in East African Community
eye on environmental protection is not sustainable (p. 1). Green IT is a computing sustainable
strategy, and development towards e-Government
requires governments to strengthen their role in
environmental management and preservation using such a strategy.
E-Government was earlier sometimes narrowly defined as the use of ICTs by government
agencies. Today, its meaning and the general
conceptual outlay has greatly broadened. The
European Commission (EC) defines it as the use
of ICT combined with organizational change and
new skills in order to improve public services and
democratic processes (EU, 2001), and the OECD
definition is the use of ICTs, and particularly
the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government
(OECD, 2003, 2009; Grnlund, 2010; emphasis
by authors). e-Government is today most typically
described as an open, dynamic sociotechnical
system (Dawes, 2009), in which governments
play a pivotal role.
This increased e-Government ambition is
imperative as many government actions related
to e-Government affect the entire society, such
as cyberlaws, privacy regulation, Internet and
telecom infrastructure, etc. Hence, increasingly,
governments are taking a governance perspective,
which means they see themselves as the regulator
of many processes, performed by multiple actors,
related to ICT usage in society, and as guarantors
for the quality of those processes. From this perspective, it is obvious that issues like e-Waste are
part-and-parcel of e-Government or governance.
It is on most governments agenda to increase and
improve ICT usage in society while at the same
time working towards environmentally sustainable
processes. Therefore, whether the consumption of
ICT products is by private business, government
institutions, or individuals, governments remain
the custodians for ensuring proper recycling.
Governments have the necessary power factor than
other non-governmental actors and so should be
the key activists for a greener development. Governments are also mandated to put in place proper
308
regulation procedures regarding the importation

of ICT products. Through sensitization, creating
guidelines and standards, and building e-Waste
legal frameworks and policies in collaboration
with the private sector and individuals, procedures
for the recycling of e-Waste can be controlled. At
the international level, governments are equally
responsible for global health and environmental
issues. Thus, it should be demanded that they
participate in solving such problems as e-waste.
The objective of this study is to investigate
the conceived role and actions of governments in
EAC towards management and control of e-waste.
The following are the studys research questions:
1. How do East African Community governments conceive their role in combating
negative impact of e-waste? and
2. How do their views and current actions
compare to the current state of the art in
e-Waste management?
The overall contribution of this study is that it
assesses the extent to which the governments actions are practical, sustainable and concur with the
current state of the art in e-Waste management in
the EAC region. The study also suggests efficient
and effective solutions based on other studies and
practices in other countries.
BACKGROUND
ICTs play a significant role in areas of development
such as health (Kleine & Unwin, 2009), education
(Hayford & Lynch, 2003), public administration,
etc. However, they are expensive to acquire and
maintain. Difficulty in acquiring ICT hardware
and software in developing regions has led to
consumption of second hand products and software
piracy. Some of the second hand products that
are nearing the end of their lifecycles as useful
products are commonly referred to as e-Waste
(Schluep, et al., 2008). Beyond the affordability
factor, Nnorom and Odjango (2007) show that

e-Waste is internally generated or imported illegally as used goods in an attempt to bridge the
so-called digital divide (p. 844).
Economically, urbanization and the growing
demand for consumer goods in different regions of
the world have increased the demand and supply of
electronic products (Babu, et al., 2007). This has
lead to increased volume of e-waste. For example,
Robinson (2009) shows that computers, mobile
telephones, and television sets will contribute 9.8
million tons to the e-Waste stream by 2015. In
other words, this is an increase of 4.2 million tons
from 2010 to 2015 only counting e-Waste from
computers, mobile telephones, and television sets.
A study by Greenpeace in 2008 estimated that in
Europe and USA, 25% and 20%, respectively,
of the e-Waste is recycled safely (Greenpeace,
2008). It also shows that China and India, with
the biggest populations in the world, have large
informal recycling sectors. For example, 99% of
Indias e-Waste goes to informal recycling sectors.
This indicates that the biggest portion of e-Waste
generated worldwide is not properly recycled.
It is clear that some of the discarded electronic
gadgets contain highly toxic materials (Liu, 2009).
Toxic materials can cause devastating health
problems such as cancer. In addition, e-Waste
pollutes the environment. Therefore, poorly disposed ICT products such as computer hardware
pose health threats to society. As the number
of ICT users grows, e-Waste will increasingly
become an environmental or health hazard. On
top of other direct problems associated with use
of ICT, e-Waste may discredit ICT as a tool for
development, especially in poor regions which
may have problems with capacity to effective
deal with and dispose of e-waste.
E-WASTE DEFINITIONS
E-waste, also known as Waste of Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (WEEE), or Electronic
waste is defined in various ways by different researchers. Davis and Heart (2008) and ewasteguide
(2009) define e-Waste as obsolete, end-of-life, or
discarded appliances that use electricity. Peralta
and Fontanos (2005) define e-Waste wider as
electronic products that no longer satisfy the
needs of the initial purchaser (p. 34). This definition qualifies all second-hand products as waste.
The term e-Waste encompasses computers and
their peripherals, consumer electronics, fridges,
etc. that have been disposed of by first-hand users. However, the term is also used generically to
describe all waste containing electrically powered
components which are valuable but hazardous
and may require special handling and recycling
methods.
Some definitions of e-Waste reflect divergent
but significant meanings. The Peralta and Fontanos (2005) definition renders products that are
fully functional but no longer serve the needs
of the original purchaser as e-waste. The nature
of some of these used electronics may not suit
such definitions. For example, a consumer can
buy a product B before their previously bought
product A is obsolete, i.e., it has been used for a
month when its end-of-life time is 3 years. The
consumers action could result from luxurious
needs or product preferences, e.g., new technology
features appearing in a new version of the product.
Disposal of product A should not qualify it to be
e-waste if it will be productively and safely used
by a secondary user at any time in its life time.
This is important, as taking away the opportunity
to re-use working products would not only be a
significant waste of resources but also take-away
the livelihood for most people in the world, or
make it illegal. Accordingly, for the purposes of
the current discussions, this chapter takes a middle
ground between the above definitions by largely
adopting Davis and Hearts notion of waste being
products that have reached at the end of their life,
but adding the requirement that this end of life is
determined not only by economic factors but also
by health and environmental implications. Thus,
309
when a product is no longer safe to use it should

be considered waste even if some user somewhere
in the world might be tempted to use it in lack of
means to acquire a better product.
E-WASTE HISTORY AND

CONTEMPORARY DISCOURSE
The e-Waste concept came to light as far back
as the 1970s following the environmental degradation that resulted from hazardous waste that
was being imported to the developing countries
(Shinkuma & Huong, 2009). In reaction to hazardous waste importation, the Basel Convention
on the control of trans-boundary movements of
hazardous waste and its disposal was instituted
in 1992 to control the situation. Since then, many
countries have become active participants of the
convention, and environmental organizations who
promote green IT have confronted the problems
with numerous solutions such as putting in place
robust and context-aware policies. The Basel
Convention still plays a role in banning exportation of obsolete products and engineering waste
solutions. For example, its theme in 2006 was to
create innovative solutions for the environmentally sound management of electronic waste
(Buenker, 2007, p. 22). However, the convention
does not regulate secondhand items and some eWaste scrap (Shinkuma & Huong, 2009, p. 26)
and some traders take advantage of this factor to
export e-scrap as secondhand items.
The e-Waste phenomenon has increased due
to rapid adoption and use of ICTs which has
contributed to the increase in e-Waste stream.
It is said to be one of the fastest growing waste
streams (Cairns, 2005); growing at a rate of 35%
per annum, i.e., approximately three times faster
than ordinary municipal solid waste (Davis &
Heart, 2008). Such an increase has attracted the
attention of many governments, individuals and
researchers due to concerns for greener environments and human health.
310
The European Union (EU) has implemented

two directives, i.e., Directive 2002/96/EC on
WEEE and Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances
in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS)
(Peralta & Fontanos, 2005). The directives enforce
an extended producer responsibility system and
encourage reuse, recycling and recovery, and
minimizing the environmental impact of e-Waste
(Schmidt, 2005; Wen, et al., 2006; Dwivedy &
Mittal, 2009). In addition, EU uses the concept
of QWERTY/EE (Quotes for Environmentally
Weighted Recyclability and Eco-Efficiency) to
improve or enable environmental performance of
end-of-life products (Huisman & Stevels, 2004).
The QWERTY/EE strategies include determining:
(1) weight based recycling and recovery targets,
(2) restriction on hazardous substances, (3) treatment rules for recyclers, (4) minimum collection
amounts, and (5) outlet rules for recyclers.
Other countries such as the USA, Japan, and
China, have also amended laws for e-Waste management. In China, regulations that specifically
deal with e-Waste are implemented. For example,
the Management Measures for the Prevention of
Pollution from Electronic Products regulation
aims at prohibiting environmentally adverse
processing of e-Waste and reducing utilization
of hazardous and toxic substances in electronic
appliances (Xianbing, et al., 2006).
Beyond regulations, researchers have suggested various strategies of mitigating e-Waste
problems and proposed solutions that lead to DfE
(Design for Environment) or Green IT. Some of the
suggested strategies include methods and models
for predicting the flow of e-Waste and assessing
environmental impact of ICTs. Shinkuma & Huong
(2009) argue that a system for tracking/tracing eWaste information is required. Therefore, models
like Material Flow Analysis (MFA); a method
applied to support the material and substance flow
management in the waste (Streicher-Porte, et al.,
2005) is required for e-Waste mitigation. Wang
and Chou (2009) have also studied user behavior
and willingness to recycle. Their study shows

that, besides demographic variables (females
willingness to recycle is higher than males) and
educational level (elites are more inclined to
recycle), emerging IT technology and recycling
delay time determine users willingness to recycle.
All these developments have emerged rapidly in
the past few years due to urgent needs for a green
environment and Green IT.
significant in all countries. The number of ICT

users is expected to rise further after constructing
broadband networks. This suggests that there will
be a further increase in the e-Waste stream.
METHOD
The following were the target research questions
in this study:
ABOUT THE EAST

AFRICAN COMMUNITY

negative impact of e-waste? And
compare to the current state of the art in
e-Waste management?
The East African Community comprises five

countries; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda,
and Burundi, countries where ICT use is developing rapidly. For example, mobile markets in the
EAC region are among the most liberalized on
the African continent (ITU, 2009). In terms of
usage, Kenya is leading with 18.5 million mobile
subscribers, while Tanzania has 17.3 million and
Uganda 11.8 million (Hellstrm, 2010). The UN
global e-Government on Telecommunication infrastructure index and its components also shows
that there has been an improvement in use of ICTs
in the EAC region (UNPAN, 2010).
Table 1 shows statistics extracted from the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNPAN) surveys of 2010 and 2003 on Internet, mobile phone, and personal computer usage
(UNPAN, 2010; UNPAN, 2003). The differences
in the number of users between 2003 and 2010 are
The study essentially utilsed two qualitative

methods: (1) semi-structured interviews that primarily answered the first research question and
(2) literature review on electronic waste, which
primarily answered the second research question.
LITERATURE REVIEW: PAPER

SEARCH AND SELECTION
Google scholar and ELIN@rebroan Electronic
Library Information Navigator at rebro Universitywere used to search for relevant articles
from the Web. e-Waste, electronic waste, e-Waste
management, Green IT, and East Africa Community
Table 1: ICT use in EAC year 2010 and 2003*

Country
Year
Estimated Internet users (in %)

2003
Mobile phone users (in %)
2010
2003
Personal computers (in %)
2010
2003
2010
Uganda
0.2518
7.90
1.59
27.02
0.29
1.69
Kenya
1.5978
8.67
4.15
41.88
0.56
1.37
Tanzania
0.2977
1.22
1.27
30.62
0.36
0.91
Rwanda
0.2516
3.09
1.1
13.61
0.30
Burundi
0.0875
0.81
0.45
5.95
0.85
* Figures in the table are converted to percentages.
311
were used individually and in combination as keywords in the search process that yielded 36 articles.
A snowball technique was used to find more articles,
which yielded another seven articles, making up a
total of 43. In the snowball method, references or
bibliographies of cited articles are examined and
used to obtain more papers. All selected articles
were published after year 2000.
INTERVIEWS
In addition to the literature review, semi-structured
interviews were conducted face to face with
respondents in all countries except Tanzania
where the interviews were made by telephone,
with cognizance of the fact that e-Waste data for
developing countries is hardly available at all
(Robinson, 2009). To prevent this setback from
hindering the study, interviews were required to
find out what countries were doing regarding eWaste management. Meeting and interviewing
officials in charge of issues related to e-Waste
and environmental management led to the access
of more tangible information (undocumented and
documented) not available on the web. As listed
in the section below, two public sector officials
from each country were interviewed.
SELECTION OF RESPONDENTS
The selection of respondents was based on recommendations made by embassies and ministries for
each country. Requests for government officials
working on e-Waste issues were submitted to
embassies in Sweden (for Kenya and Tanzania)
and to ministries in charge of ICT and environment (for Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi). The
embassy of Burundi in Switzerland also helped
in identifying the ministries in charge. In reply
to the requests, contacts of specific people were
provided and finally the following people emerged
as respondents.
312
Kenya:
1. The principal compliance and enforcement officer, National Environment
Management Authority (NEMA)
2. The senior assistant director, Directorate
of e-Government.
Uganda:
1. The Information Technology Officer,
Ministry of ICT
2. The Environment Inspector, National
Environment Management Authority
(NEMA).
Tanzania:
1. The Director of ICT Ministry of
Communications, Science, and
Technology
2. The senior environmental officer,
Vice Presidents Office, division of
environment.
Rwanda:
1. The acting Director of the Directorate
of ICT Applications, Cyber Security,
and Postal Services
2. The acting Director of the Environmental
Regulation and Pollution Control Unit.
Burundi:
1. The advisor to the president (ICT)
and Technical Director of the
Ministry of Transport, Posts and
Telecommunications
2. The advisor to the Minister; Ministry
of Water, Environment, Physical
Planning, and Urbanization.
RESEARCH SCOPE AND

SELECTION OF INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
The five countries of the EAC, i.e., Uganda, Kenya,
Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, were chosen for
the case study. The region is at high risk of e-Waste
due to tremendous ICT reforms. In addition, the
five countries have joined a regional federation
which means reforms in one of the five countries

can easily spread to the others.
The interviews were guided by a checklist that
contained contemporary ideas discussed in the
e-Waste literature. Although most of the models
used in e-Waste literature focus on e-Waste data
tracking and analysis, there are also concepts
which promote Green IT. The study followed
some of the concepts of the Electronic Product
Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), the
Basel Convention, and the EU e-Waste directives
(Appendix B) to formulate interview questions and
conduct the interviews. The questions focused on
the following themes/issues:
a. Awareness of the problem.
b. Governments initiatives for e-Waste management, when and why were initiatives
started?
c. Legislation.
d. Current and future e-Waste management
strategies.
e. Collaboration between government and
private sector organizations in efforts to
mitigate e-Waste problems.
f. Participation in environment conventions
There are many categories of e-Waste. This
study and its research instruments focus on the
third among the ten categories listed in the EU
directive on WEEE, i.e., information technology

and telecommunications equipment (Figure 1)
(Streicher-Porte, et al., 2005; Widmer, et al., 2005).
Figure 1 shows the list of e-Waste categories according to the EU WEEE directive.
RESULTS
This section presents the results of the interviews
by country. Information sources are the interviewees where nothing else is explicitly mentioned.
Kenya
Kenyas ICT industry is growing at a faster
rate. The respondents stated that the rate of ICT
acquisition, specifically computers and mobile
technologies, is increasing rapidly. Most ICT
products come from EU countries such as the UK,
Asian countries such as China and Malaysia, and
the USA. Generally, ICT imports are new because
citizens and businesses are generally discouraged
to procure old products. However, there is a considerable portion of refurbished and old products
brought into the country through various channels
such as NGO donations to institutions like schools.
The primary reason for importing refurbished and
old products is that people prefer cheap goods as
they cannot afford brand new ones.
Figure 1. EU e-waste categories (Widmer, et al., 2005, p. 439)
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Kenya lacks a regulatory framework for eWaste management. Mureithi et al. (2008) show
that Kenya has no legislation governing e-waste
(p. 507). Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA), which oversees the procurement
process in the public sector, is said to have not
seriously considered end-of-life effects of products procured. One of the respondents suggested
adjusting procurement policies by formulating
environmentally sound policies.
There are environmental regulations that
are not specifically designed for e-waste. These
include the waste management regulations of
2006 enforced by NEMAthe institution that
implements all policies relating to the environment. These laws help in controlling generation,
handling, transportation, storage, and disposal of
waste that threatens public health, the environment, or natural resources. There is also an ICT
policy instituted by the Ministry of Information
and Communications (MoIC) in 2006. The policy
requires electronics dealers to demonstrate their
readiness to minimize the effects of their infrastructure on the environment in order to have their
licenses renewed.
In addition, Kenya has a strategic plan (20062010) that aims at creating an enabling environment through policy, legal and regulatory reforms
(Waema & Mureithi, 2008, p. 8). Implemented
by the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources (MENR), the plan describes hazardous waste and pollutants. The environmental
awareness is high; however, it is rather focused
on other environmental issues than e-waste. One
of the respondents stated that the government is
planning to provide guidelines on how to handle
e-Waste but the sooner this is done remains to be
known as no official instrument has been made
regarding the same.
As one step in the fight against hazardous
waste, Kenya is a signatory to numerous multilateral environmental agreements, including:
(1) the Basel convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and
314
their disposal; (2) the Bamako convention on the

ban of the imports into Africa and the control of
trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes
into Africa; (3) the Nairobi convention which
provides a mechanism for regional (East Africa)
cooperation, coordination, and collaborative actions on solving pollution problems of the coastal
and marine environment; (4) the Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs);
and (5) the Rotterdam convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous
Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.
Respondents emphasized that such agreements are
useful; they promote mechanisms and infrastructure needs for a greener environment. They also
control and provide guidelines for cross boarder
movements of hazardous components.
On the question of public-private sector
partnerships the respondents stressed that the
government does not want to engage in business.
However, much as there is a need to have facilities
for recycling and re-use, such facilities have to be
run by private sector organizations. For example,
in 2008, the National Environment Management
Authority (NEMA) signed a memorandum of understanding with an NGO, i.e., CFSK (Computer
for Schools Kenya) which set up a recycling plant.
The move was one of the governments deliberate
efforts to work on e-waste. NEMA also supports
other non-governmental and private sector organizations that deal with waste management such as
Practical Action and the Kenya National Cleaner
Production Centre (KNCPC). The government is
willing to collaborate with private sector investors
to control e-waste. The government contribution
is to set up regulations, raise awareness among
citizens, and provide economic incentives such
as tax reductions if need be.
Uganda
The ICT usage is increasing every year in Uganda.
Most imported products are new while others are
refurbished. In some cases, consumers regard
refurbished computers as brand new. However,

one of the respondents revealed that some of the
imports are too old for use and that refurbishing
is a common term used to mask old products.
Using an example of old computers that were
confiscated by NEMA, the respondent recited
that importing repaired products is importing a
problem. Moreover, there are no mechanisms to
determine and prevent transfer of products from
one place to another that are left with less time
to their end-of-life.
USA, EU states such as UK, and Asian countries like China, Japan, and Singapore, etc. were
mentioned as main sources for imports. Dell and
HP are the most common computer brands. Mobile
phones are mostly from Asia. In 2007, customs
records indicated a total of 29,000 imported computers of which 25,000 were new and 4,000 were
second-hand (Wasswa & Schluep, 2008). Figure 2
shows the growth in the number of computer users
as well as increase in the number of imported old
computers in Uganda.
Regarding e-Waste management, the government acknowledges e-Waste as a serious problem.
In June 2009, a regulation that strictly bans importation of used electronics was passed and came
into implementation beginning January 2010.
According to Bbumba (2009), this regulation aims
at protecting the environment and encouraging
manufacturers to do their work within Uganda.
Currently, there is no policy on recycling or any
specific policy for e-waste. The country uses
existing generic national environment policies

such as the national environment acts of 1995 and
1999 that address solid waste issues (Wasswa &
Schluep, 2008; Schluep, et al., 2008), and the
waste and hazardous waste management regulations of 2000. These regulations are meant for
providing sustainable management of the environment, help in monitoring and implementation of
standards, and regulate management of all waste
for instance solid wastes and hazardous wastes
including: sorting, disposing, internal movement,
transportation, packaging, labeling, trans-boundary movement, notification procedures, and environmental impact assessment. One of the respondents stated that the ICT ministry will come
up with a policy for e-Waste later this year.
In efforts to make ICTs affordable, the government granted tax waivers on brand new computers. The government has also shown interests in
refurbishing and re-use; refurbished goods are
considerably cheaper than brand new goods. In
2007, ICT ministry took an initiative with the
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to promote ICT usage among SMEs
(MOICT, 2010). In 2006, UNIDO had partnered
with Microsoft to make second-hand PCs available to SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)
in developing countries in a safe and sustainable
way and intended to support the establishment
of local sustainable e-Waste recycling facilities
(Wasswa & Schluep, 2008, p. 3). This would
benefit the government if it collaborates with
Figure 2. Growth in the number of users and increase in usage of old computers (Wasswa & Schluep,
2008, p. 3)
315
UNIDO. One of the respondents also mentioned

that the government is in the process of developing
a disposal centre, which should be up by 2011.
At the moment, only plastics and a few metallic
materials are recovered. This is mostly done by
private sector companies.
Private sector organizations are steps ahead
of government in dealing with e-Waste. Due to
challenges involved in recycling, the government
is interested in supporting and partnering with
private sector organizations that are working on
e-Waste management. It is a national policy that
the government should partner with private sector
organizations through the UIA (Uganda Investment Authority), which handles investments. The
governments contribution includes tax waivers
and formulating sound policies.
Regarding environmental agreements, Uganda
is a signatory to the Rotterdam, Basel, and Stockholm conventions, the London Guidelines for
the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in
International Trade of 1987, the World Charter for
Nature of 1982, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer of 1987, and
the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management (SAICM)a policy framework
that promotes chemical safety around the world.
Respondents stated that conventions play a big
role in environmental campaigns.
Rwanda
Rwandas ICT industry is also growing fast. The
respondents asserted that all schools and public
institutions have computers. Exact statistics on
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) use are currently not available but mobile
phone subscriptions are considerably high. A
survey on ICT usage was conducted in May 2010
among all stakeholders including users (citizens).
Respondents noted that there is huge importation
of ICT products due to infrastructure building.
Moreover, with government initiatives such as
316
one laptop per child the number of users is

expected to rise.
Respondents categorized ICT imports as brand
new, refurbished, and old. Brand new imports
constitute a large share because the government
recently stopped importation of old ICT equipment. Respondents also mentioned that although
warranties are provided to users, there are some
poor quality imports especially mobile handsets.
Some donations, which are mostly taken to
schools, also comprise too old equipment for use;
for example, in the first shipment of computers
from Sweden to the National University of Rwanda
all computers were old which rendered other
shipments to be sent back.
Imports mainly come from China, Dubai,
Europe, and Japan, etc., with China emerging as
the leading bulk exporter. Imports from Asia are
cheap. For example, some used computers cost as
little as $80-$100. These are the most preferred
because they are affordable by a majority of the
citizens and businesses.
Regarding recycling, Rwanda has no plan, no
recycling policy, and no solutions for e-waste. Banning of old electronics is done without a law in
place, which renders the exercise very difficult.
The government is still analyzing the situation
and is in the process of formulating an e-Waste
policy. The policy will empower the public sector,
and help in setting up facilities, regulating, and
issuing licenses. So far, one of the deliverables
of this initiative is a draft on Terms of Reference
(ToR) for assessment of e-Waste status and trend.
The ToR was completed in April 2010. E-Waste
is now a priority. By the end of the year all tools
required will be in place and guidelines will be
provided. Respondents also noted that having a
recycling plant would be the most viable solution
to e-Waste but it takes long because it requires
resources. Therefore, the current study may go
a long way in attempting to solve the current
problem and ignite a vision in the government to
provide guidelines for managing e-Waste.
The respondents acknowledged the role of

multilateral environment agreements in controlling e-Waste at the international level, as Rwanda
has a signatory status to many agreements at the
international level. Respondents mentioned some
of these agreements listed in the environment
organic law of Rwanda (Grandslacs, 2010) such
as the Stockholm convention, the Rotterdam
convention, the Basel convention, the Montreal
convention, the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework
Convention on Climate Change, etc. The respondents confirmed that conventions are necessary
because they guide countries in developing their
own policies and regulations.
Regarding private-public partnerships, one
respondent stressed that: the government does
not want to go into business. The same respondent noted that a committee that was mandated to
work on e-Waste suggested that the government
should invest in constructing a recycling plant
or provide support to an investor interested in
recycling business. However, no decision has been
made about the suggestion. Respondents noted
that the best strategy for dealing with e-Waste is
taking a multi-stakeholder approach where the
government, people, NGOs, and the private sector
organizations are involved. Therefore, partnering
with the private sector is a positive strategy.
In summary, the respondents expressed concern
that, given the physical geography of the country,
hazardous objects and substances can flow in rivers and valleys to all parts of the country. Therefore, with continuous ICT development, e-Waste
problems will become more severe so drastic
measures are required. On the other hand, one
of the respondents stated that although e-Waste
is a problem; it is a resource and an opportunity
for creating revenue. This calls for promoting
recycling and re-use.
Tanzania
Tanzania is going through an ICT transformation
so the country is susceptible to benefits as well
as drawbacks of ICT use. The rate of acquiring

computers and mobile phones is high but not
very high. Most ICT imports are from China,
Japan, Malaysia, and the UK. These imports
were described as new, refurbished, or old. The
government encourages new imports but old
imports are also available in large quantities.
There is a problem of controlling quality and
the government is fighting fake products. Respondents stated that the government considers
e-Waste to be a problem and stressed the need for
drastic measures such as formal sector recycling
rather than informal sector recycling. Recycling
is done by the informal sector which has its
own business motives. The government is also
considering tracking and registering all devices
being imported into the country, which can help
to promote quality.
Regarding e-Waste management planning, the
government has no specific solutions for e-waste.
Its role is to provide guidelines, make the public
aware of problems and solutions, and formulate
and implement domestic laws. Awareness of ICT
environmental issues is almost non-existent in
Tanzania and the countrys current legal and regulatory framework is deficient (Tedre, et al., 2009).
The country has general national environmental
regulations such as the NEP (National Environmental Policy) of 1997 that addresses management
of hazardous waste, i.e., how to properly dispose
of waste in an environmental friendly manner.
On issues of public-private sector partnerships,
the government works closely with the private
sector especially on development aspects,
and it prefers private investors to run businesses
due to limited public resources. Private sector
investors are given incentives such as tax waivers and land allocation. The government also
seeks collaboration with NGOs. For example,
it is working closely with UNIDO on refurbishing and e-Waste management issues. Tanzania
is also an active member in many conventions.
Respondents mentioned some of these, e.g., the
Basel and Bamako conventions. They opined that
317
conventions are important in giving directions on

how to formulate domestic laws.
All in all, the government needs to strengthen
its role in formulating environmentally sound policies, supporting the private sector and educating
the public. A course on Green IT was introduced at
University of Tumaini aiming at promoting awareness of ICT environmental issues, for instance the
legal frameworks instituted by the country and
learning how to make e-Waste profitable (Tedre,
et al., 2009). Such initiatives should be promoted.
Burundi
Like the other EAC states, Burundi is experiencing an increase in the number of computer users.
However, the rate of adoption and acquisition
of ICTs is not as high as that of Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, and Rwanda. One of the respondents in
this study asserted that Computers are few but
many people buy mobile phones.
Respondents noted that a big ratio of the import
is from Asia, specifically China and the United
Arab Emirates. The rest comes from EU countries
such as France and Belgium. The imports are
new, old, or refurbished. Respondents mentioned
that most people prefer cheap products such as
those from China. In most cases, cheap ones are
either old or refurbished. Despite this consumer
preference, brand new ICTs take the biggest share
on the market.
E-Waste awareness in Burundi is non-existent.
One of the respondents stated that it has never
been an issue in Burundi and e-Waste lies mostly
in houses not in streets. The government has
no plan for e-Waste management and there is no
recycling policy either. Although some environment management officials in the government are
aware of the problem, No one has brought the
issue to the regulators and to the public.
On an international level, the country is a
signatory to the Bamako, Basel, Stockholm, and
Rotterdam conventions, etc. One of the respondents stated that it is important to be a signatory
318
to environmental agreements although there is not

much action done to enforce such agreements at
the national level. Benefits of conventions mentioned by respondents included policy formulation
on hazardous waste and financial support. All
in all, the government is open to any positive
initiatives including private sector reforms but
the setback is lack of resources and initiators.
E-Waste effects are disastrous and respondents
commended that there should not be a delay in
handling the problem.
DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS
According to Streicher-Porte et al. (2005), most
developing countries lack national regulation or
have law enforcement weaknesses regarding ewaste. The results of our study show this argument;
for example, all the five countries lack concrete
regulations for e-Waste despite the fact that the
number of ICT users is continuously growing
quickly in all countries (somehow slower in
Burundi though). In all the countries, products
consumed are brand new, refurbished, or old.
China is the most prominent provider of cheap
ICT products to the region; most especially mobile
phones and their accessories. These cheap products
are of low quality so their lifetime is short.
All governments encourage use of brand new
products. On the other hand, people prefer cheap
goods and thus old and refurbished products are
also used. In countries such as Uganda and Rwanda
where old products are restricted, old products are
imported under the umbrella of NGOs or through
black markets.
In all countries, governments are aware of eWaste as a serious problem, although the awareness
in Burundi is low. Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and
Uganda have already realized the need to study
the problem and find solutions. Governments
do not want to engage in business, but consider
partnering with private sector organizations as
a positive strategy towards building a robust
infrastructure for handling e-waste. Due to the

considerable financial constraints of ICT users in
developing regions, strategies such as total ban of
old imports are not reasonable. There is a need for
governments to devise ways of refurbishing old
products and lowering prices of brand new ICT
products in Uganda where taxes on brand new
computers were waived.
The five countries have all signed several
international environmental agreements and protocols. This is an indicator of efforts to control
trans-boarder movement of hazardous waste materials. However, international regulations have
less impact without national regulations. E-Waste
policies and guidelines are therefore required at
national level. E-Waste policies should enforce a
take back policy or Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. According to Kahhat et al.
(2008) and Khetriwal et al. (2009), EPR strategies
make manufacturers entirely responsible for collection, recycling and final disposal of products.
In EAC, EPR strategies are implemented by a
few organizations, for example Microsoft through
UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development
Organization) initiatives. Most manufacturers
do not implement a take back system for their
products.
Besides formulating regulations for hindering
the problem, governments should make users
(citizens) aware of how to safely dispose of waste.
People in developing regions have perceived use
value of old materials; old garbage especially
electronics is not disposed of for a long time.
For example, in Burundi most of the waste lies
in homes not on streets. There is also a need for
waste disposal centers because keeping waste
in homes is attributed to lack of waste disposal
centers for certain waste.
E-Waste has many benefits despite its disadvantages. Through proper recycling, there are
opportunities such as employment and waste
bi-products. E-Waste can generate revenue, for
example on average, informal e-scrap recyclers
in Nairobi can earn US$ 3 a day, which is above
the global poverty alleviation target of US$ 1

(Schluep, 2009, p. 3). In 2007 in China, 88.843
million tons of recyclable waste was traded and
recycled at a total value of 34.85 billion USD
(Mo, et al., 2009). Governments should promote
exploration of all these opportunities.
Mitigating e-Waste problems requires understanding the flow of materials through which
waste is generated. There are many models used
to track and analyze the flow of waste materials
and there are tools used to procure long lasting,
environmentally-friendly products. Because
there is not sufficient data on the flow of waste
in EAC member states, governments should use
models such as the MFA model (Appendix B) to
investigate the flow of hazardous materials. It is
equally important for electronic governments to
promote and use green ICTs. Thus, tools such
as EPEAT (Appendix B) should also be used during ICT procurement to assess the environmental
impact of electronic products.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Table 2 summarizes the findings of this study for
all countries that were probed. The findings are
summarized according to interview themes.
CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

This study investigated the conceived role of five
EAC governments in combating electronic waste
and compared the results to current state-of-the-art
in e-Waste management worldwide. The study also
compliments the definitions of e-Waste found in
the literature to also include specific concern with
health and environmental issues. The results show
that Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania are
aware of the e-Waste implications although there
is not much work done to mitigate the problem.
All countries are signatories to multilateral environmental agreements but these agreements have
319
320
Britain, Asian, China,
Malaysia, USA
Brand new, Refurbished and Old for all countries
No recycling policy on ICTs. Each country has general national environment policies for control and proper disposal of waste.
All countries are signatories to more than four international conventions and protocols that tackle environmental issues for example the Basel
convention, the Bamako convention, the Stockholm convention, the Montreal convention, etc.
Conventions guide regulators in formulating national laws and help in controlling transfer of hazardous waste across nations. Conventions also
avail opportunities such as financial support to build infrastructures.
Due to challenges for example limited resources such as finances, governments do not want to engage in business and prefer to support the private sector through giving incentives, formulating sound policies, etc.
Description of ICT imports
Recycling policy on ICTs
Multilateral Environmental Agreements
Comments on signatories
Public-private sector partnership
USA, UK, Asian, China,

Japan and Singapore
China, UAE, Europe and

Japan
Very high
China, Japan, Malaysia,

and UK
Average
China, UAE, France and

Belgium
High
Old imports are discouraged and the government is

working closely with NGOs
to introduce a take back
system as well as recycling
Source of ICT importation
Very high
No plans, initiatives
and strategies
Very high
Controls importation of old

ICTs but with no laws
Tanzania is aware of the

problem but apart from
national environment regulations there is no solution
or plan
Tanzania
Importation/acquisition trend/rate of
ICTs (computers and mobile phones)
Government banned importation of old electronics, waived

taxes on computers and is
working closely with NGOs
to introduce a take back system as well as recycling
The awareness is low

and the government has
no plans
Burundi
Government discourages old imports and is

working with NGOs to
introduce recycling and
a take back policy
Government aware of the

problem and intend to
come up with guidelines
and other necessary tools
to control the problem by
the end of 2010.
Rwanda
Comments on each country
Current and future initiatives and

Strategies for e-waste
Government aware of the

problem and intends to formulate policies and guidelines
by the end of 2010
Uganda
Problem acknowledged.
Government in the
process of formulating
a specific policy for
e-Waste
Kenya
Problem awareness - Views on eWaste management planning
Interview themes
Table 2. Summary of findings according to interview themes
so far not had conclusive impact on overcoming

the problems at a national level. Below are the
answers to the research questions:

negative impact of e-waste? The results
show that governments need to meet the
following requirements:
Put in place appropriate and robust

regulation, institututional, and legal
frameworks;
Take a commanding role in problem

investigating;
Educate and sensitize citizens through

environmental campaigns;
Support private sector organizations

and NGOs through incentives such as
tax rebates and land allocation where
company operations can be carried
out;
Promote good practices for greener

environments; and
Collaborate with other countries

through conventions to control transboundary movements of hazardous
material and environmental pollution.
compare to the current state of the art in eWaste management? In comparison to the
current discourse on e-Waste management in
different countries, below are observations
on governments actions:
Governments have signed international agreements to control movement of hazardous materials to and
from their countries.
Rwanda began controlling importation of old electronics with no amended laws. This is not a formal practice
elsewhere, for example, Europe.
Some countries use tracking systems
to trace the flow of e-waste. This not
the case in EAC states.
EAC states use general environment

regulation unlike other countries such
as EU states, which have specific policies for e-waste.
Countries such as Kenya and Uganda
can recycle some of the old materials. Although the work is done by
private sector organizations, these
organizations are supported by the
government, which is also common
elsewhere.
In relation to the above practices, we recommend governments to consider the following:

a. First, study the flow of e-Waste using tracing
systems with a purpose of identifying the
source, distribution channels and quantities
involved;
b. Implement systems for controlling imports;
c. Use proper ICT procurement tools such as
EPEAT to ease the assessment and identification of the best products that are environment
friendly when procuring;
d. Formulate and implement strict e-Waste
policies for cracking down illegal imports;
e. Build a recycling infrastructure and support
local investors in the recycling industry; and
f. Build capacity to manage e-Waste such as
conducting trainings on drafting/formulating
and enforcing regulations, and safe e-Waste
collection and disposal.
In addition, e-Waste has economic benefits
and one way of obtaining these benefits is through
proper recycling which requires building a recycling infrastructure. Since governments are not
interested in making investment in the e-Waste
recycling business, private sectors should be
partnered to build the infrastructure. There is
an urgent need to thwart the problem due to the
fast growing number of ICT users. This calls for
drastic measures.
321
Private sector organizations are at the frontline

in solving the e-Waste problems in EAC states,
especially in Kenya and Uganda. We suggest that
future studies should look at the role of private
sector organizations and research institutions in
e-Waste management especially in the African
context. In addition, future studies should endeavor to review data on imports from customs
agencies to extract actual statistics on the flow of
ICT products in the five countries.
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East African Community: A regional intergovernmental organization of five East African
countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda
and Burundi.
E-Government: Use of information and communications technology for example computers by
public sector organizations to provide electronic
services such as electronic voting and learning.
E-Waste management: Activities that involve
proper disposal of electronic waste products such
as re-use and also educating publics about e-Waste

risks and good disposal practices.
E-Waste: Any electronic equipment that is
considered to be hazardous and does not, in its
functional state, serve any purpose to any intending
user unless the equipment has been refurbished.
Green IT: Environmentally sustainable computing that involves good practice of designing,
manufacturing, using and disposing of computers
and their peripherals in an efficient and effective way with minimal negative impact on the
environment.
IT recycling: The process of disposing of
information and communication gadgets such
as computers, mobile phones, and many others.
WEEE: Acronym that stands for Waste of
Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
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APPENDIX A
Interview Questions
Subject description to the respondent: The trend of ICT use in your country shows that there is continuous growth in the number of users. It is therefore assumed that the country is facing/will face e-Waste
problems. E-Waste describes electronic products such as mobile phone, computers that no longer serve
their initial purpose (are old or faulty) and require proper disposal methods.
1. What is the importation/acquisition trend/rate of ICTs, i.e., computers and mobile phones in your
country?
2. What is the source of these ICT imports?
3. How do you describe these ICT imports?
How does the government consider e-waste?
4. What is the countrys recycling policy on electronics specifically ICTs for the past 3 years?
5. What are the governments considerations for e-Waste management planning?
6. Mention the multilateral environmental agreements your country is a signatory of?
7. What do you say about multilateral environmental agreements in regard to e-Waste control?
8. What is the governments stand on public-private sector partnership in dealing with e-Waste problems?
9. Any other general or specific comments (final remarks) you would like to make?
--End--
APPENDIX B
Interview Questions Checklist (Green IT Strategies, Model, and Legislation)
The concepts below are widely discussed and used in e-Waste literature. In order to identify any developments related to these concepts for example how e-Waste is managed in East Africa Community, we
used these concepts as our guidelines (anonymous to the respondent) during the interviews.
1. EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool)
EPEAT is an environmental tool designed to help public and private sector institutions in evaluating,
comparing and selecting (while buying and procuring) ICTs i.e., desktop computers, laptops and monitors that hold environmental friendly attributes. EPEAT principles (product select principles) include:

326
Promotion of toxics reduction or removal

Promotion of materials efficiency
Promotion of energy efficiency
Promotion of extended product life and sustainable end-of-life management
Promotion of environmentally sound manufacturing
The above principles help in reducing e-waste. For example, products last longer and may not cause
environmental or health problems. Guiding question: Are there any e-Waste assessment tools in East
Africa Community?
2. Basel and Bamako Conventions
The Basel Convention on Control of Trans-Boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their
Disposal bans exportation of hazardous waste across countries especially from developed to developing
countries. It requires exporters to declare any of such products and to seek approval from the government
of an importing country (Shinkuma & Huong, 2009). In 2006, the convention adopted new guidelines
on environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life mobile phones (Buenker, 2007). The
Bamako Convention also bans importation of hazardous waste into Africa and controls trans-boundary
movement of hazardous wastes into the continent. Since EAC states are signatories to these conventions
and many others, we intended to find out how they are implementing the objectives of any convention
to fight against e-waste.
3. EU e-Waste Regulations
European Union (EU) has WEEE directives for example 2002/96/EC and 2002/95/EC directive,
which restrict use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. According to Wen et
al. (2006), RoHS (Restriction on the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic
equipment) directives have many advantages including:

Technology innovation enhancement

Promotion of green design
Environmental protection
Leads to sustainable development
The directives also enforce a system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) where manufacturers
take care of e-Waste product. Guiding question: Is there any such directives in East Africa Community?
4. E-Waste Data Collection and Flow Analysis Models
To be able to track e-Waste flow in a country, methods and systems have to be used to collect and
analyze data based on the flow of purchased and disposed electronics. There are many models suggested
researchers for example the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) (Streicher-Porte, et al., 2005). We intended
to find out whether there are any methods (new models or those in practice used to track e-Waste information). Guiding question: Are there any methods used to track e-Waste information in East Africa
Community?
327
328
Chapter 16
E-Government for
Transparency, Anti-Corruption,
and Accountability:
Challenges and Opportunities for
Central American Countries
Ana Corojan
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain
J. Ignacio Criado
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain
ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the development of e-Government in Central American countries. The study
presents an analysis of the role that e-Government has played during the last decade (2000-2010) in
order to promote transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures. It starts with a definition of the principal concepts of the study and the e-Government development in the Region. It then
reviews the laws and regulations and analyzes Web technology deployment in new agencies that have
been legally established by Central American governments to advance transparency, accountability,
and anti-corruption initiatives. In this context, the research aims to explore the question about whether
information and communication technologies (specifically e-Government) facilitate transparency and
accountability, and limit corruption in developing countries. The results provide support to this general
statement and also suggest that public institutions themselves, and their non-digital procedures, still
play a significant role in promoting more transparent practices. Finally, the text concludes with how to
reinforce the policy of employing digital technology as an instrument for promoting good government
in emerging economies.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch016
E-Government for Transparency, Anti-Corruption, and Accountability
INTRODUCTION
The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) distinguished the second
half of the last Century. However, it was only at the
end of the 1990s that ICTs in public administrations became known as e-Government, with this
change signalling the need to confront the complexity of modern political problems (Dunleavy
& Margetts, 1999; Heeks, 1999) in the framework
of public transformation. Various research studies have highlighted the impact of ICTs in almost
all areas of society, especially in the political,
economic, and social arenas (Castells, 1996).
Moreover, the potential of technology to improve
transparency, participation, and representation has
provoked the growing debate about the relationship between ICTs and political institutions (Oriol,
2005). Thus, the rationale for this study is that the
relationship between transparency, accountability,
corruption, and e-Government has not yet been
clarified. Additionally, the study of the impact of
ICTs in emerging economies still remains in its
infancy; above all regarding the democratic and
networking implications of these types of new
political-institutional systems1.
This chapter addresses the development of
e-Government in Central American countries by
analyzing three specific democratic dimensions
of political systems: transparency, anti-corruption,
and accountability. The core objective is to study
the current usage of e-Government as a platform
(for new agencies, bodies, commissions, institutional networks, etc.,) that has been created to
foster and promote the aforementioned democratic
dimensions. The main research question can be
formulated as follows:
Does e-Government reinforce the fight against
corruption, encourage transparency, and promote
accountability in Central American governments?
This study proposes, as a tentative hypothesis,
that e-Government is a mechanism that favors the
promotion of transparency, accountability, and

non-corruption in countries with emerging economies, because it promotes independent institutions
that specifically seek these institutional ends.
Nonetheless, due to its limitations, this chapter
only provides evidences to explore this hypothesis
instead of providing a conclusive answer.
This chapter analyzes the case of a group
of six, infrequently studied, emerging Central
American economies that employ e-Government.
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and Panama have very similar histories,
geographical positions, and political, institutional,
and socio-cultural features (Garca, 2005; Mart,
2004; Seligson & Booth, 1995). The size and
proximity of these six countries has meant that
they have often been treated collectively in spite
of the fact that Costa Rica is atypical (above all,
from the point of view of political and economic
performance, according to various international
indexes) (Alcntara, 2008). Thus, this geographical area deserves attention in its own right and
offers the opportunity for comparative analysis.
The methodological approach of this chapter
is twofold: Firstly, this work assesses secondary
documents and undertakes a literature review
of previous research on developing countries
and e-Government. Secondly, it focuses on the
legal/institutional dimension regarding transparency, combating corruption and enforcing
accountability in Central American countries
during the last decade. Additionally, it addresses
a procedural/technological dimension focusing
on Web technology deployment across a range of
new agencies legally established by the Central
American governments for the advancement of
the aforementioned democratic dimensions. These
methods facilitate triangulation of the analysis
and conclusions about the significance of eGovernment in order to promote good governance
in Central America.
The remainder of this chapter is organised
as follows: The second section of describes the
significance of e-Government and focuses on its
329
potential relationship with transparency, corruption, and accountability. The third section seeks
to evaluate e-Government in Central American
countries using various indicators and provide
some essential data about its general development.
Next, the lack of transparency and the persistent
problem of corruption in Central American institutions is outlined, along with a description of the
normative landscape to encourage good government across the region. The fifth section analyzes
the Web portals of public agencies devoted to the
advancement of transparency, accountability, and
anti-corruption. In doing so, it sheds light on the
research question and provides an empirical study
of the relationship between institutional reinforcement and e-Government in the countries targeted
in this study. The conclusion summarizes the most
significant aspects of this chapter and makes some
suggestions about possible future research.
E-GOVERNMENT: IMPLICATIONS
IN TRANSPARENCY, CORRUPTION,
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Since the 1990s, the world has borne witness to
the exponential development of ICTs throughout
our societies. The World Wide Web (WWW)
rapidly became a fundamental tool in the growth
of the digital public sector, and people progressively began to talk about e-Government and the
potential that ICTs have when employed to aid in
addressing modern political problems (Dunleavy
& Margetts, 1999; Heeks, 1999; Castells, 1996).
Today, ICTs symbolize an important part of the
agenda of government; they represent a demand
for change and modernization of the state; they
form a new way to communicate with social actors, and they are a tool to facilitate administrative
processes (Reilley & Echeberra, 2003).
One of the most important points in research
is to define the concepts that are being employed.
First, therefore, this study focuses on the theoretical framework that guides it. Here, a thorough
330
contextualization of the terms that the research

analyzes in order to further explore the proposed
model in depth are presented. In general, this study
assumes the importance of transparency, while the
terms corruption and accountability are greatly
related. In some extent, the latter reflects some
dimensions of the former, also in the digital sphere.
ICTs use, especially the Internet, facilitates
the processes of public administrations by improving efficiency and transparency (Dwivedi,
et al., 2009). At the same time, new technologies
enable efficient interaction between governments
and citizens (Mahmood, 2004). The opportunities
that e-Government provide are now apparent in
developed countries, while for developing countries they are principally as follows (Bhatnagar,
2003b; Heeks, 2003; Ndou, 2004):
1. Reduction of costs and efficiency gains
2. Quality in public services to businesses and
customers
3. Transparency, accountability and
anti-corruption
4. Increase in government capacity
5. Networking and community building
6. Improving the quality of decision-making
7. Promoting the use of ICTs in other sectors
of society.
The topic of the present chapter is focused
specifically on the third point: transparency,
accountability, and the fight against corruption.
Transparency
On the first point, we define transparent government as the existence of open institutions that
provide sufficient information about public affairs
without opacity (Gasc, 2005). This implies having access to everything that allows a citizen to
know and judge an institution (Jimnez, 2009).
Transparency can be described as the active distribution of information that allows third parties to
assess the internal functioning or performance of
a governmental organization. Or in other words,

it is actively making information available to
stakeholders, easily and conveniently, so that the
procedures, structures and processes are open to
their evaluation (Jimnez, 2009; Cotino, 2003).
The need for transparency in the region of Latin
America was highlighted in the Iberoamerican
Declaration on Electronic Government (2007).
It also stated that the primary objective of Latin
American governments should be to strengthen
public institutions, reinforce management procedures, and develop transparent e-Government:
The states have to increase the services and
public products s quality and take advantage of
the use of ICTs in order to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency in Government and
Public Administraton(Objectives, E-Government
Iberoamerican Declaration, 2007; bold added)
This aim is supported by previous studies that
indicate that e-Government can increase transparency by extending access to information (Bhatnagar, 2003a; Stutges, 2004; UNDP, 2008). New
technologies cut the cost of obtaining information
about a particular governmental activity, provided
that there are sufficient publications available on
the Web on the activities of the public institutions,
as well as on economic issues and legislation
(Ndou, 2004). At the same time, e-Government
limits arbitrariness by reducing discretion, and
increases the capacity of citizens to supervise civil
servants and politicians decisions (Bhatnagar,
2003a, UNDP, 2008).
In particular, technological advances help
people to have easier access to information; not
only to protest and increase electoral accountability, but also to force the government in advance to
be more responsive to the needs and demands of
the individual. Transparency is a basic principle
by which citizens can monitor policy actions,
commitments and decisions made by political and
administrative institutions (Jimnez, 2009). Araya
also notes that e-Government can be used as a
tool to monitor government performance and that

public and international pressure for transparent
government find a special welcome in this area
(Araya, 2005). Moreover, transparency through
ICTs has been identified as a useful mechanism
to increase the confidence of citizens in government, and political initiatives in general (Tolbert
& Mossberg, 2006).
Accountability
Following the same theoretical line, accountability can be defined as an opportunity for citizens
to judge the activities of its representatives, and
elections then legitimize the representation of
governments (Przeworski, et al., 1999). The term
accountability can thus refer to the perception
of defending or justifying ones conduct to an
audience that has reward or sanction authority,
and where rewards or sanctions are perceived to
be contingent upon audience evaluation of such
a conduct (Beu & Buckley, 2001; Stahl, 2006).
Furthermore, Schedler (1999) distinguishes between two different dimensions of accountability:
the capacity or the right to demand answers and
the capacity to sanction.
Accountability has been tied to concepts of
democracy and legitimacy. Although the need to
link democracy, representation, and accountability
has previously been highlighted (Przeworski, et al.,
1999), nowadays the technological development
makes indispensable a new interpretative shift.
With the aim to take into account the technological
influence in the democratic process, it is essential
to study the impact that ICTs have made to ensure
and enhance transparency in public administration,
a situation that challenges the traditional view of
accountability.
Corruption
In addition, the impact of new technologies,
especially e-Government, can lead to greater
transparency that ensues a reduction in adminis-
331
trative corruption (Bhatnagar, 2003b). Therefore,

e-Government may also help in the fight against
corruption, as argued by Transparency International and the United Nations (2004), given that
it is the major obstacle to economic and social
development (World Bank, 2006).
It is generally accepted that corruption depends
mainly on cultural, political, and economic factors.
Previous studies have indicated that corruption
may also depend on efficiency derived from technologies (Oriol, 2005). Besides, the development
of ICTs can help eliminate corruption, which is
seen as one of the systemic barriers to growth in
the poorest countries (Bhatnagar, 2003b; OECD,
2005; Piatkowski, 2006). Nevertheless, we also
find more pessimistic perspectives such as that of
Heeks (1998) who, after studying five ICTs cases
of corruption in the public sector, concludes that
although new technologies can often help to detect
and eliminate corruption, it does not always have
that effect; and it sometimes even creates new
opportunities for corruption.
E-Government in Emerging
Countries of Central America
The impact of ICTs on development presents
both a challenge and an opportunity that has
also been studied (Heeks, 2005; Avgerou, et al.,
2007). The implementation of ICTs in developing
countries, and in particular, in Latin America, can
be determined by factors such as unequal income
distribution, poor education and/or a lack of experience in technology (Garcia-Murillo, 2003).
Despite these disparities, the efforts for implanting
new technologies in developing countries have
recorded some successes (Wade, 2002).
Nevertheless, there are authors who argue that
the evidence showing that ICTs are a hindrance
to development has turned out to be neither solid
nor convincing (Eggleston, et al., 2002). Nonetheless, the deterministic and positive emphasis
in the implementation of the technology and eGovernment in developing countries has also been
332
the object of critiques by academics (Heeks, 2005).

Thus, it is argued that a wider view of the ways
in which ICTs can contribute to socio-economic
development is necessary (Heeks, 2005).
It has also been argued that a third of all ICTs
initiatives are a total failure, and that more than
half are partial failures, especially in developing
countries (Heeks, 2003). One of the reasons given
for the failure of ICTs projects in developing
countries is that the financial logic is normally
based on the cost in the West, and that the cost
of new technologies is more than compensated
for by labor cost savings (Stanforth, 2006). For
developed countries, however, one can almost be
sure that the costs of introducing ICTs are two or
three times greater, whereas wage costs are up to
ten times lower in developing countries (Heeks,
2003; Stanforth, 2006). Nonetheless, lower incomes, poor communications, weak infrastructure,
and limited experience with ICTs, are some of
the disadvantages that developing countries have
compared to high-income economies (GarciaMurillo, 2003).
Digital Environment and

New Technologies in Central
American Governments
Central American governments represent a segment of developing countries that have a bet on
the use of new technologies, and as a result, they
have significantly advanced in their political and
social use (Welp, 2008). According to the United
Nations Index e-Government Readiness Report
(2010), and despite the existence of social, institutional, and economic barriers, many governments
and public administrations have increased their
efforts and strategies to develop e-Government.
In this context, in the countries of the region, the
empirical data shows an increase of more than 20
percent in the development of e-Government. The
average of the UN e-Government index shows
growth from 0.3668 in 2003 to 0.4472 in 2008, with
a slight decline in 2010 to 0.4283 (see Table 1).
Table 1. E-government readiness index 2003-2010: Central American countries in comparative perspective
Country
2003
2004
2005
2008
2010
Costa Rica
0.427
0.4907
0.4612
0.5144
0.4749
El Salvador
0.409
0.4188
0.4225
0.4974
0.4700
Guatemala
0.329
0.4034
0.3777
0.4283
0.3937
Honduras
0.28
0.3391
0.3348
0.4048
0.4065
Nicaragua
0.324
0.3301
0.3383
0.3668
0.3630
Panam
0.432
0.3216
0.4822
0.4718
0.4619
Average
2003
2004
2005
2008
2010
Central America
0.3668
0.3839
0.4027
0.4472
0,4283
South America
0.4705
0.4958
0.4901
0.5072
0.4869
Northern America
0.8670
0.8751
0.8744
0.8408
0.8479
Africa
0.2460
0.2528
0.2642
0.2739
0.2733
World
0.4020
0.4130
0.4267
0.4514
0.4406
Source: Own elaboration from United Nations E-Government Survey (Retrieved May 5, 2010 from: http://www.unpan.org/egovkb).
To evaluate and measure the development of

e-Government, the United Nations (UNPAN), in
addition to the e-Government Index, developed
the e-Participation Index (an index on electronic
participation). This index analyzes the tools and
the possibilities offered to the population for
major involvement in governmental decisions.
Greater access to information and increased participation is seen as essential to shape perceptions
that citizens have about government and the political system (Welp, 2007) and to bring population
and institutions closer.
According to the United Nations E-Government Readiness Report-2008, only Costa Rica
and El Salvador have improved their ranking by
acquiring position 25 and 56 respectively (UN,
2008). Participation through e-Government is
viewed very favorably by the citizens, since the
power of the citizenry to control political decisions
affects the destiny of society. Once this challenge
has been met, the focus will shift to evaluating the
changes in transparency and persistent corruption
in Central America.
ON TRANSPARENCY AND
GOOD GOVERNMENT IN
CENTRAL AMERICA
Corruption as a Core Issue in
Central American Institutions
Concerns about corruption and its subsequent
inclusion on government agendas became feasible
after the Conference of the Americas in 1994
(Parrado Dez, et al., 2007). The need to reform
mechanisms of government transparency was
sharpened by the negative perceptions that citizens have about it and the reports and studies of
Transparency International and the World Bank.
The reports show high levels of corruption in the
actions of public actors, and were backed up with
actual case examples. Guatemalas Declaration
for a Region Free from Corruption was signed
in 2006 by the presidents of Central America
and is a sign of the need for persistent efforts to
collectively move forward in fighting corruption.
Although there is no clear agreement on the
magnitude of corruption in Central America,
data and international indicators show a high and
extended perception of corruption in the major-
333
Table 2. Corruption perception index in Central America (2003, 2007, and 2009)
2003
Country
Points (1 to 10)
2007
Position over
133 countries
Points (1 to 10)
2009
Position over
180 countries
Points (1 to 10)
Position over
180 countries
Costa Rica
4,3
50
46
5,3
53
El Salvador
3,7
59
67
3,4
84
Guatemala
2,4
100
2,8
111
3,4
84
Honduras
2,3
106
2,5
131
2,4
130
Nicaragua
2,6
88
2,6
123
2,4
130
Panam
3,4
66
3,2
94
3,4
84
Source: Own elaboration from Transparency International (Retrieved June 23, 2010 from www.transparency.org)
ity of the countries of the Region (Transparency

International, 2009). Between 2003 and 2009,
the Transparency International gives Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) of five of the six countries studied (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Panama) scores less than 4, of which
two in the last report scored below 3 (see Table 2).
The only country that maintained a higher
position than 4 is Costa Rica; we define it as an
atypical case because it has remained almost
constant in its position on the CPI both in the
ranking of corruption in Latin America, and internationally. Unlike Costa Rica, Nicaragua attracts attention because it has dropped more than
forty places from position 88 in 2003 to position
130 in 2009. The only country in the study that
has enhanced its position regarding the perception
of corruption is Guatemala, because it improved
its rating from 2.4 to 3.4 at the same time that it
has come to occupy its highest ranking, 86, at
international level in 2009 (see Table 2).
Since 2004 the measures to reduce corruption
have remained unchanged, but citizens perception
of the levels of corruption have declined significantly in Latin America from 27% in 2001, to 13%
in 2009 (Latinobaromentro, 2009). Nonetheless,
one of the tools that has been proposed to further
reduce citizens perception of high levels of corruption, is the application of ICTs. In particular,
e-Government has been put forward as essential to
improve public opinion in the region. To achieve
334
this goal, one may note that the availability of

more information through e-Government not only
helps to make administrative procedures more
effective and efficient, but also contributes to
restructuring mechanisms that improve government transparency and the integrity of political
actors in Central America.
Transparency as a Commitment
for Democracy
This sub-section begins with an analysis of documents on norms and regulations by taking into
account the principal measures that have been
adopted, from the beginning of 2000 to the end of
the decade, with the aim of promoting transparency
in Central American governments. As we noted
above, transparency in governmental activities
is necessary to strengthen the democratic system
and institutions through greater representativeness
and legitimacy.
In this sense, it is argued that societies have
to produce their own legitimacy as a requirement
for further strengthening democracy (Benalczar,
2004). The fight for transparency and accountability has been undertaken in diverse ways, but
especially over the Internet, which has become a
key mechanism for curbing corruption. Through
the Internet, the citizens of Central America have
sought to ensure peoples full participation in
seeking to control corrupt practices and partici-
pate in anti-corruption campaigns in governance

and administration. As a result, civil society has
created platforms such as the Social Initiative
for Democracy2 (El Salvador), Citizens Action
(Guatemala), and Ethics and Transparency3
(Nicaragua). Social initiatives of this type have
brought significant pressure on governments
to strengthen and empower citizens so that the
principles of transparency and democracy are
functioning effectively in government.
Closely linked with the previous point, is the
importance of evaluating if the government also
shares this aim. In specific legal terms, we can
study all the legislative measures that relate to
transparency, accountability, and corruption (e.g.
crimes of officials, professional staff, possible
conflicts of interest, responsibilities, and sanctions,
etc.). In particular, in the constitution of Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, we find
references to a legal commitment to accountability
or transparency, while constitutions of the Central
American governments do not directly refer to the
concept of corruption (Table 3). Despite this fact,
research shows that almost all Central American
countries have developed specific legislation in at
least one of the areas of transparency, corruption,
or accountability.
First, free access to, and transparency of,

public information is essential to avoid corrupt
and opaque practices. The regulatory bodies in
this area saw Panama as a pioneer because of its
approval of the Law of Transparency in the Public Management of the Republic (Ley de Transparencia en la Gestin Pblica de la Repblica)
in 2002. This was followed by Hondurass Law
of Transparency and Access to Information (2006);
Nicaragua, with its Law of Access to Public Information (Ley de Transparencia y Acceso de la
Informacin) (2007); and Guatemalas Law of
Access to Public Information (Ley de Acceso a
la Informacin Pblica) (2008). Costa Rica and
El Salvador are alone in not having approved a
specific law to promote transparency and free
access to public information, instead choosing to
detail their regulations in various diverse laws.
Nevertheless, both countries have developed draft
legislation related to this issue, with El Salvadors
bill pending definitive approval. It seems evident
that normative advances and legislative changes
in the last decade represent a strong commitment
to the promotion of a culture of transparency.
Secondly, it can be seen that all the Central
American countries have approved specific supervisory bodies or are taking steps to approve
Table 3. Transparency, accountability, and corruption in constitutions and laws

Country
Political constitution
References in the constitution
Costa Rica
Political constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica

(November 7, 1949)
State Accountability. (Art. 11 reformed by law N 8003

of June 8, 2000).
El Salvador
Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador (December

15, 1983)
General Budget Accountability. (Art. 195 and Art. 227)
Guatemala
Political constitution of the Republic of Guatemala

(May 31, 1985)
State Accountability. (Art. 241)
Constitution of the Republic of Honduras (January 11,

1982)
Transparency across the Supreme Court of Accounts (Art.

222. Modified by Decree 268/2002 and ratified by Decree
2/2002)
Nicaragua
Political constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua

(January 9, 1987)
Panam
Political constitution of the Republic of Panama (October 11, 1972)
Honduras
Source: Own elaboration
335
legislation directed towards promoting transparency in the public administration (Appendix 1).
Therefore, in all the countries we find mechanisms
of control and evaluation. In fact, as a minimum
three new bodies have been created in the last
ten years (in Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Nicaragua) and some countries have created six
(Honduras and Panama) making a total of 23.
Each of these new agencies is responsible for
strengthening the democratic system by promoting internal transparency of the public institutions
of their country.
The analysis also reveals that the institutional
changes that have taken place in Central America
in the last decade have been due to the commitments of the governments of the region, and
that the paths they have taken have been very
similar. The next step, in line with the aim of
the study, is to understand how these new bodies
have challenged the traditional institutions and
to what extent they have promoted transparency,
effectiveness and efficiency, reduced corruption,
and increased participation by implanting new
technologies. Consequently, we made an analysis
of this institutional modernization by analyzing
how this has been reflected in the deployment of
Web portals of these public agencies.
INSTITUTIONAL REINFORCEMENT,
TRANSPARENCY, AND
E-GOVERNMENT
We now proceed to analyze the procedural/
technological dimension related to the institutional changes that have been promoted through
e-Government. First, we estimate the level of technological deployment in the new regulations that
were established to promote transparency during
the period 2000-2010. Next, we construct a model
of dimensions and indicators for the evaluation of
transparency of the different Web portals created
by new public agencies for transparency itself.
Thus, the purpose of this section is to assess the
336
capacity of ICTs and e-Government to promote

good governance through the bodies set up to
facilitate transparency initiatives in the group of
Central American countries studied in this chapter.
ICTs in Norms and Regulations

about Transparency
This part of the fieldwork developed an analysis
of norms and regulations on transparency. The
normative review shows that 18% of the laws,
or the respective reforms, approved in the last
decade in the region of Central America make
at least a reference, and/or a commitment to the
use of technology in the implementation of new
initiatives on transparency. Also, we have identified that all the laws related to transparency and/
or access to public information that have been
adopted in these countries require the use of technology to improve the right of access to public
information (Law of Transparency in the Public
Management of the Republic of Panama; Law of
Transparency and Access of the Information of
HondurasArt. 3, 5, 13, 15, 20; Law of Access
to the Public Information of NicaraguaArt. 4,
26, 27; and Guatemalas Law of Access to Public
InformationArt.8, 10, 18, 39, 40).
The implementation of three further regulations
in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua has also
been helped by the application of new technologies. Specifically, the Law Public Procurement
and its Regulation in Panama, n 22, 2006, seeks
to boost the use of ICTs by creating an Electronic
System of Public Procurement PanamaCompra
(Art. 2.39). The aim is to provide greater transparency in the process of contracting out with the
Panamanian public sector. It is also foreseen that
an Electronic Catalogue of Products and Services
(Art.2.8), a System of Electronic Procurement
(Art.2.11), and a Digital Certificate (Art.2.30)
will be created. In the same line, Honduras Law
of Contracting for the State (2001) states that the
Administration will incorporate the use of IT in
the management of the systems of procurement
so that the procedures for advertising can be

automated (Art.5).
The application of technology is also seen as
fundamental for greater transparency in Guatemala. With the Law of Purchases and Procurement in Guatemala, (including its later reform and
modification), an electronic public market was
created that has centralized the whole activity of
contracting out and public procurement: (see The
States Information system of Procurement and
AcquisitionsGuateCompras). These different
examples support an emergent techno-normative
approach to the implementation of good governance in this family of countries. To put it in
another way, the most recent efforts for improving
transparency and/or access to public information
in Central America have been increasingly supported by the idea of ICTs as a catalyst, both for
the enforcement of the regulation itself and the
functioning of the institutions devoted to promote
these democratic purposes.
Digital Transparency in Web

Sites of Public Agencies
In order to evaluate how these regulations were
put into practice, it is necessary to assess the use
of ICTs in the newly created agencies devoted to
transparency and/or access to public information
(see Appendix 1). Existing models to analyze
websites of public administrations have been
developed during recent years. World wide different authors have deployed models to study the
digital dimension of bureaucracies. Generally
speaking, this group of studies has focused its
attention on the provision of electronic services
or the capacity to reach digital transactions in
delivery agencies (Coursey & Norris, 2008; Ho,
2002; Kunstelj & Vintar, 2004; Luna-Reyes, et
al., 2009; Reddick, 2004). However, none of them
have been directly concentrated on the study of
agencies specifically devoted to the enhancement
of transparency and good government. Thus, the
objective of this part of the study is to construct a
special model of analysis that will provide us with

specific information on stages of transparency at
this type of agencies. This is our first attempt to
test this model. In the future, we aim at validating
it with further observations, within this group of
countries, or in comparative studies with other
developing regions.
Here, we evaluate the use of the Internet on
these agencys own websites. The identification
of the Web portals was undertaken using Internet
search engines (principally, Google), and each
countrys links to other public agencies and institutions in the same Region. Quantitatively, the
results of the search showed that of the 23 created
bodies (Appendix 1), a total of almost 80% have a
websites where their functions and principal activities are defined and expanded. This data verifies
the existence of a nascent technological base on
the activities of this group of new agencies. Next,
it is important to analyze to what extent these Web
portals fulfill each agencys stated commitment
to transparency and good government.
As a consequence of these institutions heterogeneity, it is essential for us to differentiate them
by their key aims. Taking into account the fact that
transparency is a very complex and controversial
issue, and is a very new concept that has only
recently started to be theorized (Lpez-Ayllon
& Arrellano Gault, 2008)4; we have defined four
types of agencies, based on their main objectives
and tasks, to aid our Web evaluation process to
be more accurate:

Agencies for public procurement;

Agencies for institutional control of public
administration;
Agencies for access to public information
and anti-corruption;
Other agencies for transparency.
Then, we propose a five dimension matrix,

composed, on one hand, by common indicators
and, on the other hand, by a set of indicators derived
from the purpose of the organization (public pro-
337
curement, institutional control, transparency, and

fight against corruption, and other performance
indicators) (see Appendix 2). Specifically, we have
chosen to divide the concept of transparency and
its evaluation process into five main dimensions:

General contents: which provides all the

general information related to the agency
on its Web page: its creation, structure,
functioning, etc.
Openness: this measures if there is a commitment to an active provision of information that enables citizens to observe the
internal functioning of the institution.
Citizens control and accountability: this
analyzes whether the institution provides
Internet mechanisms to enable citizens to
evaluate the political and administrative
actors performance. This dimension evaluates whether the institution is providing
an adequate response to citizens demands,
questions, or complaints regarding their
political and administrative activities.
Design and usability (ease of use): this
dimension assesses the logical structure of
the Web pages (i.e. how easy it is for citizens to view the content provided by the
administration).
Accessibility: this refers to the physical
design of the Web page and the accessibility of information (i.e. this seeks to measure
the instruments that make the information
stored on the Web page easier to access).
Furthermore, each of these dimensions contains more specific indicators, as Appendix 1

states. As regards openness and citizens control
and accountability, the indicators are established
in relation to the four types of abovementioned
agencies (public procurement, institutional
control, transparency and anti-corruption, and
other). The other three dimensions remain the
same throughout the matrix. The presence of an
indicator is assigned 1 point, and its absence is
338
assigned 0 points. The sum of all the points will

give us a measure to quantify the Web pages level
of transparency. A Web page will be considered
to have a low level of transparency if it does not
provide at least 50% of the established indicators. Web pages that achieve 50% to 69% of the
indicators will be considered to have a medium
level of transparency. Finally, a Web page with
a high level of transparency is one that has more
than 70% of the indicators5 (Appendix 2). We now
turn to the analysis of the field results.
AGENCIES FOR PUBLIC

PROCUREMENT
The agencies in this category serve as the public
sector electronic marketplace. This heading up
procurement systems and contracting of the State
created: GuateCompras (Guatemala); HonduCompras (Honduras), PanamaCompra (Panama).
Their Webs were evaluated based on a matrix of
indicators in line with the activity of purchase and
selling public assets.
The evaluation data shows that none of the
three portals in this category can be identified
as a Web with a high level of transparency. The
PanamaCompra and HonduCompras Webs obtained 56.6% and 50%, respectively, so they show
a developing scheme of transparency. Besides,
GuateCompras has not reached the minimum
necessary to be considered as a portal of developing transparency, while it obtained 43.3% out
of all the indicators studied, placing it as a portal
with only minimal transparency.
With the results just abovementioned, it should
be pinpointed that PanamaCompra reaches in the
specific dimension of transparency at least half of
the indicators measured, scoring five of the possible nine (55.5%). In the same vein, HonduCompras portal achieved a high level of transparency,
with 77.8% of the feasible indicators.
On the other hand, with respect to the dimension of social control/accountability, we find a
very different situation. Only one of the portals

studied (HonduCompras) achieved more than a
half of the indicators (5). Regarding the other
dimensions, design, and usability, all the websites
reached very high performance because they all
scored at least 75% of the achievable indicators.
In sum, these experiences provide an important
opportunity to reduce corruption and improve
transparency of public affairs. Their websites are
confirming the potential for a digital marketplace
in Central American governments, although they
need further developments to meet the expectations addressed when they were launched. In
particular, this group of websites requires developments to become more transparent, and helping to boost local economies and facilitating the
market competence of companies dealing with
government.
AGENCIES FOR INSTITUTIONAL

CONTROL OF PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
The main feature of these bodies is to be a platform
to monitor and control public administration outlays following constitutional duties. This feature
is found in the following agencies: Audit Office
of the Republic of Costa Rica, Auditors Court
of the Republic of El Salvador, Audit Office of
Guatemala, the Audit Office of the Republic of
Nicaragua. Data analysis shows that two of the four
agencies, Audit Office of the Republic of Costa
Rica and Audit Office of Guatemala, have a Web
that can be considered as a portal with developing transparency. They reach 50% (16 indicators)
and 59.37% (19 indicators) of compliance with
indicators measured in our evaluation.
On the dimension of social control/accountability, the Audit Office of Guatemala portal exceeds the average, while the other portals remain
below that score. The Audit Office of Guatemala
Web page is also the only one that surpasses the
transparency dimension average, scoring up to
63.6% of the established indicators. According

with data analysis, transparency and accountability dimensions present an incipient stage of
development and require further attention by this
group of public bodies.
This group of agencies is one of the most
representative of efforts to deliver transparency
in the region, however they need to make sure
that they have the necessary competency levels
with regard to interacting with ICTs. At this stage,
audit offices have not completely demonstrated
their willingness at developing digital facilities
for the citizens to interact with them.
AGENCIES FOR ACCESS

TO PUBLIC INFORMATION
AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
Web pages of these agencies engender a distinctive platform to combat corruption and encourage
transparency in public settings. This category
comprises the following institutions: InterInstitutional Network for Transparency (Costa
Rica), The National Commission for Transparency and Anti Corruption (Guatemala), National
Anti-Corruption Council (Honduras), National
Council of Transparency and Anti Corruption
(Panama), Transparencys Node in Public Management (Panama). All of them are at the forefront
in achieving improvements in better governance.
Conversely, with previous dimensions, in this
category we can identify two sites with a high
level of transparency development. The National
Anti-Corruption Web (Honduras) stands out as the
most transparent in accomplishing with 25 out
of the 31 indicators studied, with a performance
ratio of 80.6%. Furthermore, the National Commission for Transparency and Anti Corruption of
Panamas Web portal accomplished 22 indicators,
which represents 71%.
Within the same category, the other two portals
show a developing level of transparency. The
first, the Inter-Agency Network for Transparency
339
(Costa Rica), reached up to 61% indicators (19),

and the second one, the Nodes Transparency
in Public Administration in Panama Website,
achieved 58% indicators (18). In particular, results show that all Web portals have arrived at a
minimum of 63.6% out of the indicators studied.
This level of performance has made this group of
public bodies the most active, and transparent, in
the digital sphere.
Here, the agencies oriented to increase the access to information and fighting corruption show
the most remarkable results in the digital sphere.
At first sight, this seems coherent with their own
purpose of this type of institutions. At the same
time, our analysis confirm the potential of Web
sites to amplify the activities of these agencies,
as they can reach to more people, give them more
resources, and serve the people of their countries
with more independence from their own governments.
OTHER AGENCIES FOR

TRANSPARENCY
Finally, this category collects together all those
bodies that have recently been created but do
not fit in the abovementioned categories, as they
are not specialized institutions. The evaluation
reveals that only two of the seven Web portals
analyzed under this category can be categorized
as having a medium level of transparency: these
are the Governmental Ethics Court Web page of
El Salvador and the Public Information Institute
of Honduras, both reaching 50% of the indicators
(13); they are closely followed by the Supreme
Audit Court of Honduras with 12 indicators,
representing 46.15% of all indicators studied.
Consequently, one may assume that this last
group of public bodies does not perform as one
may expect in comparison with the previous
categories; although they engender innovative
approaches aiming at broadening trust and confidence in vulnerable political systems, as those of
340
Central America. Agencies addressed to improve

ethics and public values in governments and civil
services stand out, although they do not have, in
general, a clear strategy to use ICTs for their core
competencies.
CONCLUSION
This chapter is drawn from a research project
on Central American countries and has provided
results for a rarely studied but nonetheless interesting and complex region. The previous pages
have explored the question of whether information
and communication technologies, (specifically
e-Government), facilitate transparency and accountability, and limit corruption in developing
countries. Results showed that, at least in some
extent, steps have been taken to promote transparency, cut corruption, and enforce accountability
with the enforcement of ICTs adoption, as well
as the diffusion of Web portals in public agencies
in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and Panama.
The first part of this study described the
significance of e-Government and focused on
its potential relationship with transparency, corruption, and accountability. Here, the literature
demonstrated the opportunities that e-Government
offers for developing countries to become more
transparent, to reduce corruption, and to enforce
accountability, while there is not a general agreement on how to achieve these objectives. This
chapter has also presented data from international
reports and indexes to calibrate transparency and
accountability in Central American countries. In
spite of the inequalities and social and economic
barriers, research suggests that efforts to implement technology in developing countries have
achieved successes (albeit limited) with regard
to the fostering good governance.
On the other hand, this chapter has shown that
there has been some progress on regulatory issues
and technological deployments with regard to good
government practices. Central American countries

have been innovative in their use of legislation
in order to promote transparency, accountability,
and anti-corruption efforts, but also in developing
the technological dimension to reinforce institutions. As an example, we have identified that all
the laws related to transparency and/or access to
public information that have been adopted in these
countries require the use of technology to improve
the right of access to public information Previous
pages have offered primary data on the adoption
of the regulative dimension of transparency, as
well as the deployment of Web portals devoted
to this objective.
The commitment to Web sites adoption is very
promising, reaching 85% compliance in terms of
the creation of at least a Web site, even though
it might only contain very general information.
Another point is that we have found a significant
number of portals that contain developing transparency at this stage, representing almost half
of the total number of new agencies analyzed.
These two conclusions reveal that e-Government
seems to be a mechanism for promoting openness in Central American governments, while it
needs further progress and attention to fulfill the
expected outcomes in their societies.
Despite the limitations of this chapter, the
findings represent another step forward in verifying the potential of ICTs and the importance
of e-Government as a means for strengthening
democratic values and for reinforcing institutional
systems in emerging economies. In particular, this
chapter suggests that new technology initiatives
are not merely promoted for governments internal
purposes. ICTs initiatives may also raise awareness and facilitate citizens participation, thereby
creating a digital civic culture with minimum
economic effort. Here, not only the existence
of new technologies is important, but also new
national systems that can control information and
redefine the functions, roles, relationships, and
the distribution of power across institutional and
social systems.
In sum, this chapter posits that e-Government

implementation is necessary for the delivery of
true transparency initiatives in Central American countries. This has the potential to renovate
democratic practices, and promote change in
developing societies. In these cases, positive
democratic transformation can be brought about
by the deployment of ICTs. Future avenues of
research will include a separated and in depth
analysis of country cases and comparative studies
with other developing regions.
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E-Government: The utilization of digital
governmental mechanism for delivering information and services to the citizens and for improving
efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency in
Government and Public Administration.
ICTs: Acronym standing for Information and
communications technologies.
Transparency: The active distribution of
information that allows third parties to assess the
internal functioning or performance of a governmental organization.
Accountability: The citizens capacity and
right to demand answers to the political and
institutional agents and the capacity to sanction
their actions.
Corruption: The abuse in the exercise of an
authority position that can be considerate as
illegitimate: or immoral.
Central American Countries: Central
geographic region of the Americas (Costa Rica,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panam,
Nicaragua).
Developing Countries: The term used to describe countries that dont have a strong emergent
of industrialization, infrastructure, and sophisticated technology, but are beginning to build it.
ENDNOTES
1
van der Eijk, C., & Franklin, M. N. (2009). Assessing electoral democracy. Cap.8 en Elections
and Voters (pp. 213239). Londres, UK: Palgrave
Macmillan.
In this context, Subirats (2002) reiterates

current concerns about how to link the proliferation of ICTs-based political processes
and democratic values.
ISD is a non-governmental organization
for civic education, promoting processes
of public accountability, citizen participation and influence in the electoral system.
Retrieved June 23, 2010 from http://www.
isd.org.sv/inicio/index.htm.
Retrieved June 23, 2010 from http://www.
eyt.org.ni/.
345
346
According to this, Mauricio Merino states

that the concept of transparency is still in
formation and it generates more doubts than
certainties. This is not only a legislative
production problem, but also one of projection. (Merino, 2005, p. 17, cited by Ayllon
& Arrellano Gault, 2008, p. 5).
The four evaluation models will have the
following indicators: 30 indicators for the
contract and acquisition Web portals, 32
indicators for public administration control
bodies Web pages, 31 indicators for the
transparency and anti corruption Web pages

and 26 indicators for the remaining Web
pages. A portal would qualify as a minimum
transparency Web page if it achieves less
than 15, 16, 15, and 13 indicators. On the
other hand, if it surpasses 15, 16, 15, and 13
it would be considered a medium transparency portal/a developing transparency one.
Lastly, if the Web page achieved scores of
more then 21, 23, 21, and 18, it would be
considered a highly transparent portal.
APPENDIX A
Web sites of analyzed bodies (last updated: 1st September 2010)

COSTA RICA
Agency
Web sites
Category
Audit Office of the Republic of Costa

Rica
http://www.cgr.go.cr/
Agencies for institutional control of public administration
Attorney Ethics and Public

Functions Office
Other agencies for transparency
Inter-Institutional Network for

Transparency
http://www.dhr.go.cr/transparencia.html
Agencies for access to public information and anti-corruption
Agency
Web sites
Category
Governmental Ethics Court
http://www.teg.gob.sv/
Ethics and Public Functions Office
Audit Office of the Republic of El

Salvador
http://www.cortedecuentas.gob.sv/
Agency
Web sites
Category
GuateCompras
http://www.guatecompras.gt/
Agencies for public procurement
The National Commission for Transparency and Anti Corruption
http://www.comision-transparencia.info/
Audit Office of Guatemala
http://www.contraloria.gob.gt/
Agency
Web sites
Category
HonduCompras
http://www.honducompras.gob.hn/
National Anti-Corruption Council
http://www.cna.hn/
Public Information Institute of

Honduras
www.iaip.gob.hn/
Supreme Court of Accounts
http://www.tsc.gob.hn/
Attorney Generals office
http://www.mp.hn/Transparencia/
transparenciamp001.html
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS
NICARAGUA
Agency
Web sites
Category
Ethics and Public Functions Office
http://www.eticapublica.gob.ni/
Attorneys General Office
http://www.pgr.gob.ni/
Audit Office of the Republic of

Nicaragua
http://www.cgr.gob.ni/cgr/index.
php
347
Appendix A continued
PANAM
Agency
Web sites
Category
PanamaCompra
http://www.panamacompra.gob.pa/
portal/PortalPanama.aspx
Presidential Commission Against

Corruption
Internal Audit General Office
National Office Against Corruption
National Council of Transparency

and Anti Corruption
http://www.setransparencia.gob.pa/
Transparencys Node in Public

Management
http://www.defensoriadelpueblo.
gob.pa/sub.php?spid=4507
Source: Own elaboration.
348
APPENDIX B
Dimensions and Indicators of the Analysis
Dimensions
A. General Contents, which provides

all the general information related
to the agency on its Web page: its
creation, structure, functioning, etc.
B. Design and usability (ease of

use), this dimension assesses the logical structure of the Web pages, (i.e.
how easy it is for citizens to view the
content provided by the administration).
C. Accessibility: this refers to the
physical design of the Web page and
the accessibility of information, (i.e.
this seeks to measure the instruments
that make the information stored on
the Web page easier to access).
I. COMMON INDICATORS - 26 Points (a)
D. Citizens control/accountability:
this analyzes whether the institution
provides Internet mechanisms to enable citizens to evaluate the political
and administrative actors performance. This dimension evaluates
whether the institution is providing
an adequate response to citizens
demands, questions or complaints
regarding their political and administrative activities.
E. Transparency: this measures if

there is a commitment to an active
provision of information that enables
citizens to observe the internal functioning of the institution.
Indicator
Quantification
A.1. Bodys mission and objectives
It is published specifically the mission and objectives of the organization. 1p.
A.2. Internal organizational

structure
It is published the organizational structure with all the components.

1p.
A.3. Officials functions and

responsibilities
It can be identified: -Officials full names. 1p.

-Functions and responsibilities. 1p.
A.4. Related partners
Presents: Institutions of related partners. 1p. -Post and / or Web links

from other institutions. 1p.
Indicator
Quantification
B.1. Search mechanism
It provides a search mechanism for getting information on the Web

whose location is not known and for easier access in general. 1p.
B.2. Web map
It publishes a diagram/map with all the contents of the Web. 1p.
B.3. Overview diagram
It has an overview diagram 1p.
Indicator
Quantification
C.1. Server response time
The server response time and link income is less than 5 seconds per
section (using a broadband connection).1p.
C.2. Languages
It offers the possibility to check the Website in more than one language. 1p.
Indicator
Quantification
D.1. Rules on accountability
The rules (laws, regulations, etc..) and / or documents relating to the

commitment to accountability are published on the Web. 1p.
D.2. Mechanisms for complaints,

inquiries.
The Web offers mechanisms for complaints, inquiries, etc. 1p.
D.3. Contact with the officials.
It is published the email addresses and / or contact numbers of the

responsible. 1p.
D.4. Information about news.
There is a specific section about the latests news. 1p.
D.5. Last updated.
The Websites last update was made in the lasts six months. 1p.
D.6. Forums
There are forums, online chats, etc. 1p.
Indicator
Quantification
B.1. A link for transparency visible from the home page.
It is visible the transparency specific link from home page in order to

allow an easy access to the section. 1p.
B.2. Rules on transparency
Presents the legislation that is committed to greater transparency in

the public sector activities. 1p.
B.3. Information access
Provides the law contents governing the rights and / or a specific link
that I can report only on points of law. 1p.
B.4.Report of activities and strategic plans
Publishes news, schedule of activities, calendar, etc. Of the bodys

responsible 1p.
B.5. Agency rules
It is published the internal regulation. 1p.
B.6. Salaries and benefits
Published in detail about the salaries of the members of the body. 1p.
B.7. Budget and the budget performance report
Publication of the public budget of the organization and its implementation. 1p.
B.8. Specific transparency report
Are published reports of bodys transparency. 1p.
349
Appendix B continued
Contract and acquisition Web pages/ 30 points (b)
Dimensions
Indicator
Quantification
II. D. 1. Officials Competitions
Public tenders are published online. 1p.
II. D.2.List of awared companies
It provides a specific section with the award of the procurement

system and procurement. 1p
Indicator
Quantification
II.E.2. Training
It provides a range of training courses. 1p.
II.E.3.Contractors
A list with contractors. 1p.
II. D. Citizens control/accountability
II. E. Transparency
Public administration control bodies Web pages/ 32 points (c)

Dimensions
II. E. Transparency
Indicator
Quantification
II. D.1. Reporting mechanism.
There is a public reporting mechanism. 1p.
II. D. 2. Recommendations on
accountability
It publishes documents which make recommendations to other agencies to promote accountability. 1p.
II. D.3. Audits reports
Other public institutions audits reports are conducted and published.

1p.
Indicator
Quantification
II. E. 1. Administrative procedures

manuals
It publishes manuals of administrative procedure. 1p.
II.E.2. Transparency reports
Other agencies transparency reports are being published and/or

conduced. 1p.
II.E.3. Recommendations
Documents which make recommendations to other agencies to obtain

more transparency are being published. 1p
II. SPECIFIC INDICATORS
Transparency and anti corruption Web pages / 30 points (d)

Dimensions
Indicator
Quantification
II. D.1. Recommendations on accountability
Documents which make recommendations to other agencies about

accountability are being published. 1p.
Indicator
Quantification
II.E.1. Administrative procedures

manuals
Published manuals of administrative procedures. 1p.
II.E.2. Transparency reports
Other agencies transparency reports are being published and/or

conduced. 1p.
II.E.3. Recommendations
Publication of documents with recommendations to other agencies to

obtain more transparency are being published. 1p
II. E. Transparency
(a) The portal Web would qualify as a minimum transparency Web page if it achieves less than 13 indicators (50%), as medium transparency portal transparency if it surpasses 13 indicators(>50% <69%). Lastly, if the Web page achieved scores of more than 18 (>69%) it would be considered a highly transparent
portal.
(b) The portal Web would qualify as a minimum transparency Web page if it achieves less than 15 indicators (50%), as medium transparency portal transparency if it surpasses 15 indicators(>50% <69%). Lastly, if the Web page achieved scores of more than 21 (>69%) it would be considered a highly transparent
portal.
(c) The portal Web would qualify as a minimum transparency Web page if it achieves less 13 than indicators (50%), as medium transparency portal transparency if it surpasses 16 indicators(>50% <69%). Lastly, if the Web page achieved scores of more than 23 (>69%) it would be considered a highly transparent
portal.
(d) The portal Web would qualify as a minimum transparency Web page if it achieves less than 15 indicators (50%), as medium transparency portal transparency if it surpasses 15 indicators(>50% <69%). Lastly, if the Web page achieved scores of more than 21 (>69%) it would be considered a highly transparent
portal.
Source: Own elaboration.
350
351
Chapter 17
E-Government Strategy
in Turkey:
A Case for m-Government?
Ronan de Kervenoael
Sabanci University, Turkey
Ipek Kocoglu
Sa Gebze Institute of Technology, Turkey
ABSTRACT
Market orientation strategies are now expected to be integrated and enacted by firms and governments
alike. While private services will surely continue to take the lead in mobile strategy orientation, others such as government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are also becoming prominent
Mobile Players (m-Players). Enhanced data services through smart phones are raising expectations
that governments will finally deliver services that are in line with a consumer ICT lifestyle. To date,
it is not certain which form of technological standards will take the lead, e.g. enhanced m-services or
traditional Internet-based applications. Yet, with the introduction of interactive applications and fully
transactional services via 3G smart phones, the currently untapped segment of the population (without
computers) have the potential to gain access to government services at a low cost. E-Government started
officially in 2008.
INTRODUCTION
Our research in Turkey reflects the current market
situation in an emerging country and presents
an update on the resistance points encountered
while engaging with mobile and traditional eDOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch017
Government interfaces. This exploratory study

presents findings that demonstrate that: (i) ICT
expectations need to be defined in practice; (ii)
ICT strategies are currently non-homogenous,
and are sometimes conflicting; (iii) actions and
services deployed to date have yet to justify their
value to many skeptical citizens while face-to-
E-Government Strategy in Turkey
face services remain more dependable, and (iv)

the policy implication of ubiquitous computing
and location-aware services has yet to be debated.
Finally, beyond m-Government initiatives success or failure, the mechanisms related to public
administration mobile technical capacity building
and knowledge transfer are found to remain crucial. We contend that more research is needed to
understand the current resistance and expectations
regarding location-aware technologies that will
unlock an intention to use m-Government services
and the overall success rate for large government
led digital ICT projects.
The 1980s and 1990s witnessed a strong interest
by academics and professionals regarding changes
in organizational culture, including government
(Deshpande et al., 1989; Harris, 1998; Flynn, 1997;
OECD, 1987; Self, 1993). In particular, ideas
under the general theme of market orientation
have become prevalent. Over the years, many
studies have shown that the concept of market
orientation is central to the study and practice of
management (Besanko, Dranove & Shanley 2000)
and marketing (Kotler 2000; Day, 1994). Market
orientation is defined by four main components
including: (i) a belief and philosophy that put
customers interests first in order to develop longterm strategic sustainability (Deshpande et al.,
1993); (ii) the need for organizations to generate
market intelligence as superior information about
current and future customers needs and wants as
well as those of competitors (Brown et al., 2002);
(iii) dissemination of the knowledge within the
organization especially among top management
(Shapiro, 1988; Kirca et al., 2005); and (iv) organization responsiveness as the ability to take
action with design and plan development, as well
as implementation including the identification of
those who diffuse the market orientations strategies within the organization (Lam et al., 2010;
Jawoski et al., 1993).
Another main aspect of market orientation,
particularly relevant for this chapter, is the
cultural approach stressing the importance of
352
organizational culture as the creator or inhibitor of value creation to customers, or citizens in

this case (Harris, 1998; Homburg & Pflesser,
2000). Two-sided market orientation regarding
e-Government, namely supply side (e.g., vertical
integration, bidding process for materials and
equipment, and horizontal integration such as
cataloging standardization and cultural change),
and demand side (e.g., transactional e-service
delivery and e-democracy) exists, the latter being of concern in this chapter (Borins, 2004).
There is no doubt that governments are becoming more and more market-oriented in nature
(Schedler & Summermater, 2007). The thrust of
the market-oriented argument and technological
advancements are that technology led government
strategies improve: service delivery, efficiency,
accountability, citizen empowerment and save
cost (Osborne & Gaebler, 1992). Yet, a difference
has emerged in the literature between what e- and
m-Governments initiatives say they do or should
do, and what they actually do in practice.
At the same time, the issue of Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs) has become
pivotal in debates concerning the future role and
shape of governments (Kushchu, 2007; Kushchu
& Kuscu, 2003; Avgerou, 2000; Garson, 2006a;
Jorgensen & Klay, 2007; West, 2007). As such,
Turkey, like many other emerging markets, has
had mixed success with large ICT projects (OECD,
1991). Empirically, many studies have shown
the importance of ICT in public administration
activities ranging from: overall digital strategies
(Kahraman et al., 2007; Ferguson, 2001), the
impact of e-Culture on governments (Hazlett &
Hill, 2003), m-Government policy issues (Yildiz,
2007; Lam, 2005), service architecture (Sharma
& Gupta, 2004; Abramowicz et al., 2006), eGovernance(Saxena, 2005; Stahl, 2005; Holliday
& Kwok, 2004) to a range of e-Government models
(Heeks, 2002). While most studies recognized the
positive effects of technological development on
government service delivery, some also point out
concerns regarding: equity of provision across the
whole population; the different understanding of

the role of the state in society (Fountain, 2001);
conflict with the legal system (Moe, 1994); and
with capabilities towards providing servicescurrent and futurethat are needed (Reddick, 2005;
Millard, 2006). The debate is also echoed in the
IS literature that the social aspects shaping the
development and application of technology (especially ubiquitous computing technologies such
as mobile devices), and the effect that technology
has in organizations and society, is becoming
increasingly important (Kroenke, 2007).
In this context, it is estimated that governments,
during the period 2000-10, spent approximately
$3 trillion on ICTs. Yet, research shows that the
failure rate of any e-Government project is situated between 60% and 85% (Gubbins, 2004).
Indeed, specific challenges for the citizens in
many emerging markets have somehow limited
enthusiasm to e-givernment initiatives (Kurbanoglu, 2004). These include limited access to digital
infrastructure (i.e., PC and wired Internet) and an
often-challenging political environment with limited leverage over large-scale project expenditures.
At the same time, the successful introduction,
engagement, and adoption of mobile telephony
has been witnessed in most markets without any
clear echoes in government service delivery.
In spite of everything, many analyses of
m-Government point toward cheaper (less infrastructure) and less risky (micro-local authority led
initiatives and testing) strategies perhaps offering
an incremental path to later, larger centrallycontrolled standardized m-Government projects
(Kushchu, 2007). This, together with a shift in
consumer lifestyle toward mobile ICTs, underlined
the need to re-consider an m-Government rather
than an e-Government only strategy in Turkey.
Amid this nascent research agenda, in this chapter
we identify three on-going gaps in the literature.

Firstly, citizen understanding of mobility

in emerging markets is limited.
Secondly, most research tends to remain at

a macro-country level rather than investigating everyday expectations faced by citizens and civil servants in practice.
Thirdly, despite some exceptions in the
literature (Ghyasi & Kushchu, 2004;
Kushchu & Kuscu, 2003), the impact of mtechnologies on a public administrations
ICT capability-building and knowledge
transfer potential is not widely considered
by researchers.
This chapter explores post-launch e-Government strategies2008 to 2010challenges and

opportunities of m-Government, considering
citizens perspective as well as public administration organizations applications through
a qualitative analysis of the media (TV, radio,
press) in Turkey. Hence, this chapter considers
how macro-opportunities and mobile technology
expectations are shaping the nascent provision of
m-Government services at the local level. In doing
so, the chapter aims to intensify the understanding
of mobility and public administration marketdriven initiatives in emerging markets together
with the potential offered by m-technologies and
location-aware services.
The chapter is organized as follows. The following section retraces the recent history from e- to
m-Government in Turkey. The third section, presents the findings from the media survey. Finally,
we discuss emerging implications and conclude
on the potential of m-technology in Turkey as of
2011. Limitations and future research directions
are also provided.
From e to m-Government: Turkey

Considerable progress in ICT has been identifiedat least in metropolitan areasin Turkey
over the last decade. With regard to access to ICT,
by 2010, the percentage of households in Turkey
having a computer and access to the Internet was
32%, with 82.1% via broadband. Still, 2.6 mil-
353
lion out of 18 million total Turkish households

have neither a computer nor Internet access.
Furthermore, only 32% of the 41% of Turkish
households with a computer have Web access. In
addition, a significant digital divide exists between
urban and rural areas with 32% and 14% Internet
penetrations, respectively (Yucel, 2006). In total
there were, in 2010, 12.2 million regular Internet
users who could access Internet from their homes.
Some 77% use Internet for social networking,
36% read newspapers online, 35% communicate
via e-mail, 33% play games, and 21% download
music. Only 4% use the Internet to access eGovernment services. Cost (in terms of computer
and the Internet service provider) is mentioned as
the main factor for low access and usage. Of the
4% using the Internet to access e-Government
services: 63% access information, i.e., reading,
2.1% download forms, and 2.2% use the channel
to return completed forms (Daily News, 2010).
These statistics need to be balanced by the fact
that 80% of companies have Internet access and
use the e-Government platform regularly for a set
of services ranging from tax issues to planning
applications (TUIK, 2008; Daily News, 2010).
In contrast, in 2007, 72.5% of the Turkish
population had access to mobile communication
devices (over 84% in 2010) with coverage close
to 100% (TUIK, 2007). Turkeys mobile phone
market is still developing at a phenomenal speed
in terms of both network and market innovation.
Turkey boasts one of Europes highest mobile
phone usage rates. There are currently three mobile
communications operators in Turkey: Turkcell
(51% market share), Vodafone (27%), and Avea
(19%). As a result, Turkeys operators are competing to offer many advanced services. Turkey also
has some unique market conditions. For example,
although smart-phones captured 14% of global
device sales in the first three quarters of 2010,
they were already 16% in Turkey (GfK, 2010).
Moreover, half of all users are 30 or younger,
Young subscribers are using 1 GB to 4 GB of
data per month, and data services are growing at
354
least 15% month to month, according to Coskun

Sahin, chief technology officer at Avea, which has
about 12 million subscribers. The more money
young users have, the more services they want
(Tellabs, 2011). While mobile phones have reached
a critical mass in Turkey across geographical
locations and among users, the mobile phone
park is differentiated with a mix of 2G, 2.5G
and 3G smart phones. Turkeys mobile phone
market grew by 12% in units sold in 2010. Clear
trends are available with sales of phone costing
less than 50 Euros declining from 28.6 to 4.4%
during the first three months of 2010, and phones
sold between 200 Euros and 300 Euros increased
from 6.7 to 19.2%percent during the same period.
Dual card phone sales are also increasing. As of
December 31, 2010, the mobile line penetration
rate in Turkey was approximately 84%, according to the operators announcements and market
estimates. Table 1 presents a statistical summary
of Turkish households engagement with ICT.
In Turkey, all telecommunications activities
are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation,
and the Information Technologies and Communications Authority. Two recent issues for government have been the introduction of number portability and the awarding of 3G licenses in 2008.
Government reports indicate that the next appropriate step of digital government initiatives is
Table1. Internet access of households in Turkey,
2010 (Source: Tuik, 2010)
Households
having
PC
11.62
Households
having access
to Internet via
5.86
Laptop
1.13
0.74
NetBook
0.14
0.08
Mobile phone
72.62
3.21
Television (Cable and

Satellite)
97.74
0.05
Game Console
2.90
0.02
Any one of the above
98.35
8.66
more services access on mobile devices (Ghyasi

& Kushchu, 2004; Yildiz, 2007). Five main initiativesMobile Electronic System Integration,
Traffic Information System, Mobile Information
Project (Ministry of Education), G2G applications
(mobile intranet for ministry personnel), and the
National Judicial Network (Court system integration)have led the nascent model (Cilingir &
Kushchu, 2004; Kuran, 2005). According to the
latest development plan (2006-2010) of the Turkish government, digital-government is presented
in line with international understanding as a new
tool that allows the development of an efficient
administration that is responsive to the needs of
the new knowledge economy aiming to provide
better public services. Turkey as a candidate for
EU membership has adopted and integrated the
existing 20 e-Government applications that the
EU prioritizes for its members and candidates,
described in the e-Europe 2005 Action Plan (eEAP, 2005; Eurostat, 2007).
Still, some limitations and obstacles regarding
the various e-Government initiatives are emerging.
These limitations prevent citizens from receiving
relevant and effective e-Government services. The
following briefly introduces these limitations:

E-Government initiatives are nearly only

accessible and often only understood by
the urban elite causing a social stratification and service inequality in the society.
E-Government applications in Turkey have
been favoring large enterprises rather than
SMEs and individual citizens (Bertucci,
2008).
E-Government is actually accentuating instead of reducing the digital information
divide between civil service layersmany
different services within public administration still have no real access to e-Government initiatives.
E-Government strategies have yet to fully
reconcile traditional civil servant culture
with the digital era and new civil service
management techniques. A cultural clashes

with national public administration processes (Meshur, 2007), environmental factors related to the type of technology, lack
of standards within public services (compatibility) (Ustun et al., 2008), information
and data inadequacies in merging services
records (Akman et al., 2002), lack of management skills, lack of training, political
infighting, and inadequate processes to
cope with the dramatic increase in usage
(Cayhan, 2008; Wolcott & Cagiltay, 2001)
are considerably reducing the potential
benefits.
Beyond e-Government, m-Government
emerging services have yet to address and
resolve wider issues such as macro mobile
phone-related public policy issues, including potential health problems (e.g., receptor location and information), trafficking
and theft of device, inappropriate use (e.g.,
while driving), and overall appropriate etiquette in public places.
The debate over public vs. private information and consequences has yet to be understood by the masses.
As a result, seven highly abstract topics are

prioritized by the Turkish government (Resmi
Gazete, 2006): (i) Social transition toward
equal ICT opportunities for all which involves
enabling citizens to effectively use ICT in their
daily lives, as well as enabling businesses in
order to increase social and economic benefits;
(ii) Penetration of ICT to all enterprises through
competitive advantage for all which supports
SMEs to own computers and have Internet access,
hence, enabling the emergence of e-commerce;
(iii) Citizen-focused government services by
provision of high quality public services with
the purpose of improving the quality of services
provided by the government through the utilization of ICT (i.e., receipt date of legal documents,
information process levels, request for additional
355
immediate actions and documents) especially in

services where demand is high; (iv) Modernization in public administration by ICT-supported
reforms in public administration, which constitutes a reform for the entrenched deterministic
view of civil services. Moreover, the formation of
e-Government via support of ICT that prioritizes
productivity and citizen satisfaction in compatible fashion with the environment in Turkey is
the ultimate goal. By prioritizing (v) globally
competitive IT Industry, the government aims to
support R&D in the IT sector and to enhance its
international competitiveness. Yet a larger context
needs to be constructed for the ICT, and understood
from that perspective. Another priority set by the
government is the (vi) competitive, diffused, and
cheap communication infrastructure and services
through high quality, and cheap wideband access
for all. This initiative aims to track the usefulness and impact of the broader social context in
e-Government opportunities (i.e., pricing, private
access). By promoting better infrastructure in telecommunications, it aims to offer high speed and
reliable Internet access to citizens, as well as to
organizations and public agencies. (vii) Improving
R&D and innovativeness by new products and
services in response to demand in global markets.
The operationalized result was the launch of

the e-Government Gateway platform in late 2008
as a one-stop portal (TURKSAT, 2008). The eGovernment Gateway initiative is described as
the provision of all e-Government applications
through a single portal (Kumas, 2007; Sungu et
al., 2008). Once the e-gatewayor the portal
is createdservice will be extended to include
other communication devices like cell phones
and pocket PCs, and users can access the system
with smart cards or imprinted digital certificates
for a secure transaction (TURKSAT, 2008). The
e-Government Gateway initiative is leading Turkeys efforts toward the modernization of apublic
administration and citizen-centric government. In
effect, the gateway portal provides a single government brand and consistency in services. Table
2 presents a summary of the differences between
traditional government and the e-Government
regarding transactional capabilities.
STRUCTURAL UNCERTAINTIES IN
TURKEY
While new organizational, procedural, and technological standards have been solidified via the
Table 2. Traditional government vs. e-government (Source: Fstkolu, 2007)

Traditional Government Approach
E-Government Approach
Paper-based communication
Electronic communication
Passive citizenship
Active citizenship
Vertical Hierarchic Structuring
Horizontal/Coordinated network structure
Time-consuming processes
Fast processes
Data provided by government
Data uploaded by citizens
Election of manager for each period
Real, participative, continual democracy
Personnel-based control mechanism
Control through automatic data update
Cash flow
Electronic fund transfer
One-way, discrete services
Differentiated, integrated services
High transaction costs
Low transaction costs
One-way communication
Interaction
Inefficient growth
Efficiency management
Nationality-based relationship
Participative relationship
356
e-Government Gateway platform, most of the

beneficial influences that ought to increase eGovernment success seem, in Turkey and many
emerging markets, to be at the same time mirrored by structural uncertainties. The following
sub-sections explore seven uncertainties in detail
including: Integrating technologies; the legislative framework; Privacy; Inter-operability; Error
management: the issue of time; Interactive communication; and Leadership.
(i) Integrating Technologies

First and foremost, integrating technologies,
including supplies, maintenance, training, and at
a later stage appropriate leverage and control to
encourage the development of tailored services
at a local level, have been outlined as structural
weaknesses. Looking back at Turkish history,
numerous previous low-technology initiatives
projects already exist with a mixed-success rate,
including attempts to build a Central Civil Registration System in the 1970s; in the 1990 Kamunet
project that was aimed at establishing a National
Information System; and initiatives such as the
Internet tax project for the Ministry of Finance
linked to a central population management system.
All were derailed mainly by economic and political instability, including two financial crises and
subsequent IMF cost-cutting packages. Still, new
macro plans are drawn regularly. For example,
as part of the e-Europe plus project, Turkey
prepared its own action plan called the e-Trkiye
initiative in 2001. This was followed by the eTransformation Turkey Project developed in 2003
as the main component of the now Urgent Action
Plan, and required a thorough modernization of
the public sector (ayhan, 2008). At this point
it is important to recognize that e-Government
projects are not only about technologies, but also
need support from the internal organizational
culture and the legal system.
It is safe to stress that there appear to be few
signs that the Turkish government is moving
quickly toward more sustainable structures despite

an increase in pressure from both internal demands
by citizens and many civil servants, and externally
by the European Union. Multiple players and
positions are difficult to integrate effectively in
a short amount of time, and lateral government
partnerships to emulate successful initiatives are
rare. A lack of forward thinking and ambition is
evidenced in a report by the EU regarding Turkey
in its i2010 initiative that only highlighted the
related activities and projects that have already
been put forward in the Information Society
Strategy 2006-2010 (State Planning Organization, 2006a), and its annexed, but not yet implemented, Action Plan 2006-2010 (State Planning
Organization, 2006b). The usual macro themes
are present without providing substantial detailsespecially regarding the financial resources
and trainingneeded in practice for application
at the local level. These include: (i) modernization in public administration organization and
functioning; (ii) effective, fast, easy-to-access
and efficient public service delivery to citizens
and businesses; (iii) reducing the digital divide;
(iv) increasing employment and productivity;
and (v) ensuring effective and widespread use of
ICT by businesses to create added higher-value.
Effective implementation of these strategies is,
indeed, expected to facilitate Turkeys accession
to the EU, and to provide advantages for Turkey in
terms of reaching the goals set forth in the Lisbon
Strategy (ayhan, 2008).
The integration of technologies has an important role when mobile technologies are concerned.
The convergence of multiple discrete technologies
may become more difficult to achieve in practice
as citizen demands become more mature and
sophisticated. ComScore (2010) noted there
are more than 60 different browser versions
deployed mobile handsets from over a dozen
vendors, making mobile technology increasingly
complicated (p. 8). Indeed, there seem to be
persistent differences in understanding among
the stakeholderspolicy makers, civil servants
357
and citizensin terms of lifestyle, use motivation, and product/service attributes required from
mobile ubiquitous technologies. As a practical
example, very few civil servants in Turkey have
a work (paid and provided by the government
for work purposes) smart phone, allowing them
to understand, learn, and integrate themselves in
the emerging mobile culture.
(ii) The Legislative Framework

Second, the importance of having a legislative
framework in place was initially underestimated.
E-communication and e-applications can only
be enacted by the various public administration
services if a strong, valid, and legally accepted
legislative regulatory framework is in place. While
the Law Pertaining to Rights for Information
Access was elaborated in 2004 as an important
step to allow the creation of a base for future eGovernment activities (Yelolu & Sasan, 2009),
in practice, the technology, as well as the practical
details, were never ratified. This is highlighted
in the unresolved issue regarding the use of an
e-signature. Subsequently a set of standards for
signature/verification software were put in place
and strictly defined in the 5070 law regarding
the electronic signatureonly to realize that
there were no legal institutions controlling these
standards or their use in practice. Indeed, at the
launch of the e-Government platform in December 2008, it was discovered that most of the
transactions and applications done through public
agencies, such as the ministries of justice, health
and finance, were legally considered as invalid.
The effect was felt within public administration
and also in the private sector when, from a legal
perspective, all of the services done through
Internet banking, such as payment of bills, fund
investments, EFTs or money orderswhich
require the identity information and signature if
challenged in courtwere considered invalid because of the lack of e-signature recognition within
the law (Anonymous, 2007; Yildirim, 2010). In
358
addition, beyond legal issues, real-life problems

began to emerge. As an example, data started to
be collected in 2008 for e-IDs; however, problems
arose in rural areas with the realization that people
living in these areas are likely to have calluses
on their fingers that prevent them from giving
their fingerprints. An alternative methodvein
geometryis available, but dramatically increases
the system complexity and risk of failure, without
overcoming the capability or addressing the issue of how to reach 70 million people (Canturk,
2010). In addition, the cost issues for an already
strained budget are also clear.
As such, the policy and legislative debate
surrounding ubiquitous computing and locationaware technologies, in particular, has yet to happen, consequently limiting the reach of any mGovernment initiative. As explained by Vodafone
Group Services Stephen Deadman, the current
legal framework is driven by a data-centric approach pertaining primarily to those who process
and control personal data. However, many nondata handlers play a vital role in creating the tools
and capabilities for information processing (e.g.,
software providers, social media companies, and
other intermediaries). These non-data handlers
need to be brought within the regulatory framework, to ensure that location services are designed
with privacy in mind (Thewherebusiness, 2011).
(iii) Privacy
Third, as digital data are easily searched, merged,
and transferred, privacy issues with regard to
appropriate and ethical handling, emerged when
data were finally in the system.. In Turkey, the
law pertaining to the protection of personal data
is still pending approval in parliament (two years
after the official launch of the e-Government
platform) and regular media coverage about the
sale of personal data (for persons both alive or
dead) over the Internet for money is common
(Anonymous, 2009a). The immediate results
are an obvious lack of trust within the general
population. The problem has reached such an

extent that the most important issue in the use of
e-Government transactions today is: informing
citizens about security and the actions being taken
to strengthen data protection, both legally and
in practice at the local level (Moral, 2009). The
Ministry of Transportation stated that in order to
change 80 years of tradition, an ideological and
cultural transformation is necessary. Only then did
they create a bill to attempt to capture more than
30 changes required from a legislative perspective
(Anonymous, 2010a).
Given the importance of privacy and security
in mobile transactions, citizens are faced with
an inability to make an informed decision on the
level of trust they should give to m-Government
services. Spam, unsolicited messages, and mass
texting are becoming common. Police services, for
example, regularly warn against ongoing scams via
unsolicited SMS. More fundamentally, the general
data regime and consumer protection law largely
postdates the development of mobile applications.
As a result, the ability to lodge complaints and
seek remedies, for example, is perceived as weak.
Furthermore, the right of not being reachable
seems to have disappeared. Even missed calls are
automatically recorded. Lastly, the appropriateness of many information technology spaces is yet
to be clearly defined, such as public and private
spaces for mobile communication activities.
(iv) Inter-Operability
Fourth, attention turned to inter-operability problems. In short, recurrent inabilities by e-service
to provide the expected benefits are obvious to
all. Although over 198 government services and
transactions can be made, the disconnection between the different agencies that are part of the
e-Government system, and the technical problems
faced by the users, prevents an effective use
of the system (Anonymous, 2010b). The main
problems are accessthe system is overloaded
during user peak times and, subsequently, run
slowly at best. While inquiring about updates and

progress regarding information submitted, most
users receive only a standard error warning stating that the The transaction cannot be completed
due to some technical interruption (Ta, 2010).
This message has, over time, become the brand
for e-Government. Many discussions about eGovernment led to the above catchphrase. Whats
more, the lack of integration between agencies
services on the e-Government platform generates
a large number of user complaints that are mostly
left unanswered. Still, one of the most important
agencies of the government, the Ministry of the
Interior, launched the e-interior affairs platform
in 2010 with major and persisting doubts on the
ability of the government to truly share information and integrate it in a way that will make the
system sustainable (Anonymous, 2010f). One
key issue is the login process with the predictable dilemma over passwords upon registration.
To compound difficulties, the first password for
any transaction related to a social security agency,
such as checking a social insurance payment or
a calculation of retirement, must be personally
obtained from a post office. Whats more, of the
400-plus thousand people currently using the eGovernment platform, many are at risk of being
penalized if they forget their passwords with a
fee that is ten times higher than the cost of getting their initial password (Anonymous, 2010c).
Disincentives are built within the system even
for the innovators that adopt the system as soon
as it is available. Lastly, more than 25% of login
registration attempts result in the system giving an
error messagedemonstrating low ICT skills
and, despite a theoretical impossibility, it was
also found that there were too many analogous
ID/login numbers (Anka, 2006).
As the login case underlines, beyond technologies, processes are not in place and, as a consequence, prevent policy makers from regulating
the industry and setting service standards. In the
specific case of m-services, it is thus important
to consider issues such as inter-operability given
359
the rapidly changing mobile device types to keep

pace with technological developments. 3G represents a set of transformative technologies leading
to perpetual connectedness and archiving of an
increasing large amount of personal data. These
issues have yet to be addressed in Turkey.
(v) Error Management:

The Issue of Time
Fifth, concernse over error management, including
corrective action and updating of the system in a
timely manner have to be resolved in a coherent,
systematic, and logical manner. As an example, a
warning appeared on the e-Government platform
stating that starting on 01.11.2010 the data weve
been publishing on our web site for our users wont
be published here anymore, but you can access
it from www.turkiye.gov.tr. After entering the
referenced site, another error message appeared
saying the page cannot be displayed. This
dilemma for users underscores a chronic lack of
system integration. Many citizens felt that they
were left with no option other than going back to
the traditional and time consuming face-to-face
system. The situation has been summarized as, in
the past we were waiting behind the door of the
government buildings and now we wait in front
of the computer (Anonymous, 2010d).
One of the promises of mobile technology is
linked to the concept of timeliness. Time has a
different meaning when considered with regard
to ubiquitous technologies. Mobile applications
are used in part to save time, and at times when
other services may not be available, and, more
importantly, at the right time for the user. Service
failure becomes rapidly unacceptable as many
decisions are last minute underlying the decline
of time based scheduling and coordination. Furthermore, as few unlimited data plans are offered
by telecommunication providers, the cost of failure
to connect or access is rapidly becoming critical.
This example shows that along m-Government
strategies, other services such as 24/7/365 call
360
center solutions also need to be implemented to

leverage the workability in practice of mobile
technologies and the need for immediate information. Lastly, it is important to remember that
in the case of m-services, citizens often become
dependent on them lacking alternative access
choices given the in build mobility rule, i.e., they
are constantly on the move.
(vi) Interactive Communication

Six, a further unforeseen effect of the e-Government initiative lies in the core promise of any
ICT system namely: open, participative, and
interactive communication. Freedom of speech
and social norms limits are still very unclear in
Turkey, making e-information an enemy of power.
Cases such as student protests, Labor Day protests
or the WikiLeaks question have highlighted the
sensibility of e-information, its multiple roles, and
the political implications for Turkey (Sahin et al.,
2010). As of 2011, over 150 words are forbidden
online, making sites inaccessible, and for over
two years, until 2010, Youtube was made inaccessible by further government regulations. As
a consequence, a need materialized for training
civil servants working behind the system across all
regions and Turkeys sub-culture toward greater
market orientation, i.e., service and quality. Although a specified training program has been set
up under the scope of the e-internal affairs project
to educate and equip civil servants to overcome
their ICT deficiencies (often not planned within
the initial budget and lasting over a medium
to long-term period), nothing to date has been
planned to change and reshape the civil service
culture (Naralan, 2008; Anonymous, 2009b). In
addition, this movement toward cultural change
is hindered by resistance at each government
layer by the impression that a transition toward
e-Government will result in unemployment for
civil servants who previously worked with the
paperwork system (Abaday, 2010). A distinct
lack of communication and awareness of the
value of e-Government and its advantages for

civil servants is clear.
As such, the use of mobile devices is linked to
new restrictions and opportunities. For example,
in Turkey, by law the army acts as the depository
for every single SMS sent. Freedom of expression is still being negotiated with mixed results.
In addition, the culture of feedback and action
being taken upon feedback or spontaneous communication with multiple parties does not exist
as such. M-service providers have to get ready
for a demand-led model of services as opposed
to a centralized top down system. Indeed, mobile
devices have the ability to create idiosyncratic
links between individuals, irrespective of their
institutional role and location, limiting the traditional segregation between different government
services and society. Furthermore, other types of
data will need to be integrated within the systems
and processes. These include photo, video, and
audio options that are available on most phones.
(vii) Leadership
Lastly, following this last point, one key attribute
that e-Government top managers ought to display
and communicate, is their leadership capabilities
in order for e-Government services to deliver extra value, as well as necessary services in a more
convenient manner. Thus farand demonstrating
a lack of coherent leadershiponly conflicting
messages, mistakes, and scandals are regularly
reported in the media. Efforts need to be explicitly
communicated regarding the strategic path toward
leadership and overall quality improvement.
Currently, many academics and the media report
that only limited management strategic skills are
present, leading to e-Government being perceived
as the same as traditional government (Odaba,
2005). Many agencies misunderstand the concept
of e-Government. Creating web sites and transferring their services to online channels does not
mean that they have converted to e-Government
(Ukan, 2003).
In a mobile world, decision makers may have

to shift away from traditional hierarchical leaders.
Access anytime from anywhere to individuals
may not be compatible with traditional top down
decision making. Communication boundaries,
formality, and leadership roles become more fluid
and are mitigated by the pressures of the actual
local contextaway from the fixed organizational
value and culture. Figure 1 summarizes the set of
current services in Turkey.
Valuing Changes: Organizing the

Progress in Turkey
As a result of the above points, an updated strategy was put in place to deal with the weaknesses
within the system. A modular approach emerged
centered around the Central Civil Registration
System as a means to deal with complexity in
a dynamic environment with limited resources.
One key node as the starting point for the overall
e-strategy was identified. It was decided by the
Office of the Prime Minister to concentrate efforts
in getting the national ID database accurate to
function as an anchor to all other systems, thereby,
in effect forming the backbone of the countrys
e-Government infrastructure. The Central Civil
Registration System, or MERNIS, is centrallymanaged and any changes in civil status and the
addresses of citizens are registered electronically
Figure 1. E-government to m-Government Turkey
361
in real time over a secure network by 923 district

civil registration offices. Currently, the MERNIS
database houses more than 130 million personal
data files managed by 11,000 civil servants. It
has been successfully implemented by more than
800 public bodies using up-to-date data from the
system, increasing the efficiency of their services.
The ID number is then integrated with various other
databases as the entry and common point toward
information-sharing on any given individual on
other systems such as education, healthcare, police,
credit history, insurance, defense, and justice. An
ID system was also created for foreign residents.
Both public organizations and private sectors,
such as banks and insurance, also benefit from the
new system and implemented changes from the
previous system based on tax numbers. As a result
six key services and sub-services have expended:

362
The successful implementation of the

ID system is reflected with the National
Judiciary Network Project that started to
leverage national ID number opportunities.
An e-justice system has emerged facilitating the flow of e-documents and sharing
of information across all courts, public
prosecutors, prisons, other judicial institutions, and government departments. Users
include 65,000 employees of the Ministry
of Justice, and 70,000 lawyers and citizens.
Success was realized in November 2009
when the National Judiciary Informatics
System (UYAP) and the SMS Information
System were selected as finalists for 4th
European e-Government Awards 2009.
The Prime Minister Communication
Centre and e-Certification Guarantee, including After Sale Services Certificates,
also received an award in the 4th European
Government award conference. Citizens
also started to engage and recognize the
effort when the SMS Information System
was awarded with a public prize as most
useful service for communities. In par-
ticular, attention and congratulations were

given to the SMS judicial information system that provided an outstanding service
for citizens and lawyers enabling them to
receive SMS messages containing legal
information about ongoing cases, dates of
court hearings, the last change in a case,
and suits or debt claims against them.
Building on this successand to reach
critical mass by making it worthwhile for
citizens to invest in the e-learning required
to navigate the e-Government platform
new initiatives are emerging regularly.
One example in May 2010 was the signing
of the technical details of the Integrated
Social Assistance Services Project by the
representatives of the Social Assistance and
Solidarity General Directorate (GDSAS)
and the Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).
This project provides all kinds of social
assistance from a single access point database. The project developed a database
shared by all government institutions,
municipalities, and, finally, with NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) that
have a social assistance program.
An e-Health strategy has also been designed as a result of the successful implementation of the ID system. The Ministry
of Health introduced a Central Patient
Appointment Service in the Kayseri and
Erzurum provinces. Citizens are able to arrange their appointments through 182 call
centers for hospitals operating under the
Ministry of Health. The implementation
will be scaled to include SMS, Internet,
and kiosk applications when the electronic
citizenship card project is completed in
all regions. The e-health strategy also encompasses a core resource management
system, tele-medicine project, decision
support system, green card information
system, tender issues, a national health data

glossary, and remote education projects.
Another aspect of the importance of the ID
anchor system is seen with the Earthquake
Monitoring and Information System that
links hundreds of seismographs together to
provide an early warning system to critical governmental organizations such as
civil defense, emergency units, municipalities, the local governor, and military via
GPRS, where real-time and accurate data
are required.
Further services have emerged from the
Ministry of Trade and Industry which
created a central depository named the
Consumer Information System. Thanks to
the new system, consumers are able to access all the information concerning their
rights, send complaints to relevant authorities online, and to check on the status of their
complaints. In addition, the system creates
a central database for trade registries with
a unique identification number for all legal
trade entities in Turkey enabling citizens
and other businesses to verify and confirm
providers and suppliers. Furthermore, the
Revenue Administration has started the
implementation of the electronic invoice
project. Accordingly, electronic invoices
signed with a secure electronic signature can be stored in electronic form and
relayed between relevant parties online.
This is completed by the e-Municipality
project executed by Sanliurfa Information
Management Department that has won two
awards regarding its successful implementation of e-Government applications in the
area of debt and payment management.
For example, traffic penalties are checked
and paid online, increasing efficiency and
transparency. This follows a country-wide
upgrading of the traffic information system (Trafik Bilgi Sistemi). TBS connects
mobile traffic enforcement units equipped
with tablet-PCs to a central information

system via GPRS allowing rapid emergency response and real time queries.
Further projects are materializing at the
municipality level where services are being deployed, ranging from tax information and reminders, to roadblock notices or
public concert locations. On the B2G side
starting from April 2010, businesses were
able to conduct their work related to environmental permits and planning online
from a single portal, http://eizin.cevreorman.gov.tr in 14 provinces. The implementation has been scaled to all 81 provinces
since July 2010.
While most of these new mobile applications

are complementary to the e-Government system, specific novel mobile-only applications are
appearing. The real time factor is of increasing
value in todays society. It is also emphasized that
technology accounts for only 20% of the success
of e-Government initiatives in Turkey. Other
critical factors have been recognized, including:
(i) business process re-engineeringre-thinking
the way civil servants work, including when and
from where, i.e., office, home, in the fieldevaluated to represent 35% of the challenges and (ii)
management changechange in civil servant
cultureevaluated to correspond to 45% of the
challenges. The Turkish government has also
recognized that political resolve and leadership
must drive e-Government transformation further.
Legislation, infrastructure, organizational structure, human resources, and proper communication
systems are being reviewed as part of a continuous
innovation and improvement program. Such an
environment allows for common databases which
will support e-Government services (Ng, 2010).
Table 3 presents a 10-point summary of the main
evaluation criteria for 2010.
Four basic concepts of mobility are important
including (i) device mobility, (ii) user mobility,
(iii) service mobility, and (iv) session mobility,
363
Table 3. Moving from e-to m-government

e-Government
Easy and fast access to the service
Transparency
Increased participation
Timeliness
Disappearance of prejudice regarding government
Equality in the service provided
Increased efficiency level among society
Valuing citizen demands and requirements
Fast, objective and correct decisions by increasing information
sharing and participation
i.e., real time decision. Device mobility deals with

the continued access to services while being
spatially mobile, that is, moving from one physical location to another. User mobility presents
location and device independent service access.
The mobile phone network which is utilizing the
subscriber identification module (SIM) as a means
of user identification in the network is a common
example. Service mobility refers to the service
delivery regardless of device or user-specific settings. Civil servants outside their official setting
deliver on the go services. For example, during a
visit at home by social services, the individual
citizens record is updated in situ. Finally, session
mobility describes the capability of starting, pausing, and resuming a user session while switching
between devices and/or services in real time
(Roggenkamp, 2007).
In other words, mobility commands control
over economic resources, such as the ability to
access greater sources of money and accumulate assets (Almeida and Kogut, 1999; Argote
and Ingram, 2000). In turn, mobility enhances
technological cultural social capital by allowing
individuals to reach wider group membership,
relationships, and networks of influence. Furthermore, mobility is shaping cultural capital toward
a postmodern society based on global knowledge.
Mobility needs to be considered within a dynamic
continuum whereby individual citizens regularly
reassess their specific mobility constraints within
364
m-Government
Increased service qualitysystem consolidation
Cost savings
Increased trust toward government
Determination of standardization, minimizing errors, increasing
effectiveness, and efficiency
Communication of actions and leadership
Clearer control mechanism
Increased effectiveness of law
Decreased bureaucracyimmediacy
Prevention of duplicated investments
Fast and correct responses to fluctuations and crises
a given context. Absolute versus relative mobility

is providing a true reflection in situ of users practices. Indeed, in an emerging market situation, it is
important to remember that other macro-societal
factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, and culture
create de-facto boundaries for mobility and access to government (De Kervenoael et al., 2010).
Tables 4 and 5 summarize the main initiatives and
benefits of m-Government for Turkey.
Officially, the Turkish Mobile Government
that allows access to e-Government Gate over
mobile phones was introduced by President Abdullah Gl on October 7, 2009, at the CeBIT Informatics Eurasia fair. Today, after a slow start, there
are approximately ten thousand registered users
in e-Government Gate by mobile devices. Further
services are planned to be introduced with a strong
system design built around access via mobile
devices. These include: the e-tax project for municipalities; small and medium scale municipality integrations; electricity and gas tax; road
transportation general directorate services; land
registry cadastral Form 1 Integration; SSO integration for consulate net project; credit and dormitories inquiry and application services;
TVTRK vehicle inspection services; costal
security general directorate services; security
general directorate missing children project; security general directorate ASBS project and the
e-health project currently linking one thousand
five-hundred hospitals (BThaber, 2010).
Table 4. Summary of the benefits associated with m-government

Benefits of m-Government:
Adoption of online governmental services by end users through the improved convenience it offers.
Mobile devices are always switched on, unlike laptop computers.
Higher capability of mobilization. Applications may be designed to provide instant information to users (e.g., sending a warning message about forthcoming bad weather conditions or emergencies).
Personal use in contrast to shared use of many computers.
Personalized and user-friendly channels. Ubiquitous and instant contact.
Mobile devices exceed the wired Internet use level.
Reduction of the digital divide as less training or experience with ICT is required.
Reduction of average service processing time, mainly for correspondence concerning simple notifications. Reduction of costs.
Early detection of problems reported by citizens.
Increased citizen participation in community matters. Ubiquitous and instant contact.
Source: Adapted from Abramowicz et al., 2007; Hallin and Lundevall, 2007).
Table 5. Summary of current m-government services in Turkey

Major m-Government
Applications
Explanation
Aim
Mobese
Mobile Electronic
System Integration
Effective communication among the mobile units and the central command unit.
TBS
Traffic Information System
The connection of mobile traffic enforcement units to a central information system via GPRS.
Mobile Donations
Charity applications
The mobile phone users support campaigns organized for Turkish Education Foundation, National Education Foundation, and Special Olympics
(Olympics for the disabled) by sending specially priced SMSs to special
service numbers.
EMIS
Earthquake Monitoring and Information System
Disseminate information to involved governmental organizations such

as civil defense, emergency units, municipalities, local governor, and
military.
MTC - Sisli Municipality
Mobile Tax Collection System
For citizens to conduct taxation queries and transactions via mobile

phones.
CIF - Kadikoy Municipality
Cellular Information Broadcast
Mobile infrastructure that broadcasts municipal

and governmental messages and reminders to citizens.
BAYON-M
Bahcesehir Governance Model- A

general model for local governance
TIS - Uskudar Municipality
Tax Information System
Mobile voting for local democracy (unofficial), SMS message broadcasts

to citizens on various topics, and messages on special days.
Reminds citizens of their tax payment deadlines and their tax amounts,
and enables them to query and pay their taxes via SMS.
In sum, while country-level strategies exist,

there has been a minimal analysis of the impact of
mobility across competing daily activities treated
in the literature as non-events. M-Government
and mobility offer a complementary alternative
to analyze the technological innovation and diffusion process in practice after the launch of the
generic e-Government platform to maintain and
foster sustainable relationships with citizens. At
this point, it is important to analyze how social

and cultural circumstances might be an impetus for
citizen participation. Creating and engaging with
citizens can be said to be less about the products
and services, and more about relationships with
the citizen vis-a-vis the total offering. Figure 2
summarize the anchoring and service development
logic. M-Government allows access to a larger
number of individual citizens through personal
365
mobile devices which far exceeds the Internet

user community and allows for greater privacy
and control. PCs are often shared and within the
household, hence, not immune to normative pressures. As a practical example, what was considered
as an option in the past such as checking email
via mobile devices has become the norm, and is
re-shaping the power of m-Government services.
M-Government reaches a broader audience, especially younger individuals, 14 years old and
over, who may be at particular risk (e.g., alcohol,
gender/sexual concerns, domestic violence, etc.)
and who do not possess great IT skills or access,
but are active users of mobile communication.
M-Government allows a reduction in the digital
divide experienced in many areas. M-Government
re-enforces the message, evaluation, testing,
adoption, and acceptance of online information
by delivering tangible results. M-Government
enhances convenience and encourages creativity through rapid interactive feedback and also
acts as catalyst towards the next generation of
location-aware services
The value-creating process accorded by the
development of mobile technologies should not
be viewed in the traditional engineering sense or
by the traditional marketing logic of making,
selling, and servicing, but in the experiential
logic of listening, customizing, and supporting.
The more citizens understand the opportunities
offered by m-Government strategies, the greater
the value created. M-Government initiatives ought
to be considered as the structure of the relationships, taking the technology itself as second to
knowledge. Novel access to knowledge is the
fundamental source of sustainability and competitive advantage over the traditional public
administration system. M-technologies ought to
be used as an enhancement for understanding how
citizens perceive and understand the service encounter with government, leading to purposeful
interactions and personalized experiences in
practice. Reaching back to the extant literature in
IS hardware, software, and data, processes and
366
people are evolving in given socio-economic

contexts that comprise the social aspects shaping
the development and application of technology,
and the effect that technology has in organizations
and society (Kroenke, 2007). M-Government
efforts are responding to calls made in the literature to integrate IT in terms of the processes and
people (Orlikowski & Iacono, 2001). The main
challenge for the m-Government initiative in
Turkey remains the understanding and accommodation of heterogeneity both from a technical
and human perspective, and especially reflecting
citizen needs and usages of mobile technologies
with civil servant practices. Technical and social
capabilities need to be integrated within a system
that accommodates a wide range of individual
context and time-specific needs and preferences.
Ubiquitous computing leads to expectations of
personalized evolvable experiences. A call is made
here for future research to include the concept of
co-creation and co-production of services through
m-Government technology platforms, especially
analyzing the applicability of location-aware
services. Technical and social capabilities need
to be integrated within technological system development that, in turn, ought to accommodate a
wide range of individual context and time-specific needs and preferences.

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
A central premise is that, in todays society, the
ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies
is critical to social inclusion (Warschauer, 2004).
Although Turkey started its e-Government transformation only in 2001, great progress has been
made through the leap-frogging of technologies
and processes, and by encouraging an internal
cultural shift toward greater market orientation
in the public sector. Yet, beyond market orien-
Figure 2. E-government to m-government supportive mechanisms
367
tation, mobile markets are only emerging and,

as such, do not exist fully. The social aspect in
market makingi.e., citizen involvement and
inputtogether with technological advancements
are leading to new questions regarding the role
of public administration in market orientation
(Bozeman & Coker, 1992). Mobile government
(m-Government) can be defined as a strategy and
its implementation involving the utilization of all
kinds of wireless and mobile technology, services,
applications, and devices for improving benefits
to the parties involved in e-Government, including citizens, businesses, and all government units
(Kushchu & Kuscu, 2003). M-Government can be
considered as a subset of the overall e-Government
strategy making public information and services
available anytime, anywhere (Lallana, 2004;
Capra et al., 2007).
Despite progress made in the Turkish eGovernment agenda, a lot still remains for future
research directions. The following questions
remain as potential future research directions:

How can citizen- and civil servant-centered design be employed to increase usage
of m-Government?
How can citizen-centered m-Government
services accommodate a different understanding of government roles?
Are there best m-Government practices
and modular strategies emerging that
ought to be shared among the various state
layers regarding emerging location-aware
services?
What are the policy aspects of ubiquitous
computing for government services and,
in particular, location-aware devices that
need to be considered?
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Cellular Phone: This is a mobile phone that
can essentially be utilised to access the Internet and
exchange calls with other users at the same time.
E-Government: The use of ICTs as a platform
to provide government services as an interaction
platform between the government organs and
individuals and/or businesses. This mode of government entails the provision of public services,
essentially using standallone non-mobile computers (such as personal computers), to access Internet
applications and correspondingly e-Government
applications.
Government Services: These are public
services that the government offers to the people
and business in order to exculpate their mandate.
M-Government: This is a mode of e-Government where access to public services is provided
using mobile devices such as mobile phones.
Practice: A certain code of conduct that takes
the major trend in an organization
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374
Chapter 18
E-Democracy:
An Enabler for Improved

Participatory Democracy
Charles Ayo
Covenant University, Nigeria
Ambrose Azeta
Aderonke Oni
ABSTRACT
In the 21st century, the ability of citizens to participate in online democracy is a key issue for governments in the developing nations because of its attendant benefits. Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) facilities support the establishment of electronic interaction between citizens and the
various organs of government. Towards this, a variety of efforts have been made, and many systems
have been developed, but few attempts have been made to combine more than one mode of access for
e-Democracy system. It is difficult for people with visual impairment to be involved in issues of governance and communicate with government representatives such as public office holders. For these people,
having access to an electronic means of communicating with these representatives is necessary as a
way of enhancing participatory democracy among the citizens. In this chapter, the authors propose an
access method for e-Democracy system using Multimodal SMS, Voice and Web (Multi-SVW) system. The
system was implemented using VoiceXML and PHP for the user interfaces and MySQL as the database.
The system was evaluated using cognitive walkthrough strategy. The results of the usability evaluation
suggest that the prototype Multi-SVW application presented in this chapter has good usability based
on the total mean rating. The system provides accessibility options to citizens who are able-bodied and
citizens who are blind or vision impaired as a way of promoting digital citizenship.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch018
E-Democracy
INTRODUCTION
One of the major concerns of governments all over
the world is the persistent reduction of citizens involvement in participatory democracy. This arises
largely from lack of confidence in the democractic
process and to a greater extent the apathy that exists between the elected representatives and the
electorates. The heart of democracy is the freedom
of the people to freely choose those who govern
their affairs; the right to interact regularly with
their representatives; the right to make contributions to issues that affect them in their localities;
the power to renew or to change such managers at
regular elections; and the right to expect accountability from the elected officers. These have been
largely absent in developing countries (Ayo et al.,
2008). Furthermore, the physically challenged
persons, particularly the visually impaired have
been relegated to the background in these areas.
This group neither has a forum to air their views
nor hardly any avenue to cast their votes.
Citizens participation in governance has always been a major challenge for many democracies
particularly in the developing countries. There is
dearth of organized platform or umbrella under
which the opinions and views of the citizens could
be properly and adequately expressed and channeled to the government. Societal vices such as
corruption and other forms of electoral manipulation are some of the issues discouraging the
electorate from active involvement in government
(Ayo et al., 2008). Some of the delimiting factors
to participatory democracy include the fact that:
i.
Opinions, views, ideas, or suggestions of the

average electorates on issues pertaining to
governance are not sought or heard.
ii. Access to public media like television, radio
and newspapers as a medium of expression
for the people is far-fetched and not affordable by most electorates.
iii. Petitions made to government by members

of the general public are treated with levity,
negligence and gross irresponsibility.
iv. Accessibility to e-Democracy online resources is a major concern to most users in
the developing nations.
A very promising attribute of e-Government
is its ability to connect citizens through ICT (eCitizens) regardless of location and time. E-Citizen
entails the ability to provide citizens with details
of public sector activities; increase the input of
citizens into public sector decisions and actions;
and improve the services delivered to the generality of the populace. Mobile devices have been the
most widely used electronic gadgets with about
two-thirds of the world population in existence.
Accordingly, it becomes a good platform for
enhanced participatory democracy.
Mobile government (m-Government), referred
to as mobile e-Government, involves the deployment of governments services and administration
on mobile devices. There are iBusiness, iCommerce, iVoting, iGovernment, etc. if the platform of
implementation is the Internet, while transactions
on the platforms of mobile telecommunication
devices are prefixed with m, such as m-Business,
m-Commerce, m-Government and m-Democracy,
as the case may be (Ayo, 2009). The web is assuming a central role in the way government and
its citizens share information, hence it has been
adopted as one of the major media for supporting
democracies. To encourage wider participation
in democracies, mobile communication devices
need to be employed, and these are devices such
as portable handheld devices (cell phones, mobile
phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, palm top computers, etc) used for sending
information between remote locations (Azeta et
al. 2007).
The convergence of small and inexpensive
mobile devices has brought to the fore, the concept
of mobile computing and ubiquitous computing.
All models of ubiquitous computing (also called
375
E-Democracy
pervasive computing) share a vision of small, inexpensive, robust networked processing devices,
distributed at all scales throughout everyday life
and generally turned to distinctly common-place
ends (George et al, 2005 and Fred, 1996). Furthermore, the advent of context-aware computing has made mobile devices veritable tools for
personalized message delivery (Julien et al. 2009).
Providing a voice-based interface and the Short
Message Services (SMS) interface is an advantage
to the visually challenged that is unable to use a
visual interface. It is also possible to use the application for accessing a web-based interface even
while on the move through a mobile phone, which
is much easier to carry around than a personal
computer. Thus, by using voice extensible markup
language (VoiceXML) applications, we can reach
out to more electorates through the voice-based
user interface (VUI) than is possible using the
Internet, while the SMS is expected to offer the
widest connectivity to the citizenry. However, the
participation of citizens in a democracy depends
on the level of security, social, political and economic stability of a country.
The Political System in Nigeria

The political system in Nigeria has undergone
various changes over the last few decades. During
the past few years, the country witnessed political
tumult aided by military coup at different stages
which destabilized its stability. A comprehensive
analysis of the political system of Nigeria remains
incomplete without mentioning its rich glorious
history which has played a great role in redefining the various aspects of the political growth of
the country. As Africas most populous country,
oil-rich Nigeria ranks with South Africa as one
of the most influential countries on the continent.
Since its return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has
made some progress on strengthening government
institutions and fighting the corruption engendered
by its oil wealth. Like the United States, Brazil,
and India, Nigeria is structured as a federation,
376
a structure it inherited from its British colonial

rulers. It has thirty-six states, one federal territory,
and 774 municipalities (plus Abuja). Yet power
resides in the central government, which controls
most of the countrys revenues and resources. A
2005 constitutional review attempted to address
the controversy over revenue sharing and the
tenure of the president and state governors, but
ended without progress after the introduction of
an amendment that was widely seen as a political move to extend Obasanjos time in office by
two years.
Since the ending of military rule with the
democratic elections in 1999, Nigeria has made
some progress in adapting its governing mechanisms from a command to a consensual basis.
Democratic and economic reforms, particularly
at federal level, have helped to improve the countrys investment climate and economic prospects
through realistic efforts to consolidate the banking sector, control public expenditure and reduce
public debt, although continued efforts will be
needed to curb corruption (Usman, 2008). Nigeria
is a developing country in one of the worlds more
unstable regions. Independence was gained only
in the wake of World War II, and the nation was
under military control until 1999. Though free
elections began at the dawn of the 21st century,
violence accompanied political transfer in 2003,
2007 and 2011 elections (Political, 2011). Notwithstanding, the level of violence recorded in
most democratic elections depends on the type
of democracy practiced and its acceptability to
the populace.
In the chapter, we investigate the different
categories of e-Democracy system, technologies
and classifications for e-Democracy, multimodal
system and implications for the physically challenged. By making use of three interfaces that is
composed of SMS user interface(SUI), Voice user
interface (VUI) and Web user interface (WUI),
we proposed a multimodal e-Democracy system
for citizens that are able-bodied and those that are
visually impaired. The system was modeled and
E-Democracy
implemented using Unified Modelling Language

(UML) and Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS) respectively. Consequently, we evaluated
the system to determine the level of users satisfaction and the result shows a good usability rating.
Meaning and Different Categories

of e-Democracy System
E-Democracy consists of two sub-areas namely
e-Voting and e-Participation (Eldis, 2011). While
e-Democracy is the use of technology for strengthening the mechanisms of democratic decision
making, e-Voting and e-Participation focus on the
means for doing this. In e-Participation, involvement of citizens in the policy process may give
rise to two different sets of relationship between
citizens and policy makers. The first is a vertical
relationship in which policy makers use the speed
and immediacy of Information Technology (IT)
networks to consult citizens on various policy
issues. The second is a more complex, horizontal and multi-directional interactivity in which
citizens and groups will be able to make use of
information available from multiple online sources
to bring pressure to bear on their government. The
latter may also take the form of e-Activism or
the use of ICTs by civil society organisations to
advocate their view points and influence political
or policy process.
There have been many initiatives to use IT
to strengthen the democratic process through eVoting and e-Participation. However, the number
of such initiatives lags significantly behind the
administrative-based e-Government service and
portal efforts.
Regarding e-Democracy (Poullet, 1998), this
field supports a variety of ways for political participation, from access to public information via
formal and informal participation in planning and
decision-making processes, to online voting in
elections (Kubicek et al., 2003). For the exploitation of the benefits that could be extracted by this
approach, the provision of services and facilities,
from a technical point of view, cannot succeed. The

basic requirements of every e-Democracy are as
follows: (i) E-Government should make it possible
for citizens to follow their governments, central,
regional and local actions, and be able to participate
in decision-making (Bouras et al., 2008). This is
about increasing democratic participation and
involvement. (ii) E-Government should help to
provide citizens personalised public services that
meet their specific needs, and (iii) E-Government
should increase efficiency and productivity. The
public sector, as an information-intensive sector,
can be made more efficient by digitizing information and processes.
From the short to the medium term (Lallana,
2007), mobile phones will remain the primary
mode of telecommunications for many citizens
in developing countries. And, as these phones
become more powerful they will also become
an important source of information and an alternative channel for the delivery of electronic
services. Likewise, texting opened a new window
for citizen involvement by becoming a means of
providing feedback to many government leaders.
Hence, any government wishing to improve public
services and expand citizen participation in decision making through ICT should take advantage
of the opportunities provided by the unrelenting
spread of mobile phones in the developing world.
TECHNOLOGIES AND
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR
E-DEMOCRACY
Series of technological innovative methods have
been put in place to foster citizens participation in political issues and most especially in
policy-making. There were several impressive
examples of governments using ICT to involve
the public in various levels of policy formation
and decision-making. These initiatives, according to Coleman and Norris, 2005; Coleman and
377
E-Democracy
Gotze 2001; Medaglia, 2007; Abelson et al, 2001

are listed as follows:
Citizens Juries: a group of citizens representative, who investigate and deliberate on
important issue of public policy over a period
and make recommendations to decision makers.
This produces an informed and thought-through
collective decision thus given decision makers an
insight that might otherwise be impossible to get.
Citizens Panels/ Standing Research Panels:
a large (1,000-2,000) representative group of citizen frequently used to access public opinions or
preference. Citizens panel members are usually
of the same local resident, political or social class.
Forums and Panels Meetings: this involves
citizens in discussion with government officials
or elected representatives on services or general
public issue. Agenda may be according to participant concerns, set in advance or at the time
of the meeting.
Focus Groups: structured but open-ended
discussion by a group of people, representative of
a particular sector, and led by a trained facilitator.
This is a technique in which an issue is explored
in depth by a small group of around 8 - 10 people
within 1 or 2 hours.
Opinion Polls: accessing public opinions. 250
- 600 random or chosen representative samples
opinion is obtained over an issue. Opinion poll can
be deliberative by allowing participants to learn
about and discuss the issue or question experts,
so they can make informed and thought-through
judgments. The deliberation exercise can last
within 2-4 days with polls taken at the beginning
and end of the event.
E-Referenda: Asking a question of the whole
population. This is similar to opinion polling.
E-Petition: A citizen adopts a position on an
issue, and invites others to signal their support.
The process can be interactive with exchanging
ideas and evolution of the proposition. The final
decision is submitted to a representative body (e.g.
a Parliament), or to government with the hope that
its decisions will be influenced.
378
E-rule-making: set to provide easier access

to the regulatory process. Citizens are given more
direct access to proposed regulations that set public
policy and can comment in support or against.
Deliberative polling: similar to opinion polls
but incorporate an element of deliberation. Purposely used to measure what the representative
citizens would think of an issue if they had an
adequate chance to reflect on it.
E-mail: offers free dialog.
Mailing lists: a tool capable of delivering
numerous messages to millions of Internet users daily. Its disadvantage are the its weak web
integration and lack of open metadata standards.
Chat room: create deep sense of interaction
among participants but could be slow and chaotic.
Bulletin boards: provide linear or threaded
asynchronous communications capabilities.
Instant messaging: provides cheaper and
ubiquitous medium of sharing information.
Weblogs: More appealing than public forums
for local government.
Other technologies include: Content management systems (CMSs), Knowledge management
systems (KMSs), SMS and MMS instead of E-mail
- thanks to mobile devices diffusion, and Natural
language processing applications.
Multimodal System and Implications for the
Physically Challenged
In the recent years, there has been a significant
and rapid change in the delivery of democratic
services. The use of the Internet and web based
instructional aids, once thought experimental, are
now viewed as an integral part of e-Government
in most democracies. This has resulted in citizens
receiving unprecedented access to public information and the creation of new opportunities for accessing public office holders. Although few would
argue against the merits of technology supported
governance, it is clear that in the rush for online
implementation, citizens such as those with disabilities have been left behind due to the lack of
an accessible content delivery system. Blind and
vision impaired citizens, who are particularly af-
E-Democracy
fected by this technological change have faced a

range of difficulties from the act of typing a letter
to the use of computers in government institutions. The increasingly widening gap between the
citizens who are technologically able and those
who cannot gain access to technology are a cause
of great concern. The research described in this
book chapter aims to examine a combination of
using three modes to access democratic service
content faced by people who are blind or vision
impaired and the unique accessibility requirements
of such people.
PROPOSED MULTIMODAL
E-DEMOCRACY - CONCEPT
AND ARCHITECTURE
System Description
The proposed Multi-SVW system contains the
following components.
Online Opinion polls: this creates an avenue
for users to be engaged in the legislative process;
that is, according the citizens the choice of agreeing to a particular notion. With this module, we
can listen to public opinions that affect the nation,
instead of making decisions which the citizens
do not agree with. The administrator posts the
available options and then the users come to vote
and choose amongst available options and the
Public office holders can now use this as a guide
to arriving at a conclusion and also creating the
advantage of actively engaging the citizens.
Forum: The forum enables the participation
of citizens in public discussions. Most forums are
normally held in designated areas e.g. the National
assembly where senators and other members of
parliament come to deliberate, thereby alienating the citizens from sharing and exchanging
their ideas. Moreover, this module will help
launch new forums effectively by attracting the
participation of active citizens, elected officials
and policy makers, civil servants, interest groups,
and journalists, which are required to gain the

sustained participation of more average citizens
in a forum that matters . Also it improves the
quality of discussions such that most participants
view them as open, constructive, useful, and as a
place that supports thoughtful and meaningful exchange that promotes deep discussion, awareness
of complex public issues, and sense of direction
on ways citizens can make a difference on issues
that matter to them.
Online Petition: in the cause of administration, citizens might not be impressed with the
way things are being organized in the country, but
with this module, the citizens can send petitions
to any office holder who currently holds a public
position before the expiration of their tenure. This
will mostly involve complaints from users who
are dissatisfied with current situation of things
probably in their area of interest.
Information provision: involves availability
of general and necessary information to users of
the system through the Internet, through mobile
technologies i.e. through GSM devices, PDA
and other devices capable of receiving SMS and
through email messages.
Given this background, we propose an approach in which citizens can have multiple means
of participating in democratic governance. We look
forward to a broader view e-Democracy service
development where citizens are empowered in
their specific service needs throughout the interaction and participation process. In the proposed
architecture of Figure 1, from the citizens side
e-Democracy can provide service delivery in the
three access point through mobile SMS, Mobile
Voice and PC web. The users of the system include
Citizens, Non-citizens, Public office holders, and
System administrators.
The architecture of the Multi-SVW system is
based on the client-server model (see Figure 1).
The architecture shows the components of the
system modules. The client-server communication
is based on standard Internet protocols HTTP and
TCP/IP. The server module for the Mobile SMS,
379
E-Democracy
Figure 1. System architecture of VMS e-democracy
Mobile Voice and Web have been developed in

PHP and all modules for the client have been
developed in HTML, VoiceXML and HTML
respectively. We have used Ozeki SMS server and
Voxeo Voice server to deploy the SMS transaction
code and VoiceXML code. The servers provide
search, instant messaging and speech translation
for client modules. The server holds the e-participation, SMS incoming and outgoing messages
and text-to-speech (TTS)/Speech recognition
software. The e-Democracy center provides a set
of services which includes e-Petition, e-Profile,
e-Polls and e-Forum and e-News. Furthermore,
all the tools used are free and open source software
(FOSS). The Ozeki SMS server requires an acquisition of a license key before it can operate
successfully.
The Mobile Voice User Interface (UI) (see
Figure 1) is used by the visually impaired citizens
to dial a telephone number from their land or
mobile phone and connect to the e-Democracy
system, whereas the able-bodied citizens accesses
the system using the mobile SMS UI and PC Web
UI. The mobile SMS and PC web are visual in
nature hence the visually impaired are not able
to use the computer screen and manipulate the
380
keyboard. Navigating a Voice User Interface (VUI)

for the desired e-Democracy content is a strenuous
task. VUI applications are primarily developed
to cater for the visually impaired (Raghuraman,
2004) to reduce the access barrier imposed by
their inability to see the visual interface of a PC,
Web or mobile phone. The mobile voice UI will
therefore be helpful for people with physical
access difficulties engendered by their visual or
mobility impairment.
MODELLING AND IMPLEMENTATION

This section describes a model of the e-Democracy
system and a prototype implementation of ePetition, e-Profile, e-Polls, e-Forum and e-News.
A Unified modeling language (UML) involving
activity diagram was used to model the system.
Activity Diagram
Activity Diagram displays a special state diagram
where most of the states are action states and most
of the transitions are triggered by completion of
the actions in the source states. This diagram (See
E-Democracy
Figure 2) focuses on flows driven by internal

processing. One special component of Figure 2
is mobile SMS, where citizen can interact with
their teachers/aunties.
Mobile Voice UI Design

The pseudocode in Figure 3 describes a segment
of implementation of the prototyped application.
Mobile SMS UI Design

Figure 4 shows the screen shot for configuring the
GSM modem using Ozeki SMS server and Figure
5 contains the SQL statements of the messages
sent from Ozeki SMS server, and the MySQL

database Ado connection string.
The Mobile SMS user interface is used to send
and receive SMS alert messages on pertinent news
and information regarding public opinion. It has
two components as follows.
Outgoing Short message service: allows
citizens and all users of the system to send short
messages to mobile phone numbers. Special
agreement may be reached between major GSM
service providers to allow users send out messages
from the website at a cheaper rate and at a reduced
cost, and this will better facilitate the spreading
of news and information to people.
Figure 2. Activity diagram for multi-SVW e-democracy system
381
E-Democracy
Figure 3. The pseudocode for the VUI
Figure 4. GSM modem and Ozeki SMS server configuration
Figure 5. SQL statements of sent messages
382
E-Democracy
Incoming short message service: allows

mobile phone users to send short messages to the
forum i.e. creating an alternative method to the
conventional system of posting comments by using a PC with all the hurdles of purchasing a PC,
getting an Internet connection and also with the
location constraint, but with this module, users can
send forum topics from the comfort of their homes
or wherever they are, thereby actively engaging
the citizens in discussions and issues that affects
the nation at large. This module is not visible to
any of the users except the system administrator,
who has to administer the Ozeki message server
being used for processing messages.
Web UI Design
The WUI as shown in Figure 6 was implemented
using HTML and PHP. The WUI allows citizens
to login into the web and create citizens registration information.
Implementation
The Web UI was implemented using PHP. The
program is made up of several components. Figure 7 shows the bar chart representation of the
poll results, Figure 8 presents the online forum
and Figure 9 contains the Mobile SMS interface.
a) Opinion Polls
This is used by the administrator to conduct polls
on a particular issue, In order to see which of the
available options the general public agrees with.
This contains a bar chart that grows dynamically
and it gives the users a vivid representation of
the results of the polls, since pictures can speak
a thousand words.
b) Online Forum Page

Allows for interaction amongst different users and
it enables the participation of citizens in public
discussion.
c) Mobile SMS
Allows you send a message to any phone number
of your choice using the short message service
The Web UI allows users to send messages by
category to government officials. Different categories of office holders exist in the database; this
consists of the Local Government (LG) officials,
executives, Federal government and others. With
this category, the admin can send messages to a
particular set of people by selecting a category
of office holder and the application goes to the
database to pick all the phone numbers with the
selected category and it performs the SQL query X
Figure 6. Pseudocode of WUI
383
E-Democracy
Figure 7, Bar chart representation of the polls result
Figure 8, Online forum
number of times for which it finds a phone number

in the category selected.e.g. if we intend to send
a message to all federal government executives,
it selects all phone numbers in this category and
sends it to the phone numbers fetched from the
database.
The e-Democracy system is set to encourage
citizens and all other stakeholders in the country
to engage in participative nation building by
encouraging everyone to participate actively in
384
Governance. To gain access into the system, users

need to be registered before they can fully explore
the functionalities of the system.
However, to ensure adequate security, session
security technique was adopted in order to ensure
that only authorized users gain access into the
system. Also, to encourage group discussions
through creation of forums, a two way method
of posting forum topics was adopted i.e. users
E-Democracy
Figure 9. Mobile SMS interface
can participate in the forum through the Internet

and through SMS.
As far as it concerns e-Government, it should
be mentioned that it is a tool not a goal itself
and it should, therefore, assist the delivery of
better government in the following directions: EGovernment should make it possible for citizens
to follow their governments, central, regional and
local actions, to be able to participate in decisionmaking. This is about increasing democratic
participation and involvement; E-Government
should help to provide citizens with personalised
public services that meet their specific needs;
E-Government should increase efficiency and
productivity (Bouras et al., 2008). The public
sector, as an information-intensive sector, can
be made more efficient by digitizing information
and processes.
There are enumerable benefits of the proposed Multi-SVW e-Democracy to government,
populace, and the polity. Some of them include:
Increased participation and trust in the polity;
Reduced apathy between the electorate and the political class; A boost to the Nigerian e-Government
Strategy; a forum for participatory and grass root
democracy; bridging the gap between the policy
makers and citizens; transparent access to informa-
tion and policy making process be it at local, state

or federal level; and the Telecoms operators can
make a lot of money from the scheme. The scheme
can be seen as a social corporate responsibility on
the part of the Telecoms operators and services
offered at drastically reduced rates.
Accessing the Application

The VUI interface is accessible by dialing a land
or mobile telephone number while the WUI is
accessible using the Internet. Once the process
of user identification has been completed, it will
be presented with a welcome message.
Local Computer
A Voxeo Prophecy phone emulator (VoxeoProphecy, 2003) was downloaded and installed on a
local computer and used to develop the voice user
interface (VUI) application. A headset was connected to the local computer for the caller to get
voice response and also be able to supply voice
input. Clicking the Dial button from the Voxeo
Prophecy SIP Softphone keypad (see Figure 10)
allowed connection to the application for access to
the various services provided by the application.
385
E-Democracy
Figure 10. Voxeo Prophecy SIP Softphone keypad. Source:(VoxeoProphecy, 2003)
Once connected, the application prompts with a

welcome message and go ahead to authenticate the
users name and password before any transaction
can take place. The application will ask for the
services demanded by a citizen and go ahead to
process the request.
The Web User Interface (WUI) can be accessed
on a local computer running Apache as middleware.
Telephone/Web
A prototype part of the VoiceXML application
(voice user interface) was deployed on a Voxeo
voice server (Voxeo, 2003) on the web and accessed from a mobile phone and land phone
using the format:<source country int. dial out
#> <destination country code><destination area
code><generated voice network 7 digit #>.
SYSTEMS EVALUATION
This section explains the evaluation of SMS,
VoiceXML and Web e-Democracy system. The
method engaged for the evaluation of Multi-SVW
system is Cognitive walkthrough strategy. Cognitive Walkthrough Strategy (Rieman & Redmiles,
1995) combines one or a group of evaluators who
inspect a user interface by going through a set of
tasks and assesses its understandability and ease
386
of learning. This article is both theoretical and

empirical. The survey instrument used was the
questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided
into five sections namely: background information, user experience with mobile phone and the
system, effectiveness of the system, efficiency of
the system and user satisfaction with the system.
The questionnaire aims at eliciting information
from citizens in order to measure the usability of
the e-Democracy system provided. A total of 15
questionnaires were administered to citizens but
only 10 responses were received, analyzed and
reported. The questions were designed using fivepoint likert-scale where 1= strongly disagree, 2 =
disagree, 3= undecided, 4 = agree and 5= strongly
agree. The following strategy was used to evaluate
the Multi-SVW.
1. Who are the users of the system?

2 Ph.D. students (Computer Science), 2
graduate students (Computer Science), 1
undergrade student (MIS), 2 citizens with
some technical knowledge and 3 citizens
without technical knowledge were chosen
as the users. We have tried to cover all types
of end users and both males and females
having different ages.
2. What tasks was be analyzed?

The services provided by the SVW were
accessed by the users. The tasks to be anal-
E-Democracy
Figure 11. User evaluation results
ysed have been selected in such a way that

no major task has been overlooked.
3. What is the correct action sequence for each
task?

First, we briefly explained the task sequences
and process to get result. A questionnaire was
given to the users. Figure 11 shows the users
satisfaction rating [0 is the lowest value and
5 is the highest value].
The analysis from the findings shows Overall
(3.8), Ease of Use (3.9), Ease of Input (4.1), Interface Navigation (3.9) and User Satisfaction
(4.4). The resultant average rating of (3.5 + 3.4 +
3.8 + 3.9 + 4.4)/5 is 4.02. Several usability studies suggest that system with Very Bad Usability
would have 1 as mean rating, 2 as Bad Usability, 3 as Average Usability, 4 as Good Usability and 5 as Excellent Usability. It was proposed
by Sauro and Kindlund (2005) that Good Usability should have a mean rating of 4 on a 1-5
scale and 5.6 on a 1-7 scale. We can therefore
conclude that the prototype Multi-SVW application presented in this chapter has Good Usability based on the average total rating of 4.02.
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION

The proposed system explored the integration
of speech recognition, Web and SMS technologies into e-Democracy to reduce access barriers.
The system takes advantage of the ubiquitous
mobile devices to increase the level of participation in democratic practices, particularly for
the physically challenged electorates. Similarly,
the availability of WUI, VUI and SMS systems
offer additional platforms for e/m-Government,
e/m-Democracy and e/m-Voting implementation
regardless of the level of disability. A multimodal
e-Democracy system voice, web and SMS was
developed to enhance e-Democracy and facilitate a
wider access to users participation in governance.
The system will encourage better and cordial
interaction among all and sundry in a democratic
setup as it offers avenues for dialogs and contributions to issues concerning their well-being. The
proposed system has the potential to increase the
level of participation of citizens in government,
and provisions are also made for the physically
challenged, particularly the visually impaired citizens to get involved in the democratic practices.
The SMS platform will enhance participatory
democracy with over two-third of the world population having access to the GSM. The opinions
and views of the citizens would be properly and
387
E-Democracy
adequately expressed using WUI, VUI, and SMS

systems either on the move, at work or at home.
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pdf

Citizen: A legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native
or naturalized.
E-Democracy: use of information and communication to facilitate democratic governance
E-Government: e-Government is the use of
information and communication technologies
(ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector
organizations. It is short for electronic government,
and it is also known as e-gov, digital government,
online government, or connected government).
390
E-Government is digital interaction between a

government and citizens.
E-Participation: use of information and
communication technology to facilitate citizens
involvement in democratic processes.
Framework: Broad overview, outline, or
skeleton of interlinked items which supports a
particular approach to a specific objective, and
serves as a guide for achieving a goal.
ICT: It encompasses all the devices, networks,
protocols and procedures that are employed in
the telecommunications or information technology fields to foster interaction amongst different
stakeholders.
M-Government: involves the deployment
of governments services and administration on
mobile devices.
Short Message Service (SMS): SMS is also
often referred to as texting, sending text messages
or text messaging. The service allows for short
text messages to be sent from one cell phone to
another cell phone or from the Web to another
cell phone.
Voice: The sound produced in a persons lungs
and uttered through the mouth, as speech or song.
391
Chapter 19
Law Modeling and BPR

for Public Administration
Improvement
Aaron Ciaghi
Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
Adolfo Villafiorita
Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
ABSTRACT
The presence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming more pronounced in
Public Administrations and in the context of legal knowledge management. In most countries, it is now
possible for citizens to freely access the text of Parliamentary Acts, bills, judgments, et cetera. Analysts
that work on re-engineering public administration processes must take into account all relevant sources
of law as they will ultimately be modified in order to legitimize the new processes. This chapter considers
the requirements to design a framework for business process re-engineering for public administrations
background to the editing of regulations, by providing effective means to comprehend and observe the
law, make changes to the law, and to keep track of the dependencies between the text and the models.
The framework presented in this chapter integrates several different and rather mature technologies
developed in Europe and in Africa, providing a set of tools applicable to virtually any legal system.
INTRODUCTION
Several solutions have been proposed to address
the many issues Public Administrations have to
face in order to become more efficient. Most of
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-0324-0.ch019
these efforts focus on the representation, availability and interchange of legal documentse (cf:
Lupo & Batini, 2003; Vitali & Zeni, 2007; Boer,
Winkels & Vitali, 2008). The House of Representatives of the United States of America, the
African Unions Parliament and the governments
Law Modeling and BPR for Public Administration Improvement
of Denmark, Italy, Austria and Switzerland have

adopted XML-based formats to manage legislative
documents, as documented in the Deliverable 3.1
document of the European Project ESTRELLA
(Italian National Center for Information Technology in Public Administration [CNIPA] & Italian
Ministry of Reforms and Innovation in Public
Administration [MRIPA], 2007). The definition of
such document management formats have made
XML the de facto standard for the representation
of legal information.
Besides the mere representation of documents
in a standard format, the growth in importance of
transnational institutions such as the European
Union and the African Union require the definition of interchange formats to make the legal
knowledge of the member countries legislative
bodies interoperable. See for example the efforts
undertaken by the EU project ESTRELLA (CNIPA
and MRIPA, 2007) to define a Legal Knowledge
Interchange Format (LKIF).
The use of XML opens up several possibilities
of integration with other knowledge management
technologies. The most notable current examples
of legal knowledge management use ontology
based reasoning and natural language processing
(NLP) to formalize the semantics of laws and to
provide free access to legal documents. See for
example the initiatives by the institutions and
companies participating in the ICT4LAW Project,
financed by the Italian Regione Piemonte (http://
www.ict4law.org).
As e-Government becomes comon in more
countries public delivery frameworks, Public
Administrations should make sure that monitoring and evaluation procedures are in place. This
is because new ICT applications for goverments
need not only to improve the quality of Public
Administrations, but also comply with existing
regulations, while changing obsolete procedures.
For this reason, Public Administrations should
invest in Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR).
Wilcocks, Currie and Jackson (1997) documented
initiatives of this kind in UK public services.
392
Although complying with existing regulations

is necessary, in cases in which the changes are
significant, the need to modify such regulations
arises. For example, in the experience described
by Villafiorita and Fasanelli (2006), introducing
an electronic voting system makes certain legally
defined procedures obsolete (e.g., everything
that is paper-based) but it requires the introduction of security constraints as well as formalized
directions for the usage of the voting machines.
This highlights how re-Engineering a Public
Administration process requires a parallel action
on both the redesigning of the process and on the
introduction of law changes.
As Lazzi (1999) states, the current law must
be considered as the constraint, the engine, and
the target of the re-Engineering activity. This
suggests that providing a formalized way to represent Public Administration business processes is
not sufficient. A traceability strategy should also
be introduced to track changes and dependencies
between models and laws. While extensive literature on tools and methodologies for the analysis
and representation of legal documents is available, there is a lack of a comprehensive tool that
allows for a complete analysis of laws in all their
aspects to ultimately facilitate the re-Engineering
of PA processes.
This chapter deals with the requirements, the
challenges and the design of such tool, taking
into account the needs of three potential users:
citizens, functional analysts (i.e., software engineers) and jurists. The first are the end users of
the services provided by Public Administration
and potential readers of legal documents; the
second are involved in the re-Engineering of
some PA procedure or in the introduction of a
new ICT system; the third represent those who
need to navigate and visualize the connections
between laws and ultimately make better laws.
Due to the high degree of interaction involved in
the law making process and the heterogeneous
competences necessary to successfully re-engineer
Public Administration procedures, the Human-
Computer Interaction aspects of law modeling

have to be taken into account.
The next section provides a background on
legal informatics, the formats for legal documents
representation and it introduces the current efforts
with respect to the application of Business Process
Modeling techniques to Public Administration.
The core of this chapter discusses the motivations
why law models can be an asset in improving
Public Administration and in providing better
services to citizens. The chapter then presents the
challenges of law modeling and the difficulties
citizens, functional analysts, but also SMMEs,
have in understanding laws. The principles and
the requirements of a tool for law modeling that
can keep traceability between models and documents are then presented and are followed by an
overview of the possible applications and a case
study. The relevance of such tool in developing
communities is also discussed. The conclusion of
the chapter outlines some possible future research
directions with respect to law modeling for BPR
in Public Administration.
BACKGROUND
This section provides some background on
the issues of legal informatics and the uses of
ICT-based techniques in Parliaments and Public
Administrations. An overview of legal informatics in general is provided below, followed by a
short survey of the current trends with respect to
standards for legal documents. This section then
discusses some of the current approaches to law
modeling and it introduces the challenges and the
opportunities of modeling the procedural information contained in legal texts.
Standards for Legal Knowledge

Biasiotti, Francesconi, Palmirani, Sartor and
Vitali (2008) observe that ICT can contribute to
the effectiveness of legislation by:
1. Providing legislators with tools for anticipating the impact of new laws on the legal
system.
2. Providing communication tools to promote
critical debate around legislation, fostering
the participation of citizens to the legislative
process.
3. Facilitating contact between citizens and
their political representatives.
4. Provide access to laws and cases to citizens
in order to anticipate the impact of laws on
them. ICT can also facilitate the drafting of
more understandable regulations and the
maintenance of the legal system.
5. Making rules and remedies more accessible
to citizens and ensuring publicity of information about officers behavior.
Most parliaments are more and more relying
on ICT-based systems both to support internal activities and to make legal information available to
citizens and ultimately foster participation. Legal
knowledge management is the crucial application
in both scenarios, as computerized access to legal
knowledge can greatly aid the drafting process
(e.g. by helping the drafter in finding all the correct law references) as well as allow citizens to
know their rights and the regulations that they must
follow. Availability of this type of information to
drafters and legal professionals has been significantly improved when legal drafting became an
electronic process and its development has been
further boosted by Internet becoming the primary
source of legal knowledge. Moreover, Internet
has also become the place where legally relevant
information is exchanged and where transactions
with legal value occur (Biasiotti e al., 2008), such
as e-Commerce and Internet voting (Madise &
Martens, 2006), making it necessary to enforce
regulations also in the digital environment.
For this reason most of the current endeavors
in legal informatics by parliaments and especially transnational institutions are centered on
the definition of a common standard to be used
393
to share legal information and to harmonize its

representation and presentation. Standards are
usually XML-based formats used to structure
legal documents and to enrich them with semantic
information. Most of these have been developed
independently by individual parliaments and
only relatively recently by transnational institutions. The most evolved and successful of these
standards to date is AKOMA NTOSO (Vitali &
Zeni, 2007), developed by UNDESA as part of
the Africa i-Parliaments initiative (http://www.
parliaments.info) with the goal of fostering
the modernization of African parliaments and
inter-parliamentary cooperation. The success of
AKOMA NTOSO is not surprising. In fact, the
Report of the 2009 World e-Parliament Conference
highlights the fact that developing countries can
not only benefit from ICT-based services for legal
knowledge management, but they also represent
an easier development environment due to their
less saturated body of laws.
The European counterpart of AKOMA NTOSO
is Metalex, which has been designed as a common format for legal documents produced by
EU member countries. Both AKOMA NTOSO
and Metalex provide support to legal ontologies
for the addition of meta-data to legal documents.
Semantic annotation of legal texts for reasoning,
indexing and referencing purposes is among the
top priorities of researchers in legal informatics.
The general trend is that of developing applications
for professionals as well as simple consumers that
make use of the meta-data embedded in legal texts
not only to facilitate search but also to perform case
based reasoning or to extract non-typographical
information (e.g. which actors are affected by a
given piece of legislation).
Biasiotti et al. (2008) summarizes the principles
behind standards with the keyword open access.
A standard should allow its users to freely access,
understand and manipulate the documents represented using the standard. It should be possible to
use the same tools to create documents regardless
of the type, the country and the language. The
394
same tools should be used for the presentation

and the accessibility of the documents as well
as their description and cross-referencing. At the
same time, the standard model should consider the
differences naturally deriving from the different
human languages in which legislative documents
are written.
When dealing with multiple jurisdictions, interoperability should be the focus to allow all the
actors to communicate on the basis of the common
characteristics of their legal systems. A good standard is meant to supplement the possibly existing
national interoperability guidelines, focusing on
(a) semantic interoperability, i.e. ensuring that
the precise meaning of exchanged information is
understandable by any person or application, and
(b) technical interoperability, i.e. ensuring that
all applications, systems and interfaces are based
on a shared core of technologies, languages and
technical assumptions.
VLPM and Nomos

VLPM (Ciaghi, Villafiorita & Mattioli, 2009) is a
tool supported methodology for process modeling
and engineering in the PA domain. It provides a
set of functions to synchronize models and XML
representations (using the NormeinRete format)
of laws, i.e. maintaining traceability between the
text of a law and a process model. The tool also
supports the automatic generation of documentation in PDF or HTML formats and of skeletons
of laws or amendments in response to changes
undergone by the process model. The main goal
of the tool is to re-engineer the processes defined
in a law converted to XML format, from which a
UML model is obtained. The UML model must
be kept updated whenever an amendment changes
the law and, at the same time, the impact on the
text of the law of changes on the model must be
tracked in order to produce a proposal for a new
amendment. At every step, VLPM allows the
generation of documentation in a standard human
readable format.
By enabling analysts to link models to laws,

VLPM maintains traceability between laws and
processes. This has the goal of helping law-makers
in drafting and editing legal texts with the aid
of software developers or process engineers,
especially in scenarios in which an IT system
has a key role. Moreover, this helps justify the
existence of processes by providing references
to the paragraphs of the law in which they are
defined, linking the process to all the relevant
constraints described in the law.
In business process (re)engineering and in
requirements engineering, a preliminary objective
consists of having the comprehension of the ASIS system as the key to understand how the new
system or revised process has to be structured.
In this context, goal analysis techniques have
been proposed in the last decade to understand
the structure and the correlations of stakeholders
goals, sub-goals, and their relation with operational
plans, in order to answer why questions, besides
the what and how, regarding system functionalities
(Villafiorita et al., 2010).
Nomos (Siena, Mylopoulos, Perini and Susi,
2009) is a modeling framework that extends the
i* language (Yu, 1995). It is based on the consideration that requirements should not be aligned
only with stakeholders needs, but also with laws,
as they represent a rich source for requirements.
Nomos enriches the i* language with the concepts
of duty, right, privilege, power, liability. The
proper strategy to comply with the modeled law
is analyzed by adding goals to the model. Further
refinement of goals with sub-goals and tasks allows operationalization of legal prescriptions.
VLPM provides a robust environment to efficiently manage the re-Engineering of processes
regulated by the set of operational laws. One significant limitation of the tool, however, is that it
does not provide notations and means to represent
the principles behind the procedures (or, better,
motivating the procedures) and to reason about
possible alternative implementation (Villafiorita
et al., 2010). Such principles are essential to mo-
tivate and to constrain procedures in laws. These

are however often of difficult interpretation as
principles cannot be clearly stated with natural
language as procedures can be (or should be). As
a result, inconsistencies and ambiguities can arise.
By integrating the goal oriented approach of
Nomos with the process oriented approach of
VLPM it is possible to overcome this problem.
Nomos thus becomes the modeling technique applied to represent principles and rules contained in
laws, while VLPM is used to model the processes
that follow those principles and rules. For example,
in a set of documents that describe the health-care
procedures there may be general principles such
as all citizens have the right to free health-care
and procedural and operational aspects such as to
get free health-care you need a SSN.
The Nomos framework can also be used to
reason on alternative realizations of goals, with
VLPM used to model the processes that aim at
complying with regulations. In order to achieve
this however, it is necessary to devise an appropriate traceability method that does not only support
process-paragraph(s) links but also links between
Nomos entities and paragraphs of the law as well
as relations between elements of the two models.
LAW MODELING FOR CITIZENS

AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS
The first part of this section presents the issue of understanding the content of laws using a taxonomy
introduced by Biagioli (1992). The subsequent
discussion focuses on process modeling applied
to legal texts. The potential users of a process
modeling oriented approach to the analysis of
laws are presented, followed by a discussion of the
requirements for an effective modeling of legally
defined procedures. This section then introduces
the problems of managing change and traceability.
The conclusion finally describes a methodology
and the architecture of a set of tools to support
395
modeling, traceability and change management

of Public Administration processes.
Understanding Laws
For someone without a jurisprudence background,
understanding laws can be extremely difficult,
mainly due to the formalisms used in legal
language and the intricate network of dependencies that needs to be traversed in order to fully
understand the rules contained in a law and their
applicability to a given case. Furthermore, the
application of laws is subject to the interpretation
of a set of documents by a specialist and thus, to
a certain degree, subjective.
The objectives of laws are much broader than
simply defining procedures, and the interests of
the above mentioned stakeholders are not limited
to procedures. Processes are not usually contained
in laws that have the specific purpose of defining
a procedure (one exception to this are typically
electoral laws). They are often included in broader
types of legal documents and in most cases they
have to be inferred by identifying a series of steps
in a set of laws pertaining to a certain domain.
Moreover, processes (like any law) usually depend
on a set of other laws or parts of other laws that
define principles, duties, obligations and rules to
be followed.
Olbrich & Simon (2008) observed that laws
regulate how to behave in order to achieve specific goals and, when they regulate interactions
with Public Administrations or other subjects, they
often encode process-like information. From this
observation, Olbrich and Simon (2008) derived
the following thesis: laws can be visualised and
modelled like other governmental processes and
these models can be used as guidelines to develop
workflows.
Biagioli (1992) defined taxonomy of the rules
that can be contained in a legal document, whose
main three classes are the following:
396
1. Constitutive rules, i.e. rules that answer the

question what is X?. They define abstract
and concrete entities such as concepts, actors,
institutions, roles, competences, attributes,
etc. that did not exist before the promulgation of the law.
2. Instructional rules, i.e. rules that answer the
question what to do?. They give prescriptions that fix duties with respect to given
goals, e.g. prohibitions.
3. Procedural rules, i.e. rules that answer the
question how to do X? They define formal
obligations and model formal actions. These
rules explain institutional procedures that
follow the directives given by instructional
laws. This class has been added by Biagioli
(1992) with the explicit purpose of supporting future IT systems to support law drafting.
Modeling Processes in Laws

Business Process Modeling and modeling in general is a transversal activity that can be beneficial
at every stage of the legislative process, from
drafting (the design of the processes and the law)
to publishing. Therefore, drafters (or, more generally, jurists), analysts and citizens can all benefit
in one way or another from (visual) models of
Public Administration business processes:
1. Citizens: they want to understand laws
and procedures related to some specific
need. They have no juridical expertise and
therefore they cannot read a legal text. A
visual representation of a procedure even
a simplified one could help them understand their rights, their obligations and the
bureaucratic procedures to follow, with
the result of reducing the time required for
them to access PA services. For example,
a Life-events e-Government portal (Vintar
& Leben, 2002) featuring visual models of
laws could greatly improve the interaction
between citizens and Public Administrations.
2. Functional Analysts: they usually correspond to software engineers or to people who

develop a system or a re-engineer a process.
If the analysts work for a company they need
to assess the compliance of the new system or
process with the current regulations. If they
work for a Public Administration they must
take into account the fact that the current
regulation is both a constraint and a target
of their re-Engineering effort (Lazzi, 1999).
Evaluating the changes that must be made to
the law in order to implement a new system
or process is thus one of the top priorities of
functional analysts.
3. Jurists: they can be drafters or simply professionals in the legal field. Drafters can use
modeling techniques to formally build a law
and to visualize all the dependencies that
exists among the laws currently in force. In
the same way, jurists can be enabled to track
the changes and the evolution of a piece of
legislation over time.
All these needs lead to the following requirements for a law and process modeling methodology:
1. the models must be simple (even if this
means simplifying the procedure).
2. models should be visual.
3. parts of the models should be linked to the
parts of regulation that they refer to.
4. models should use a formal language to
support formal verification.
5. changes should be tracked.
6. some system to evaluate the impact of
changes on the model on the law should be
available.
The requirements above highlight the importance of traceability in the overall issue of law
modeling. Furthermore, if this procedure has to
be (at least partially) automated, it is necessary to
use a standardized format for the representation of
the source legal documents. Vitali and Zeni (2007)

and Biasiotti et al. (2008) discussed the need for
an international country-independent format for
legal documents, underlining the importance of
separating presentation, structure and semantics.
The authors designed AKOMA NTOSO for African
Parliaments, following this separation principle
and by applying a pattern and object oriented approach, enriched with full support for semantic
markup of parts of the text.
AKOMA NTOSO is currently the most advanced and suitable format to support modelers.
In fact, by including semantic markup elements
in its schema, AKOMA NTOSO allows analysts
to identify the entities that will compose a model,
thus achieving traceability. Let us suppose that
an African country starts using AKOMA NTOSO
since the beginning of the legislative process
(i.e. the first draft of a legal text). In this case
modeling can even become part of the process
itself, because analysts can be provided with a
document containing the structural markup and
enough meta-data to identify the properties of
the document.
A document that is guaranteed to be well
formed by the schema it adopts can be easier to
model, as it is possible to break it down to its
basic components and work at the level of single
statements. For example, the national guidelines
for legal drafting could include the rule that a law
must first contain the high level principles that
motivate an administrative procedure and then
the procedure itself.
In fact, Olbrich & Simon (2008) state that:
Applied to the modeling of legal regulations,
models should especially help to understand the
interplay of the single paragraphs on a process
level. A systematic approach to represent this
should then support the development of process
fragments for the isolated paragraphs and the
integration of these models to the whole picture
after the event. Consequently, any process mod-
397
eling language for the representation of legal

regulations must support process integration.
It is not easy to decide which level of formality should be used in models. If the goal is that
of using the models as input to some automatic
procedure, then a formal (mathematical) language
is necessary. However, since improving the understandability of laws is among our goals, a visual
language should be used (without sacrificing formality). For this reason, UML Activity Diagrams
and BPMN are the most suitable notations for
legal process modeling.
Business process models are not sufficient to
represent all the aspects of a law as procedural
rules represent the smallest part of regulations. It
is thus not surprising that most of the literature on
law modeling focuses on modeling non-procedural
rules. Semantic Web Technologies are employed
mainly in analyses of rules and their checking
against cases, as in the example on traffic rules
presented by Hoekstra, Breuker, Di Bello and
Boer (2007). Olbrich and Simon (2008), while
focusing on process modeling, point out that it
is necessary to provide a view of the legal rules
that motivates processes in order to model those
processes in a legally correct manner.
Evidently, it is not possible to model legally
defined processes without considering the system
of rules in which they live. The actors involved
in a process are affected by obligations and rights
usually defined before the definition of the process itself. Therefore, it makes sense to define a
methodology to represent both procedural and
non-procedural information and that is able to establish a link between elements of the two models.
Traceability and Change

Management
Traceability can be defined as linking elements
in the model to the relevant fragments of text in
which they are defined or mentioned as well as
linking elements of one type of model (e.g. process
398
model) to elements of another type of model (e.g.

goal model representing high level principles, duties and rights). Traceability is the fundamental
requirement for change management, i.e. assessing the impact of changes in the model (e.g. due
to process re-Engineering) on the original legal
source and vice versa.
Traceability can represent a way to make
technical stakeholders (e.g. software engineers)
collaborate with jurists in developing a new IT
solution for a Public Administration. Since these
two categories of stakeholders are likely to work
only on one view of the same domain (the process
model and the legal document, respectively), traceability guarantees consistency in the two views,
thus allowing for changes to be reflected in both
representations.
Traceability can be achieved by using standards
for legal documents representation, such as the
aforementioned AKOMA NTOSO and ontologies.
The AKOMA NTOSO standard allows for semantic information to be embedded in the text of the
document and its schema supports references to
external resources. In this way it is possible to
identify in the text of a law the elements that are
relevant for the business process that is being
modeled.
Ontologies can be used as intermediate representation to link the elements of a model to
the relevant parts of the text of a law. In terms
of relations between ontology entities, business
process entities (e.g. actors, tasks, artifacts, etc.)
will appear connected to legal entities (e.g. legal
statements, legal persons, etc.). Furthermore, this
can be used to evaluate the impact of changes both
in the law and in the model. If the law changes,
the model risks not being faithful to the legally
correct procedure. With traceability links as described above, it is possible to immediately identify
the parts of the model affected by the change by
traversing the edges between legal entities and
business process entities. At the same time, if the
business process in the model is modified, the
parts of the law affected by the changes can be
easily identified by traversing traceability links,

thus potentially enabling analysts to assess the
feasibility of such changes and possibly write an
amendment proposal.
VLPM2: A Tool Supported

Methodology for Law and
Process Modeling
This section discusses the characteristics of a
framework that we call VLPM2 to address
the issues presented in the previous sections and
it introduces some technological choices that
can satisfy the four requirements set by Alpar
and Olbrich (2005) for modeling e-Government
processes:
1. Process models must contain the relevant
subjects, objects, activities, events and
constraints of administrative processes that
make up a transaction.
2. e-Government process models should be
standardized so that they can be synchronized
and put together with other such processes to
form a one-stop solution for their end users.
3. The resulting models shall be able to show
the restrictions for re-Engineering that are
set by the legal framework or other public
regulations.
4. Method and notation must not be too complex
since administrative executives are usually
not familiar with modeling languages.
Besides these four high level requirements, the
law modeling framework architecture proposed
should also satisfy the following functional requirements:
1. Support modeling of different aspects
of a law. While our focus is on process
modeling as an aid to Public Administration
re-Engineering, it is clear that a law does
not only contain procedures and that different stakeholders might have interests in
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
modeling different aspects. For this reason,

the framework should provide a generic infrastructure to support modeling of multiple
views of a law and consequently multiple
modeling languages. This includes the usage
of model checking techniques to perform
procedural security analysis of semantically
rich PAs business processes.
Provide static view of processes. A modeling methodology and functions should be
provided to help identifying, representing,
and modeling laws and procedures as business processes.
Use a generic and expressive format for
the representation of legal documents.
The framework should use a standard XML
format for the representation of legal documents. The standard should be usable in an
international setting and thus be based on a
non-prescriptive format, such as AKOMA
NTOSO.
Support Law-Model Traceability. The
framework should store all the model elements in a way such that their reference
to the fragments of text in which they are
defined or mentioned is maintained.
Support Model-Model Traceability. The
framework should be able to keep links between elements of different models. For example, if a goal model and a related business
process model are present in the repository
it should be possible to link the processes
to the goals that they aim at fulfilling.
Support Change Management. The framework should handle changes in the models
and in the laws so that upon their occurrence
the laws and the models are kept synchronized. Specifically, maintaining law-model
traceability while changing the model should
allow to automatically identifying which
parts of the law should be amended by tracing
back to the parts of the law that originally
defined the modified processes. Performing
re-Engineering on some process might also
399
require updating the model, which in turn

must ensure traceability between laws and
new processes.
7. Provide editor support to mark business
process entities in a legal text. Since the
application of laws is heavily dependent on
interpretation, it is necessary that a user with
an appropriate background (e.g. a lawyer)
identifies the procedural elements relevant
for a given domain in a set of legal texts in
order to realistically model it. In the case
of process modeling, it should be possible
to preview the business process activities
already in the repository and to indicate in
which sequence they should be performed
according to the text. Editor support should
rely as much as possible on existing and well
known text editing technologies to allow
none technically skilled jurists to participate
in the modeling task.
8. Be customizable. The framework should
not stick to the XML standards chosen for
the representation of legal documents and
should not be limited in terms of supported
modeling languages and modeling tools.
The framework should provide interfaces to
convert the model entities in the repository to
a format understandable by a given modeling tool. The interfaces should allow future
developers to easily implement transformers
that generate models in the input format (e.g.
XMI) of their preferred modeling tool.
The AKOMA NTOSO schema features can be
used to mark the elements in a legal text that are
relevant for the domain to be modeled. Traceability
between text and model can thus be achieved via an
intermediate representation based on ontologies.
The VLPM2 framework is based on an extension
of the LKIF-core ontology (Hoekstra et al., 2007).
The LKIF-core ontology has been designed with
the purpose of using its concepts for legal reasoning. However, since it has been designed as part of
a generic architecture for legal knowledge systems,
400
the support that it gives to process modeling is

limited and at a very high level, while the subontology of legal entities is much more detailed.
In order to be able to add semantic information
about the business processes described in legal
texts, ontology has been developed to extend the
concepts in LKIF-core with a business process
meta-model that borrows several entities from
the BPMN meta-model. The key concepts used
by our ontology are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Business process.
Actor.
Artifact.
Flow Object (i.e., activities, events and
gateways).
5. Connecting Object.
6. Legally defined entity.
Traceability between text and models is
achieved by our framework by relying on a
triplestore containing instances of the classes
of our ontology. A triplestore is a purpose-built
database for the storage and retrieval of Resource
Description Framework (RDF) meta-data, in this
case backed by OWL ontology. This is generally
called RDF Store. AKOMA NTOSOs ontology
support and a RDF Store provide all the tools
needed to maintain traceability between laws and
models by establishing links between fragments
of documents and model elements.
Once the textual elements of the law are
mapped to instances of ontology classes in the
RDF store, translation tables can be used to transform the RDF representation of the model to a
formal notation, possibly visual like UML or
BPMN. The framework should provide an interface and common functions to allow toolmakers
to implement their own translation rules. Figure
1 shows part of an example translation table that
shows the correspondence of ontology classes,
AKOMA NTOSO TLCs, BPMN and UML entities.
It should be noted that relations among process
model entities (both in BPMN and UML) have
Figure 1. Example translation table (part)
401
to be manually set and cannot be linked to specific fragments of text. For example, inclusion
relations (processes contained in macro-processes) cannot usually be traced to statements and
must thus be inferred by an expert. The same thing
is true for message flows and temporal relations.
Framework Architecture
Law modeling can be seen as a process in four
phases:
1. Markup: in this phase a legal document
(or a set of legal documents) in AKOMA
NTOSO XML format is enriched with
markup tags that identify business process
entities, namely actors, activities, artifacts,
events. This activity takes as input a set of
legal documents and the expertise of a user
with legal background and it outputs a set
of RDF statements in an RDF store. The
role of the user during the markup phase is
crucial in order to have the most accurate
interpretation of the documents.
2. Transformation: in this phase the objects
in the RDF store are transformed to a suitable representation in a modeling notation
(e.g. BPMN). This transformation must be
performed in such a way that the already
established links with text fragments are
maintained. Since every modeling tool
adopts its own notation (although most are
based on similar XML schemas) there must
be a specific implementation for each modeling notation and tool, with our framework
providing only the common functions and
interfaces. The components of the framework
that take care of transformation should also
handle the update of existing models when
one of the documents is updated by an
amendment provision.
3. Modeling: in this phase the analysts use
conventional modeling tools to work with
the model obtained at the end of the transfor-
402
mation. This phase starts as an analysis task

performed through modeling (i.e., modeling
the AS-IS system) and it terminates with the
production of a modified model (i.e., the
TO-BE system).
4. Change Management: this last phase
includes the identification of the changes
made to the models and comparing them
with their original version in order to evaluate
the impact of changes to the model on the
laws. This can be used to generate skeletons
of amendments (in AKOMA NTOSO XML)
to be evaluated and edited by stakeholders
with legal expertise. The change management module must also help visualizing
the impact of changes to laws on models,
especially in the case of business processes.
After phase 4, although there might be several
modeling iterations, the process should restart
with phase 1, namely the drafting and marking
up of the amendment or the amended law. In
the long term, this methodology should support
an iterative process of re-Engineering of Public
Administration procedures.
Markup and Transformation

The VLPM2 framework re-uses as much as possible the existing tools for editing documents in
AKOMA NTOSO format and for using well-known
libraries for the management of our ontologies and
RDF store. One of the key tools of the AKOMA
NTOSO Project is Bungeni Editor, a tool for legal
documents authoring an markup, implemented as
an OpenOffice.org plugin. Bungeni Editor allows
users with only word processing expertise to edit
legal documents and add manage the associated
meta-data. Our framework is designed as an extension to this application and some independent
components. Bungeni Editor adds two panes to
the User Interface of the word processor to add
markup and to help structuring a document ap-
propriately according to the desired type (e.g. act,

bill, debate, etc.).
The component responsible for markup is
assisted by an interface to edit the metadata associated to the selected fragment of text. This is
used to edit the properties of model elements in
the RDF store from within the editor or to create
new model elements as a response to the markup
of a fragment of text. This module allows the user
to set all the properties of a model element that
require interpretation of the text, such as sequence
flows. In order to do this, a simplified graphical
representation of the element that is currently
being edited is provided.
Change Management
In a re-Engineering endeavor for Public Administration, a model is refined and changed in order
to devise a more efficient solution (in the case of
process models) or to add new rules and revise
the law by editing its interpretation (in the case
of, e.g., goal models). Since this is done using a
modeling tool, the module that manages these
changes must be implemented as a plugin of such
tool or as a standalone application that takes as
input the model. The four features that need to be
implemented in order to satisfy the requirements
of the framework are:

Change Handling: this component is activated whenever a change on the model is

made by the modeling tool. This module
must detect all the changes in the model
either in real-time or whenever the developers decides to. A machine-readable list
of such changes must be generated in order
for the following functions to be used.
Impact Resolution: this component takes
as input the list of changes produced by
the Change Handler and identifies in the
RDF store the law elements affected by
the change. This component has to distinguish between the changes due to
model refinement and those due to actual

re-Engineering.
Impact Visualization: this component
graphically shows the elements of the
laws that have been affected by changes
in the model, allowing the user to review
the impact of the re-Engineering process
and choose which changes should become
part of an amendment. This phase has two
stakeholders: a functional analyst and a
user with legal expertise. The former has
the role of justifying the changes, while the
latter evaluates if these changes can be legally implemented, thus selecting them for
becoming part of an amendment provision.
Developers can implement a user interface
to allow the users to actually write the text
of the amendment according to the changes in the model.
Amendment Skeleton Generation: this
component is responsible for generating
the skeleton of an amendment in AKOMA
NTOSO XML format, containing a draft
text that should be the basis for drafters
to write the actual amendment provision.
Developers can extend the implementation
by adding a wizard to simplify the writing
of the legal text. However, this would hardly have legal value since in order to write a
new amendment often complex parliamentary procedures need to be followed.
Relevance for Emerging

Economies/Young Democracies
Our approach has several advantages for both
developed and developing contexts. Making
laws available as visual models can increase
their readability and thus increase transparency
in any society. Such increase in transparency can
also result in a greater accessibility to Public Administration services and a greater participation
of citizens to public life. Not only citizens can
benefit from a visualization of laws but also Public
403
Administrations themselves, as the application of

business process re-Engineering techniques can
greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of Public Administrations. As a result, since
Public Administration procedures and laws are
strongly connected, these benefits can reflect on
the re-Engineering of laws, making them more
understandable and easier to maintain.
As the Report of the 2009 World e-Parliament
Conference highlights, young democracies can
not only benefit from ICT-based services for legal
knowledge management, but they also represent an
easier development environment due to their less
saturated body of laws. Such countries also rely
less on legacy systems and are thus more open to
change. An example of this is the e-Government
Interoperability Frameworks recently introduced
in several developing and emerging countries
such as Mozambique, Ghana and South Africa
(Shvaiko, Villafiorita, Zorer, Chemane, Fumo &
Hinkkanen, 2009).

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
ICT-based tools to provide access to legal information are not only necessary to keep up with the
needs of the modern networked society, but they
can also foster new reasoning methodologies to
improve the services of Public Administrations.
In the last decade parliaments have put a significant effort into the development of ICT solutions
to facilitate the access to legal information. The
definition of standards plays a key role in the
delivery of services to the citizen but it also paves
the way for the development of new tools. This is
particularly evidenced in the Africa i-Parliamentes
Action Plan, in which the AKOMA NTOSO XML
standard is thought not only to accommodate current users but also future developers of tools for
the manipulation of legal documents.
A major issue faced by these information
systems, and by parliaments in general, is the
404
complexity of the legislations, in which laws are

continuously added, amended and repealed, often
causing inconsistencies that can go unnoticed even
for several decades. This is further complicated
by the overlapping of transnational legislation, for
example in the countries of the European Union.
Parliaments, citizens, enterprises as well as lawyers thus need tools to make sense of such a complex scenario, in order to understand which rules
they are affected by, what they are to be considered
accountable for and what procedures they should
follow in order to comply with the existing norms.
However, a tool to manage legal documents and
make this kind of reasoning does not exist. This
chapter presented the architecture of a framework
that could help addressing the needs of several
types of stakeholders, namely citizens, analysts
(from companies or public administrations) and
law authors. The VLPM2 framework is based on
(graphical) modeling of the contents of the legal
documents that regulate a specific domain, with
the goal of allowing business process analysts to
perform BPR on the business processes defined
by a set of legal documents and to evaluate the
impact of BPR on the original text.
Despite the fact that this chapter mainly focused
on business processes, laws cannot be modeled
using only one point of view. For this reason, the
framework has been designed so that it can be extended with different modeling notations and with
the possibility to correlate elements from different
views of the same domain. AKOMA NTOSO has
been used as input format due to its extensibility
and the possibility to link fragments of text to
elements of an external ontology. LKIF-core has
been adopted and extended as interchange format
between documents and models, thus achieving
traceability among different representations based
on a semantic notation.
This work has however identified several
challenges that have to be addressed in order for
our framework to become an actually deployable
solution to support law-making:
It is necessary to be able to model and connect different views of the same domain. In
fact, a law defines not only processes but
also roles and responsibilities, as well as
principles and other general rules that cannot be easily shown in a process model.
It is therefore necessary to identify how
modeling of all the aspects of a law can be
achieved without reducing the ease of use.
Analysts algorithmic approach is often
incompatible with the view jurists have
of laws. There is a need to better understand the needs and expectations of jurists towards law modeling. In fact, the
major weakness of our framework is that
of being designed mostly from the point
of view of business process analysts. In
order for our framework to be successful
and become a tool usable in a real setting
it should be designed with the user experience of jurists in mind. There is also a
need to understand how re-Engineering of
Public Administration procedures (or, in
general, legally defined procedures) is performed now, and what are the needs and
the issues faced by jurists in such process.
In this way it will be possible to better fit
the framework also to the needs of legal
experts, possibly optimizing the current reEngineering methodology.
Another challenge related to the frameworks user experience is that of defining a workow for modeling laws. The
laws that regulate the operation of Public
Administrations are not frequently found
in one single document. The size of the set
of legal documents influencing administrative procedures depends on the complexity
of the model. Modeling a domain thus requires users to be able to easily manage all
the related documents, visualize their dependencies and quickly switch between one
document and another. Defining a workow
for this activity should be a priority in
the future development of our framework

so that managing dependencies between
models and laws does not become unfeasible once a certain degree of complexity is
reached. In order to achieve this same goal,
different ways to present legal information
should be considered. For example, as opposed to presenting information organized
by document, it could be semantically organized by article or paragraph.
One of the applications of the formalization
of legally defined procedures is the assessment of business processes compliance and
risk analysis in compliance events (i.e. assessing the risk that a business process does
not comply with the existing laws). This is
a current topic in legal informatics research
and should thus be further explored also
within our framework. In fact, the ability to
maintain traceability between models and
laws can enable enterprise analysts to better
determine the impact of legislative changes
on their business processes. The challenge
here lies in adapting our approach to one in
which the models are not derived from legal
text but already exist and need to be connected to laws. This could be even further
extended to transform our framework into
a requirement engineering tool that takes
into account structured requirements such
as those defined in legal texts.
The issues above take into consideration only

legal stakeholders and analysts. However, citizens
could benefit from the development of graphical
representations of legally defined procedures.
There is in fact a growing interest in making legal
information publicly available. Simplifying the
access to norms through visual representations can
improve the awareness of citizens with respect to
government procedures and an increase in their
participation to public life, ultimately resulting in
an optimization of Public Administration procedures on the client side.
405
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Business Process: a sequence of activities
(tasks) and transactions that has the purpose of
delivering some service. A business process usually involves several actors and artifacts.
Change Management: all the activities performed to assess the impact of the re-Engineering
of a business process on the legal documents that
define the original process, i.e. the steps necessary to make the new process included in the law.
Goal: an objective that an actor wants to
achieve. In the case of laws, goals can represent
principles, duties, liabilities and other non-procedural information. Goal modeling is a technique
often used in Requirements Engineering.
Legal Document: a document with some legal
value. In this chapter this term is used to mention
bills, acts, judgment and any other document promulgated by an institution to regulate something.
Legally Defined Procedure: a business
process defined, described or regulated by a
legal document. For example, voting is a legally
defined procedure.
Ontology: a collection of classes that represent
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hierarchy and a set of relationships between its
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About the Contributors
Kelvin Joseph Bwalya is a final year PhD candidate at the Department of Information and Knowledge Management (University of Johannesburg). He has a Masters in Electrical and Computer Science
from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Moscow. Kelvin has over 30 peer reviewed publications and has presented at over 20 conferences worldwide. His research interests lie in information systems (e-Government, databases, business
process modeling, semantic information retrieval and analysis, etc.).
Saul F.C Zulu is a Lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Studies, at the University of Botswana. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Library Studies with Sociology and Political
Science from the University of Zambia, Masters degree in Librarianship (IT Applications) obtained
from the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, a Masters degree in Archives and Records Management
from the University of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A and Masters degree in Librarianship and Information
Management from the University of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. Mr. Zulu has previously worked at the
University of Zambia, where he served in various capacities, including as Head of Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of Zambia. His main research interests are in indigenous
knowledge systems, legal issues of information, and emerging technologies.
***
Hisham Abdelsalam holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA). He obtained his Bachelor degree with honors in Mechanical Engineering from Cairo University (Cairo, Egypt). Dr. Abdelsalam is an associate Professor in the
Operations Research and Decision Support Department, Faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo
University. In 2009, Dr. Abdelsalam was appointed as the director of the Decision Support and Future
Studies Center in Cairo University. During the past four years, D. Abdelsalam has led several consultancy
and research projects and published eight scholarly articles on e-government.
Suha AlAwadhi is an assistant Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science,
College of Social Sciences, Kuwait University. She obtained her PhD from Loughborough Univeristy
in 2007. She is a member of DGSNA; a program committee member of the IFIP E-Government Conference (EGOV); and a co-chair for the Social Networking and Government Minitrack in HICSS. Dr.
AlAwadhi has a number of publications including conference papers and journal articles and delivered
many presentations and lectures. Her research areas of interest include e-Government, social networking, knowledge sharing, and information literacy.
Andr Andrade is a PhD student in Management at Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration at Getulio Vargas Foundation; M.S., (Major: Public Ethics), Gama Filho University; (PUC-Rio);
B.S., Law, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; B.S, Economics, Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro. He is Researcher of e:lab (Laboratory for Research into Government and E-Business). He has
over 15 years experience in consulting for government agencies in various levels, including the Brazilian
Judiciary System. He is guest member of the Technical Committee of WG 8.5 (Information Systems in
Public Administration) of IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing).
Edgar Napoleon Asiimwe is an Information Technologist. He is currently a PhD student (Informatics)
at Swedish Business School. He holds MSc Degree (Informatics) from rebro University and Bachelors
degree in Information Technology from Makerere University. His research interests are in e-governance
(m-governance), human computer interaction (HCI) & usability, assistive technologies for education
(AT4D), and information and communications technologies for development (ICT4D) infrastructure. He
has experience in various ICT areas including web administration, ICT education and research, systems
analysis, and m-health implementation.
Kamal Atieh graduated as an Electronic System Engineer from the Higher Institute for Science and
Technology in Syria (1995). In 2006, he earned the Master Degree in Computer Information System from
the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, and he has the PhD in Computer Information
System from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (2010).
C. K. Ayo holds a B.Sc. M.Sc. and Ph.D in Computer Science. He is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science and the Director, Academic Planning Unit of Covenant University. He was the
pioneer Head of Computer and Information Sciences Department of the University. His research interests
include: Mobile computing, Internet programming, eBusiness, eGovernment and Software Engineering.
He is a member of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS), and Computer Professionals (Registration
Council) of Nigeria (CPN). Similarly, he is professionally certified in CISCO and Microsoft products. Dr.
Ayo is a member of a number of international research bodies such as the Centre for Business Information, Organization and Process Management (BIOPoM), University of Westminster, London; the Review
Committee of the European Conference on E-Government ECEG); the programme committee, IADIS
Information Systems; the Editorial Board, Journal of Information and communication Technology for
Human Development (IJICTHD), the Editorial Board, International Journal of Scientific Research in
Education (IJSRE), and the Editorial Board, African Journal of Business Management, amongst others.
Furthermore, Dr. Ayo is an External Examiner to a number of Nigerian universities at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso; the Redeemers
University, Ogun State; Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos; University of Ibadan, Ibadan Oyo State; and
Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State. He has supervised about 200 postgraduate projects at
Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and Ph.D levels, and he has several publications in scholarly journals
and conferences.
A. A. Azeta is a Ph.D student in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant
University, Ota, Nigeria. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Benin and
Lagos respectively. His current research interests are in the following areas: software engineering, algo-
cx
rithm design, and mobile computing. He currently lectures at Covenant University. He is a member of the
Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) and Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN).
Eng. Fadi Baghdadlian graduated as an Electronic System Engineer from the Higher Institute for
Science and Technology in Syria (1995). In 2006, he had the Master Degree in Computer Information
System from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences. Beside his preparation for his PhD,
he worked as general manager of private company in information technology domain. In addition, he
worked as a consultant for many IT and financial companies. He worked at Damascus Computer Science
Faculty as Instructor for many courses.
Laban Bagui is a Research Fellow at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). His research
interests are in ICT4D, S&CI, and eParticipation. He is originated from Cameroon where he founded
GIC Osmose IT du Cameroun in 2004, a very small cooperative around personal and small business
computing. He obtained a Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in Internet and Networking from Douala
University Institute of Technology (IUT-Cameroon) and BTech (Honours) in IT Management from
CPUT (Cape Town South Africa). He has worked for various industries, Internet Service Providers
(Systems and networks technician), broadcasting (Coordinator), and mobile software (Project manager).
He is member of the GAID, Cape IT Initiative (CITI), Silicon Cape, and CIO Forum and CIR in SA.
Egle Bileviciute was born in 1976, in Klaipeda, Lithuania. She is currently Professor at the Department of Administrative Law and Procedure of Mykolas Romeris University. She is teaching students of
Mykolas Romeris University in such subjects: law of research and studies, environmental law, administrative procedure, social changes and administrative law, and crime investigation. She defended her
doctoral thesis Lithuania criminalistic information system: modern state and new model and received
her PhD in Social Science (Law) in 2003. She was granted the Associate Professor position in 2007. She
has enough experience in implementation and preparation of national and international projects. She is
experienced in processing of data and she knows statistical methods for social scientific researches. Her
current research interest includes law of research and studies, management of research, administrative
law, forensic science, legal informatics, implementation of IT in law, and environmental law.
Tatjana Bileviien was born in 1951, in Ukraine. In 1974 she graduated of Faculty of Electronic
Technique of Leningrad Electro Technique Institute and acquired the profession of engineer of electronic
technique. Tatjana Bileviien from 1974 till 1988 worked as an Engineer. From1988 she worked in
Vilnius Pedagogical University and Mykolas Romeris University. Teaching subjects of hers include:
informatics, search of information, statistics, and data management. In 2009 she defended her doctoral
thesis in social sciences Modern Opportunities of Disabled Persons Professional Rehabilitation and
Integration: Model of Telework Organization, and she received her PhD in social sciences (management and administration). She is currently Assoc. Professor at Mykolas Romeris University, Faculty of
Economics and Finance Management, Department of Business Economics. Her current research interest includes mathematics (statistics), informatics, ICT, and management. From 2006 the e-inclusion
problems of disabled persons became her main scientific research field. In 2008, Tatjana Bileviien
readied the equivalency Doctoral dissertation that firstly in Lithuania presents the organizational model
of telework of disabled persons and evaluation methodizes of disabled persons employments quality.
cxi
Manuel Pedro Rodrguez Bolvar is Associated Professor in Accounting at the University of

Granada. He has authored numerous articles in international journals, among them include: Public
Money & Management, Government Information Quarterly, Public Administration and Development,
Online Information Review, International Review of Administrative Sciences, American Review of Public Administration, International Journal of Accounting, and International Journal of Commerce and
Management. He has been also the author of several book chapters published in prestigious international
publishers such as Kluwer Academic Publishers, Springer, and IGI Global, and is author of full-length
books published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Spain.
Horst von Brand is Chemical Engineer (Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara, Chile), and
PhD in Computer Science (Lousiana State University, USA). He is associate Professor of the Informatics Department at UTFSM, Chile. His research areas include open source software applications and
applications of software engineering.
Andy Bytheway, following a 20 year career in the IT industry, took up an academic post at the
Cranfield School of Management in the UK, where he pioneered the development of commerciallysponsored Information Systems research - a study of electronic commerce that was supported by 20
European organisations and linked with similar work in Japan. Other projects followed. He emigrated to
South Africa in 1998, where he took up the Old Mutual Chair in Information Systems at the University
of the Western Cape. He is now Adjunct Professor of Information Management at the Cape Peninsula
University of Technology, where he supervises Master and Doctoral projects. Most recently he was
awarded a three-year NRF grant to research the management of ICTs in South African Education. He
has written three books and published more than 100 academic and practitioner papers.
Aaron Ciaghi is a PhD student at the ICT Doctoral School of the University of Trento, Italy. He is
working in the ICT4G group at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Trento, Italy), and his current interests include
ICT for Development, Living Labs, Legal Informatics, HCI and Participatory Design. Aaron obtained
his BS degree in Computer Science at the University of Trento in 2007 with a thesis on law modelling.
He participated to the ATLAS dual Master Degree in Computer Science at the University of Trento and
at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA) and received a MS degree in Computer Science from
Georgia Tech in May 2010, graduating also cum laude from the University of Trento in July 2010. Aaron
is currently involved in the organization of the Maputo Living Lab and of RHoK Trento.
Ana Corojan is a PhD candidate in Law and Political Science at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.
She graduated in Law and in Political Science, and obtained a Masters in Democracy and Government
at the same university. He has been visiting fellow at El Colegio de Mxico (Mxico DF) where she also
studied part of the master degree. Currently, she is a junior research fellow at the IDEAS Foundation.
J. Ignacio Criado is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International
Relations, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid. He has been posdoctoral visiting fellow at Center for
Technology in Government, State University of New York, (SUNY at Albany), and doctoral visiting fellow at Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, among other international institutions. His books
Building the Local e-Administration (published in Spanish, Construyendo la e-Administracin Local.
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Madrid, EuroGestin Pblica, 2004) and Between Utopian Dreams and Pessimistic Visions (published
in Spanish, Entre Sueos Utpicos y Visiones Pesimistas. Madrid, Instituto Nacional de Administracin
Pblica, 2009) both received research awards. His research deals with different aspects of ICTs and Public
Administration, Government 2.0, interoperability, public sector reform policies, quality management, and
leadership in the cyberspace. He is editorial board member for International Journal of Public Sector
Management. His work has been published in Social Science Computer Review, International Journal
of Electronic Governance, Information Polity, Gestin y Poltica Pblica, and Reforma y Democracia.
Hepu Deng is a Professor of Information Systems in the School of Business Information Technology and Logistics, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. His research interests are in the areas of
e-government, digital business, decision analysis, intelligent systems, knowledge management, and
their applications in business. The multi-disciplinary nature of his research and the emphasis on both
theoretical and applied research are exemplified by numerous refereed publications in top refereed international journals listed in the Science Citation Index and at major refereed international conferences.
He has completed his PhD in Computing, Post Graduate Diploma in Management Engineering, Masters
Degree in Business Systems, and Bachelors degree in Mathematics.
Ignatius Aris Dwiatmoko was born on 23rd June 1965 and was graduated from Statistics Departement Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia. He received his Masters degree from University of The
Philippines majoring in theoretical statistics. He became a faculty member of Sanata Dharma University,
Yogyakarta, Indonesia and taught some statistics subject. He has written several articles on applied statistics that were published in Indonesia Journal. Together with the first author (Wijaya) conduct some
e-government researches.
Tanya du Plessis is a Lecturer at the Department of Information and Knowledge Management,
University of Johannesburg, and specializes in Legal Research Competitive Intelligence tools and techniques and VLE content integration. She is also involved in CI projects of the Centre for Information
and Knowledge Management. She holds a D Litt et Phil (Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa), with
the focus on information and knowledge management in support of legal research in a digital information environment.
Hatem ElKadi was born in Egypt in 1960. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo
University in 1983. He got his Ph.D. at the University of Lille, France, in 1993. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Cairo University. He is Advisor for Strategic Projects at MSAD (Ministry of State for
Administrative Development), and supervises a number of national e-government projects. He was the
Director of the Egyptian eGovernment Services Delivery Program which was ranked 23th worldwide in
2010, and in 2008, he won the first prize for the All Africa Public Service Innovation Award. He is member
of the National Dispute Settlement Committee for ICT issues, as well as the steering committee for the
National ID Card project. During his career, he managed several successful ICT projects with the government of Egypt, private sector and NGOs, as well as consulted for National Projects in Yemen and Kuwait.
Susana de Juana-Espinosa is an Assistant Lecturer in Business Management at the University of
Alicante, Spain. Her PhD consisted in the analysis of the e-government strategies carried out by Spanish
councils. Her current research includes e-business strategy and management in the public and private sectors.
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Elias Farzali is PhD in (CIS) Computer Information Systems, received PhD from Arab Academy for
Banking and Financial Science, Damascus, Syria. More than 13 years of experience in Banking Sector,
IT Department, system analysis, and design for many solutions. He was Daily Operational manager and
project manager.
Shauneen Furlong is an independent consultant and part-time Professor who lectures on e-government
and project management with the University of Toronto, University of Ottawa, and around the world.
Over the last couple of years, she has presented and worked in the United Kingdom, Middle East, Europe, East Africa, Egypt, China, Canada, Washington and Turkey. She has senior executive level and
management experience in a number of Government of Canada central agencies and departments over
a period of 20 years, most recently Executive Director, Government On-Line, Government of Canada.
Ms. Furlong was nominated by IT World Canada as being one of Canadas key e-government drivers,
and was profiled by Computer World Canada as a charter member of Canadas first MBA in Project
Management. She has published articles and peer reviews papers for a number of international journals
and conferences. She was awarded a 2007 IBM Fellowship; is a Project Manager Professional (PMP)
and PhD Candidate in Computer Science (Liverpool, UK); and has a BA in Philosophy; an MA in Business Administration Economics, and an MBA in Project Management.
Erlane K Ghani is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi
MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia. She is also currently the Head of Teaching and Learning Technologies in
the Institute of Leadership and Quality Management (iLQAM), Universiti Teknologi MARA. She holds
a PhD in accounting from Massey University, New Zealand. Erlane has published articles in national
and international journals and has presented papers in a number of national and international accounting
and business conferences. Her research interests are in the areas of governance of local government,
accounting education and financial reporting. Currently she is involved in studying the effects of supervisory relationship on PhD programme.
Balulwami Grand holds a Masters degree from the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom) and
a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh (USA). His research interests are in the areas of e-government,
public sector information management, health informatics, and information society.
ke Grnlund is (full) Professor and head of research in Informatics at rebro University. kes
research concerns the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in various human activities. Key words include, but are not limited to, information systems, informatics, electronic government,
ICT for Development (ICT4D), e-learning, education, mobile technologies. The common denominator
involved in all projects is to understand how people arrange their work, their organizations, and other
activities pertaining to private life, such as socializing on the web, and how ICT can be used to make
improvements. One strong focus since 15 years is ICT use in government reform, electronic government
(governance), worldwide.
Kerstin Grundn is an Associate Professor in Informatics at the West University of Sweden. She
has also a background as a Sociologist. Grundn has made several evaluation studies of implementation of information systems in public organizations in Sweden. She has made research studies within
the fields of computer-supported co-operative work (CSCW), e-learning and e-government using the
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evaluation model MOA (developed in her thesis). The MOA model is especially focussing the employers, the employees, and the customer/clients perspectives. Grundn is now participating in an on-going
interdisciplinary research project Innoveta (2009 2011), funded by Vinnova, for the study of customer
centres implementation and e-services within municipalities in Sweden.
Antonio M. Lpez Hernndez is Professor of Accounting at the University of Granada. He teaches
Public Sector Management and Control. He research interest center of management systems and financial information in federal and local government. He has published in journals such as, Government
Information Quarterly, International Review of Administrative Science, American Review of Public
Administration, International Public Management Journal, Online Information Review, Public Administration and Development, Public Money & Management, and Public Management Review. He has
been also the author of several book chapters published in prestigious international publishers such as
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Springer, and IGI Global.
Andrei Ilas received a degree in Civil Law, a MA in International Law, and a Doctorate in Political
Sciences in Romania. He taught for eight years European law and Comparative politics at Alexandru
Ioan Cuza University of Iasi where he is holding a full-time position. During the past five years he published peer-reviewed articles and participated to same-level conferences on various e-government related
subjects. His research interest focuses on the social cultural values influence over the development of
e-government within the European Union area and particularly in its Eastern side. Andrei is currently
studying common law in French at Ottawa University, Canada.
Luiz Antonio Joia- Ph.D., Production Engineering (Major: Technological Innovation and Industrial
Organization), COPPE/UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro Federal University); M.S., Civil Engineering, COPPE/UFRJ;
M.S., Management Studies, Oxford University, UK; B.S., Fortification and Construction Engineering,
Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME). Over 20 years experience in major technology-based companies,
holding executive positions in the areas of Information Technology and Business Development. He has
been Adjunct Professor of the School of Engineering of Rio de Janeiro State University since 1982;
Academic Coordinator of the MBA in Strategic Management of Information Technology and the MBA
in Project Management - FGV Management; Consultant and Advisor to the World Bank; Coordinator
of e:lab (Laboratory for Research into Government and E-Business); Guest member of the Technical
Committee of WG 8.5 (Information Systems in Public Administration) of IFIP (International Federation
for Information Processing); and Guest Brazilian representative at the Interamerican E-Government
Training Network (Red Interamericana de Formacin en Gobierno Eletrnico), IDB/OAS.
Kyu-Nahm Jun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Wayne State
University in Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on the role of information technology between
citizen and government agencies in urban governance. She is also interested in understanding the role of
government website usage and citizen satisfaction with their local government. Other research interests
include community-based citizen participation, the impact of contextual factors on civic behavior, and
local government responsiveness. She has published her works in the Journal of Civil Society, Journal
of Public Administration Research and Theory, Urban Affairs Review, Social Forces, and Nonprofit and
Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
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Mike Just is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, Scotland,
where he teaches and researches on computer security and its impact on people. Prior to his work in
Glasgow, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and worked for 10 years in
the private and public sector in areas of both policy and technology. Mike has published widely in areas
of applied cryptography, network security, and usability, with more than 20 publications and frequently
presents at international forums. He earned his PhD in 1999 from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Daniel Kamlot is a PhD candidate in Business Administration at Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration at Getulio Vargas Foundation. M.S.; Business Administration (Major: Marketing),
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio); B.S., Computer Engineering; PUC-Rio.
Ghassan Kanaan is a Professor in Computer Information Systems Department/IT College at Petra
University. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA)
and MS in Computer Science from Western Michigan University Kalamazoo-Michigan (USA). Since
gaining his PhD, he has been active in research, teaching and publications within several aspects of the
computer science field including the natural language processing, information retrieval, data compression,
encryption, letter recognition, information extraction, data mining, digital libraries, and concept mapping.
Raed Kanaan is an Assistant Professor in Management Information System at the Arab Academy
for Banking and Financial Sciences. He received his PhD in Information Systems from the De Montfort
University, and MSc in Management Information Systems from the Arab Academy for Banking and
Financial Sciences. His research interests include e-Government in developing countries, e-commerce,
impact of culture on IT adoption and implementations in the Middle East, and intellectual capital in the
Arab universities.
Anuradha Karunasena is a Ph.D student in the School of Business Information Technology and Logistics at RMIT University, Australia. Her research interests are in the areas of e-learning, e-government,
knowledge management, social media, and database management systems.
Kanishka Karunasena is a Full-time PhD student in the School of Business Information Technology and Logistics of RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He has completed a Masters degree in
Information Technology and Bachelors degree in Computing and Information Systems. His research
focuses on the development of a general framework for evaluating the public value of e-government in
developing countries. Kanishka is the corresponding author.
Ronan de Kervenoael is a Lecturer of Marketing at Sabanci University and network Lecturer at Aston
University. He received his Ph.D. from Sheffield University, U.K. Ronan has a particular interest in choice
and anti-choice investigating both consumers and supply chain actors. His wider research interests lie
under the umbrella of consumer behavior and retailing; the principal theme being the socio-spatial context of consumption. He is currently researching change in the Information Communication Technology
within emerging markets. His work has been published in Environment & Planning A, World Development, Journal of Industrial Relation, The Service Industries Journal, International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management, and International Review of Retail Distribution and Consumer Research.
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Gohar Feroz Khan is currently working as an International Research Professor and Lecturer at
Yeungnam University, South Korea. He is also senior consultant at the Society for the Knowledgebased Innovation and Education (SKIE) Seoul National University and a member of Asia triple helix
society. Dr. Khan has working experience in public sector at senior management level. He has a Ph. D
in Information & Telecommunication Technology Management from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea and master in computer science. His research interests
include Knowledge-based innovation, social networks, Triple Helix, e-government, m-government, the
user acceptance of information technologies, ICT policy, e-business, network economic, and e-learning.
His work has been accepted and published in Online Information Review (OIR) Journal, Scientometrics,
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIS), and Pacific Journal of
Information System (APJIS). He has presented his studies at international conferences, such as, ICCIT09
(Korea), and ICDGS 2010 (Paris), Triple Helix 9 International Conference (Stanford University,USA
2011), and COLLNET 2011(Turkey, Istanbul).
Tarek Khalil has a Bachelors in Mathematics from the Tichreen University- Sciences Faculty in
Syria (1998). In 2006, he earned the Masters Degree in Computer Information System from the Arab
Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, and he has the PhD in Management Information System
from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (2010). Beside his preparation for his PhD,
he worked as IS Consultant for several companies in Syria. In addition, He worked at Tichreen University- Sciences Faculty as instructor.
Rembrandt Klopper is an interdisciplinary scholar publishing the results of research focusing on
aspects of research methodology, informatics, communication science and cognitive science. In cognitive science he has written a number of papers on the central role of metaphor in human thinking. He
supervises Masters and Doctoral students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is a special issues
editor of the South African interdisciplinary scholarly journal, Alternation.
Ipek Kocoglu has earned her B.S. degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Sabanci University, Turkey, her M.S. degree in Science and Technology Strategies at Gebze Institute of Technology,
Turkey, and she is currently studying as a Ph.D. student in Managent Science at the Gebze Institute of
Technology, Turkey. Ipek works as a Research Assistant in the Tubitak (Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey) funded project of Sabanci University.
Sam Lubbe is a senior academic at the North West University in Mafikeng, South Africa. He has
been in Academia for more than 30 years and have presented many papers at international conferences,
have written several papers for international journals and some books as well. He has supervised many
Master and Doctoral dissertations and had a good pass rate for these students.
Abdulghafoor Mohammad graduated as an Electronic System Engineer from the Damascus University-Electrical and Mechanical Faculty in Syria (1998). In 2006, he had the Master Degree in Computer
Information System from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, and he has the PhD
in Computer Information System from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences (2010).
Beside his preparation for his PhD, he worked as IT Manager in Damascus University. In addition, he
worked at Damascus University-Electrical and Mechanical Faculty as Instructor.
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Junghoon Moon is an Assistant Professor in the Regional Information Programme at Seoul National
University in Korea. He received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006
and received his Masters and Bachelor degrees from Seoul National University. He worked for several
years as a Systems Analyst and Consultant. In addition, he is a member of Auto-ID labs, sponsored by
EPCglobal. Junghoon Moons research interests include human factors in MIS/e-business, technology
management, e-government, information policies for the food industry, and business applications using
a ubiquitous sensor network. He has presented his studies at many conferences including the Korean
Conference on Management Information Systems and the International Conference of the Information
Resources Management Association. At the Americas Conference on Information Systems in 2006,
one of his papers was judged the Best Paper of the Year. At the Hawaiian International Conference on
System Sciences in 2007, one of his papers was nominated as the Best Paper of the Year. He has published articles in many journals, including Online Information Review, Information Systems Frontiers,
e-Business Studies, and the Journal of Information Technology Management.
Anne Morris is a Professor in the Department of Information Science at Loughborough University. In addition, she is the Senior Adviser for the Information and Computing Science Subject Centre
(Higher Education Academy) and is on the editorial board of several journals. Her main interests lie in
the usability and evaluation of information systems; information user behaviour; and the economic value
and impact of information services. She has taught research methods, statistics, and human-computerinterface design for over 20 years; has written several books; published numerous journal articles on a
variety of professional topics; and delivered many international conference presentations and workshops.
Fredrick Mtenzi is an experienced Information Systems Security and Forensics researcher. Freds
research interests include the design and Implementation of Energy aware routing algorithms for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET), Security issues in MANET and e-healthcare, cyber security, digital
forensics, application of mobile computing to healthcare, and development of culturally sensitive
educational curriculum for Ireland, China, and Tanzania. He has authored and co-authored over 100
scientific publications. He is a team leader of the Ubiquitous Computing Research Group (UCRG) at
the School of Computing, Dublin Institute of Technology. He has organized and chaired peer-reviewed
international conferences and workshops in Computer Games, and e-Healthcare Information Security.
He is a professional member of Association for Computing Machinery, IEEE, and Information Systems
Security Association. He is the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of e-Healthcare Information
Systems (IJe-HIS) and member of several journals editorial boards.
Stephen M. Mutula is a Professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies, University
of Botswana where he serves as the Head of Department. He holds a PhD in Information Science (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), Masters Degree in Information Science (University of Wales,
UK), Postgraduate diploma in computer science (University of Nairobi, Kenya) and Bachelors degree
in Education-Mathematics and Chemistry (Kenyatta University, Kenya). He has published extensively
in international refereed journals and books. He is a first co-author of a book titled: Web Information
Management: A cross disciplinary textbook published by Chandos Publishing, London, 2007. He is also
the author of Digital Economics: SMEs and E-readiness, published in 2009 by IGI. He is an honorary
research fellow of the University of Zululand, South Africa. He has won several international excel-
cxviii
lence awards for his distinguished research work from various academic societies such as the Emerald
Literati club (UK).
Laura Alcaide Muoz is Lecturer in Accounting of the University of Granada. Nowadays, she is
developing her doctoral thesis on the level of disclosure of financial information published in Internet
by the member governments of the European Union, and the factors and incentives influencing the level
of transparency, and she has been also author of an article published in International Journal of Digital
Accounting Research.
Sergio Mura is M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering (PUC Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Engineer and B.Sc.
in Information and Computer Science (UTFSM). He has worked in Oracle Corp. and as an instructor and
researcher at Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara. His research areas include project management,
ROI in IT projects, ERP, and supply chain implementation methodology and evaluation.
Noraini Mohd Nasir has more than twenty years teaching experience with Universiti Teknologi
MARA. Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as Costing, Management Accounting, and Financial Accounting and Reporting. Currently she is teaching Financial Accounting to the Bachelor of
Accountancy (Honours) students. She is an associate member of MIA and a member of the Malaysian
Association of Consumer and Family Economic Affairs, a non-governmental organisation. Apart from
academic qualifications, Noraini also holds a Certificate in Qualitative Research from University of
Georgia, USA. She has written several books on management accounting and financial accounting and
reporting. She has also published several articles in national and international journals. Her research
interests are in financial accounting and reporting, local government authorities, and accounting by
non-governmental organizations.
Bongani Ngwenya is Dean, Faculty of Business, MBA Thesis Defence Panel Chair, Lecturer, and
Masters thesis supervisor, Solusi University, Zimbabwe. He has twenty-seven years of work experience
in public and private sector. He is currently studying PhD in Business Management and Administration,
specialising in Strategic Management (Grounded Theory Research), with North West University, Mafeking
Campus, South Africa. He researches in organisational decision-making research and business in general.
A.A. Oni holds B.Sc. and M.Sc.in Management Information System from Covenant University. She
is currently a Ph.D student in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria. Her current research interest are in the following area: e-commerce, e-business,
e-government, theoretical investigation of users acceptance of information system, design theories for
information system, and software engineering. She also lectures in the Department of Computer and
Information Sciences, Covenant University.
Gbolahan Olasina joined the Dept of Library and Information Science (LIS), Faculty of Communication and Information Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 2008 after four years of being an
academic staff at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria. He currently teaches IT-based
courses in the library school. He is an active member of the Rotary Club, likes to swim, play tennis,
and design websites.
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Cynthia Opheim is a Professor of Political Science at Texas State University. Dr. Opheims specialization is American State Politics. She has published articles in journals such as Public Administration
Review, State and Local Government Review, Western Political Quarterly, and Regional and Federal
Studies. Her work includes topics such as legislative professionalism, legislative recruitment, education
policy, and state political parties. She is co-author of the text State and Local Politics: The Individual
and the Governments. Dr. Opheim has been active in the profession. In 2003, she served as President of
the Southwestern Political Science Association; she also served on the executive board of this organization. From 1996-2003 she served as Chair of her department at Texas State University.
George S. Oreku is a Principal Researcher and a Director of ICT and Technology Transfer with
TIRDO. His research interest includes Information Security, Sensor Networks Security, E-commerce
Security, Risk Assessment (RA) and IT Policy survey. Research in ICT application, diffusion, and its
integrations with R&D. He is also a Post Doctoral researcher with North West University in South Africa.
He has worked as a Lecturer in many universities worldwide. He has organized and chaired number of
international workshops and conferences. He is also a reviewer in international journals and conferences.
He is a member of IEEE, ACM, SANORD, and WASET.
R. L. Orelli has a BA Business Economics, University of Bologna, Italy, Ph.D. Management of the
Public Sector, University of Salerno, Italy, visiting scholar at London School of Economics, Accounting
Department, UK. Orelli is a Lecturer in Business Economics, Department of Management, University of
Bologna, Italy; affiliated with EBEN; current research interests are new public management and public
services changes in local governments, management accounting, and management control in public sector.
E. Padovani BA Business Economics, University of Bologna, Italy, Ph.D. Business Administration, University of Ferrara, Italy; Associate Professor of Management Control and Auditing in Public
Sector Organizations in the Faculty of Economics and Department of Management at the University of
Bologna, Forli Campus, Italy; invited as guest lecturer at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive
levels in different Italian universities and abroad (University of Valencia, Spain; Methodist University
of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Aarhus Business School, Denmark; Michigan State University, East Lansing MI;
University of Washington, Seattle WA). Research interests: public management with specific reference
to management control systems, performance measurement for management and auditing, benchmarking, and management of outsourcing.
Tanya du Plessis is Associate Professor at the Department of Information and Knowledge Management, University of Johannesburg, and specializes in Legal Research, Competitive Intelligence tools
and techniques, and virtual learning and research environment content integration. She is involved in
CI projects of the Centre for Information and Knowledge Management. She holds a PhD (D Litt et Phil,
Rand Afrikaans University, South Africa), with the focus on information and knowledge management
in support of legal research in a digital information environment.
Taruna Shalini Ramessur is Senior Lecturer at the University of Mauritius in the department of
Economics and Statistics. She maintains an interest in public and development economics as well as
international trade and e-Government. She has been and is currently engaged in many consulting projects
with COMESA, UNDP, AERC, LOGIN Africa pan African network and SARUA, among others. Be it
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at the national or international level, she has participated in various workshops, seminars and presented
papers at conferences. Shalini has also been involved in a research project on Mauritius, for LOG-IN
Africa, which is an emergent pan-African network of researchers and research institutions from nine
countries. She has also published articles in a number of international refereed journals.
Christopher G. Reddick is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Public Administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA. Dr. Reddicks research and teaching interests
are in information technology and public sector organizations. Some of his publications can be found in
Government Information Quarterly, Electronic Government, and the International Journal of Electronic
Government Research. Dr. Reddick recently edited the two volume book entitled Handbook of Research
on Strategies for Local E-Government Adoption and Implementation: Comparative Studies. He is also
author of the book Homeland Security Preparedness and Information Systems, which deals with the
impact of information technology on homeland security preparedness.
Karen Renaud is an academic at the University of Glasgow. She has been working in the area of Usable Security for the last decade. Her main focus in the last few years has been to understand the chasm
between security professionals and ordinary employees and to find ways of closing the gap.
Chris Rensleigh is a Professor and Head of Department, Department of Information and Knowledge
Management at the University of Johannesburg, is mandated to manage the IKM Department on an operational as well as tactical level. Broadly, this includes the development of staff as well as curriculum.
He lectures undergraduate and post graduate students and supervises research for Masters and Doctoral
students. He has been the external examiner on theses and dissertations for various national and international universities including University of Pretoria, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University
of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Stellenbosch University, University of Botswana, Andhra University (India) and
Mangalore University (India). Prof Chris Rensleigh is a senior Professor at the Department of Information and Knowledge Management, University of Johannesburg, and specializes in Internet information
infrastructures and related technologies. He has a PhD in the Commerce field specializing in Informatics.
Jamaliah Said obtained a degree in Accountancy and Finance from John Moore University, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Masters in Accountancy from Curtin University of Technology, Australia;
Certificate in Qualitative Research from University of Georgia, USA and PhD in Accountancy from
UiTM. She has been working in UiTM Shah Alam in the Faculty of Accountancy since 1991. She was
formerly the Research Coordinator for the Institute of Education Development, UiTM. Jamaliah has
published articles in national and international journals and won best paper award from several conferences. The recent best paper award was from Clute Institute during the International Applied Business
Research Conference, Florida, USA. Her research interest and publications are in the field of accounting
education, management accounting, and public sector. At present, she is involved in research on zakat
management, public sector performance, and the effects of supervisory relationship on PhD programme.
Chaudhary Imran Sarwar is a Professor and serving as CEO of Creative Researcher and Deputy
Director-CESTL (Cell for Structural Transformational Leadership, at Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan). His research on leadership and government has been
accepted globally in more than 60 countries. He has contributed to more than 40 international books.
cxxi
He is reviewer for several conferences and journals including Academy of Management and Personality
and Individual Differences. He enjoys the honor of being special session and mini-track chair.
Husni S. Sastramihardja was born on 24th October 1947. Since 1978 he became a faculty member
of Institute Technology Bandung, Indonesia. He received his doctor degree from Institute Technology
Bandung, Indonesia majoring in Information System. His researches interests are in information system,
human computer interaction, knowledge management system engineering, and governance system. His
current research is in growing system for community empowerment. Some of his articles on information
system and interaction based system development were published in journals or conference proceedings.
Peter Sebina is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Library and Information Studies, University
of Botswana. He attained his PhD from the University College London and his research interests are
in records and information management in governance especially in the areas of access to information,
information seeking behavior and use of information by society. Peter has researched and consulted
widely in records and information management in Botswana and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Aziz iman, who was born in 1973 in Samsun, Turkey, is associated with Ondokuz Mayis University
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geomatics in Samsun, Turkey. Dr. Sisman studied for his undergraduate degree at Karadeniz Technical University where he also received his MSc in the Department of
Geodesy and Photogrametry Engineering (Msc). Sisman then went on to receive his Doctorate degree
from Yildiz Technical University, Natural Sciences Institutes, Department of Geodesy and Photogrametry
Engineering. Previously, Sisman served as a Research Assistant at Karadeniz Technical University for
the Natural Sciences Institutes. Also, he was a Surveying Engineer for the General Directorate of Land
Registry and Cadastre as well as a Part Time Lecturer at Hacettepe University. He is currently an Associate Professor at Ondokuz Mayis University and is part of the Faculty of engineering in the Department
of Geomatics. He is married, and he has two sons.
Mauricio Solar studied electronic engineering at Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara (UTFSM,
Chile), Master and PhD in Computer Science at Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, Brazil)
and Postdoctorate in Operational Research and Informatic at Universite de Montreal (Canada). He is a
full-time Professor of the Informatics Department and the head of the e-Government Center (www.egov.
usm.cl) at UTFSM, Chile. He is former President of the Chilean Computer Science Society (www.sccc.
cl), and former Executive Secretary of the Latin American Center for Studies in Informatics (www.clei.
cl). He was the chairman of the organizing committee of the 19th IFIP World Computer Congress 2006.
His research areas include e-Government and applications of software engineering.
C. del Sordo has a BA in Business Economics from University of Bologna, Italy, Ph.D. Management of the Public Sector, University of Salerno, Italy, and is a visiting scholar at Boston University,
US, Accounting Department. Sordo is Lecturer in Business Economics, Department of Management,
University of Bologna, Italy; current research interests are management accounting theory and management control in public sector.
cxxii
Virgil Stoica received the BA degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gheorghe Asachi Technical
University of Iai (Romania, 1989), the BA degree in Social and Political Sciences from Alexandru Ioan
Cuza University of Iai (Romania, 1997), the MD in Political Philosophy (1998), and the PhD degree in
Political Sciences from the same university (2002). The title of thesis was The Building of the Local
Political Class Between Institutions and Behaviors. In 2005 he graduated the East Central European
Scholarship Program, Public Policy and Public Administration, Georgetown University, Washington
DC, U.S.A. He is currently a post PhD student in the strategic EU grant (POSDRU), the research theme
being the Digital Divide in Romania. He is also an Associate Professor at the Political Science Department at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iai, and head of this department. His research interests
include e-governance, public policy, local government, and political elites.
Kridanto Surendro was born on 12th August 1964. He received his Doctor degree from Keio University, Japan majoring in Computer Science. He later became a faculty member of Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia. His researches interests are in the area of information systems, IT governance,
and IT planning. He has written several articles on information system and IT governance that were
published in journals.
Juan Jos Tar is a Senior Lecturer in Business Management at the University of Alicante, Spain.
His PhD dissertation was an analysis of quality management. His current research includes total quality
management and the relationship between quality management and environmental management.
Adeyinka Tella is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty
of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Tella is a commonwealth
scholar who finished his PhD in September 2009 from the Department of Library and Information Studies; University of Botswana where he was awarded small grant for thesis writing for the PhD category
in 2007 by Council of Development in Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). He has written and published articles mostly in international reputable refereed journals together with chapters in
books. He is one of the contributors to an information science reference Cases on Successful E-learning
Practices in the Developed and Developing World: Methods for the Global Information Economy. Currently, he is the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Library and Information Science, and
Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Information Processing and Communication. He is also
editorial board member, for Library Philosophy and Practice. Tella is an external examiner for Library
and Information Science PhD candidates at Annamalai University, India. His re-search areas include
e-learning, information literacy, information communication technology and management, information
system evaluation, and psychology of information.
Mehdi Sagheb-Tehrani is an Associate Professor of Business Information Technology at the College of Business, Bemidji State University (BSU), USA. He taught at the graduate level and Computer
Business Application, Advanced Structured Application Development, Corporate Information Management, E-Commerce and Web page development, MIS and Systems Analysis at the undergraduate level.
Before joining BSU, he taught MIS, Expert Systems, Business Network Systems Management, Virtual
Business and Advanced Topics in Information Technology at the graduate level and Project Management, Internet Applications, Introduction to Computers, C++, Visual Basic and COBOL programming
at the undergraduate level. He received his PhD in Informatics (old name, Information and Computer
cxxiii
Science) from Lund University-Sweden, in 1993. He has published over 47 papers in various international journals and proceedings and a book, Management of IT. He has publications in International
Journal of Applied Systematic Studies, International Journal of Management in Education, The Journal
of Knowledge Engineering, ACM/ Computer and Society, ACM/SIGSOFT, ACM/SIGART, Journal of
AICOM, IEEE-IRI, and The IS Education Journal. He was an IT Manager as well as a Consultant in a
number of organizations, including IRISL, Cutting Tools Manufacturing, NI Register Organization, IDP
Company (formerly IBM), et cetera.
John Ubena, LL.M (Law & IT), LL.D Candidate, Swedish Law & Informatics Research Institute,
Faculty of Law, Stockholm University. Moreover, he is a Lecturer in IT Law at Stockholm University,
Sweden and Mzumbe University, Tanzania. He has been working with the Faculty of Law Mzumbe
University for six years. Mr. John is also an advocate of the High Court of Tanzania and courts subordinate thereto, save for primary courts.
Gonzalo Valds is M.Sc., Eng., and B.Sc. in Information and Computer Science. He has worked as
an instructor and researcher at Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara and University of Valparaso
in Chile. Currently he is pursuing a PhD in the Department of Management, Science and Engineering at
Stanford University. His research areas include e-Government, software process improvement, empirical
software engineering, and ICT and development.
Adolfo Villafiorita leads the ICT4G unit of Fondazione Bruno Kessler. He received his laurea
degree cum laude in Electronic Engineering from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 1993 and his PhD
degree in Artificial Intelligent System from the University of Ancona in 1997. He was Visiting scholar
at the AI Department of the University of Edinburgh and of the Formal Reasoning Group at Stanford,
and since 1997, he has been a Researcher at IRST in the system engineering, safety-critical, eGovernment, and ICT4D areas. He was part of the consulting team for the eGIF (eGovernment Interoperability
Framework) initiative for the government of Mozambique. Adolfo Villafiorita is the author of various
publications in international journals and conferences. He is promoting the AFRICOMM Conference.
Adolfo Villafiorita is a member of IEEE and ACM and a contract Professor at the University of Trento,
where he teaches Software Project Management.
David Wachira is a Doctoral candidate and teaching fellow in public administration, with a specialization in public finance and public management, at the University of North Texas at Denton, USA.
His research and teaching interests include fiscal sustainability, economic development, e-government,
accountability, and transparency in foreign aid. Mr. Wachira received his BA in Political Science and
History from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; he earned an MA in History from Tarleton State
University. Some of his publications can be found in Comparative E-Government: An Examination of
E-Government across Countries and in Citizens and E-Government: Evaluating Policy and Management.
Christopher Weare is a Research Associate Professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. His research has primarily focused on applying social
network theories and data to questions of the structure and functioning of civil society. His other major
research interest is the study of the development and impacts of e-government on public service delivery
cxxiv
and civic engagement. Before joining SPPD, he was a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California. Dr. Weare holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Stevanus Wisnu Wijaya was born on 26th December 1976. He has graduated from Bachelor of
Electrical Engineering, Gadjah Mada University and Master of Informatics, Institute of Technology
Bandung, Indonesia. He became a faculty member of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
and taught some information system subjects. His researches interest are in the area of e-government
in developing countries, and empowerment in online communities and social media for underserved
people in developing countries particularly Indonesia. He was awarded many research grants from the
Government of Indonesia and international organization. He has been published several research articles
in many national and international conferences and national journals.
Hyun Jung Yun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University. She earned two Doctoral degrees in two different disciplines, one in Political Science and the
other in Journalism and Communication, both from the University of Florida. Her research has dedicated
to interdisciplinary approaches across mass communication, public opinion, media effects, geopolitics
and applied methodology, focusing on e-government, political communication and policy attitudes. Her
publications in several leading journals, such as American Behavioral Scientist, Journalism Studies, and
The American Review of Politics, and several coauthored book chapters demonstrate how individuals
political perceptions and attitudes are influenced by political predispositions within a group and by
political resources within a given political and media system at the aggregate level.
cxxv
cxxvi
Index
A
Accountability 331, 680
Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) 145, 152
Account Recovery 668
Adaptive Learning 594, 603
Adoption 500, 685
Adopt Public Private Partnership (PPP) 113
American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)
161, 421
appropriate e-Payment 57
Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE) 22
area for e-Democracy 52
Asymmetric Cryptography 105
Authentication 666
B
Balanced Score Card (BSC) 456
Behavioral Leadership 525
Bibliometric Study 642
BIT alignment 180, 182, 188-189
Blended Learning 599
Brazilian Public Software (BPS) 457
Business Information Technology (BIT) 179
Business Process Management (BPM) 217
Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) 392, 626
C
Capacity Building 511
Case Study 628
Central American Countries 332
Certificate holder is any 107
Change Management 403, 632
Changing the Legal Status 95
Chief Innovative Officers (CIOs) 3
Choose International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) 114
Citizen 375
Volume I pp 1-409; Volume II pp 410-756
Citizen Interaction 280

Civil Conflicts 430
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) 77
Commercially Available Off-the-Shelf (COTS) 457
Community Access Center (CAC) 245
concept of e-Inclusion 71, 76
Conceptual Model 561
Connections 497
Conventional Government 524
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) 149-150, 456, 471-472
Country Context Gaps 54
court efficiency 167-168, 178
Critical Failure Factors (CFF) 180
Critical Success Factors (CSF) 149, 180, 191, 471,
624-625, 627, 629, 632, 635, 639, 714
cryptographic data 129
Customer Convenience 300
D
Democracy 375
depend on legal validity 91
Design of e-Government 277
developing countries 182, 188, 332, 424, 442
Development-Oriented Learning 594
Diffusion 685
Diffusion of Innovation Model (DOI) 683
digital citizen 69, 631, 648
Digital Divide 57, 74, 76, 78-79, 238-239, 418, 430,
486, 499
Digital forensics faces 111
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) 123, 125, 127, 139
Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) 150
E
East African Community 311
E-Commerce: the service to be 24, 34
E-Decision-making 24
e-Democracy 24, 377, 577
Index
e-Document 91-97, 99, 109-110, 112-115, 122, 571

e-Evidence in Tanzania 92, 108, 110
e-Governance 680, 701
e-Governance Perspective 265, 288
e-Government Applications 416
e-Government Concept 413
e-Government Framework 219
e-Government Gateway 737
e-government implementation 183, 187
e-Government Initiatives 442
E-Government in Tanzania 45, 47, 55-56, 90, 94, 112
e-Government Public Policy 717
e-Government Readiness 720
e-government strategy 72, 181-182
e-Government Structure 415
e-Government Success/Failure 442
eGovRTD2020 Project 266
Egyptian Information Society Initiative (EISI). 22
e-Learning 594
Electoral Political Participation 574
electronic exclusion (e-Exclusion) 73
Electronic government (e-Government) 4, 40, 217,
239, 247, 263, 290, 308, 329, 353, 412, 441,
456, 475, 524, 559, 574, 591, 606, 625, 643, 680,
700, 717, 733
electronic lawsuit 158, 161, 166
Electronic Voter Register (EVR) 130
Electronic Voting System (EVS) 126-127, 130, 132,
139-140, 392
E-Management 24, 34
Emerging Economies 644
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) 216
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) 216
Enterprise Information Integration (EII) 216
e-Participation 232, 377, 476
e-Procurements, etc. in 90
e-Readiness 485
Error Management 360
E-Service: includes features 24
e-Services 293, 432, 577, 736
e-Skills 432
e-voting 123-124, 130

advantages 123, 124, 127

evolution 127
e-Waste 309
e-Waste Management 310
External Determinants - See Model of Diffusion
Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) 216
F
framework for information systems 90
Framing 686
Full Online Availability (FOA) 704, 715
Future Trends 656
G
General Political Participation 578
Goal 395
Government 2.0 is not a 40
Government Services 355
Government to Business (G2B) 218, 415, 562
Government to Business (G2B) services 11
Government to Citizens (G2C) 218, 415, 562
Government to Employee (G2E) 416
Government to Government (G2G) 11, 218, 415, 562
governorate 27
Green IT 307
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 145-146
H
Hard-Soft Gaps 54
Headed paper: some 99
heart of Web 2.0 40, 70
Human Development Indicators 30
Human Resources Management System (HRMS) was
introduced 11
I
ICT Infrastructure 616
ICT investment

evaluation 147-148, 155
ICTs in Public Administration Perspective 265
Identifier 665
Identity 665
Identity Management 665
Implementation Costs 460
Implementation Decisions 688
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
129
indicators of e-Readiness 39, 196
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
1, 3, 21, 39, 42, 47, 72, 81, 84, 86, 91, 130-131,
141, 150, 157, 159, 170, 198, 214, 244, 307, 312,
316, 319, 329, 343, 352, 375, 390, 392, 412, 441,
450, 452, 456, 475, 495, 559, 606, 617, 700-701,
717, 733, 735, 752
Information and Communication Technology for
Development (ICT4D) 475
Information Economics (IE) 150, 156
Information Perspective 265
Information Society 238, 734
cxxvii
Index
Information Society Development Committee 733

Information System (IS) 17-18, 42, 55, 65, 81, 90, 100,
109, 122, 150, 166, 180, 182, 202, 249, 258, 271,
295, 337, 355, 357, 362-363, 446, 516-517, 550,
613, 618, 650, 744-745
Information Technology (IT) 16-18, 24, 43, 59, 65,
85-86, 89, 118, 122, 130, 140, 149, 156-159, 169,
173-174, 178-179, 182, 184-185, 191-192, 198,
210, 212, 214-215, 234, 238, 241-243, 283-286,
288, 304-305, 312-313, 344, 359, 369-370, 377,
390, 392, 406, 420, 438, 441, 453, 472, 474, 491,
493-495, 516, 519, 537-540, 554-555, 559, 573574, 579, 585-587, 593, 601, 612, 614-615, 619,
623, 636, 648, 660, 676, 691, 694-695, 698-699,
713, 730, 734
initiatives in Tanzania 37, 42, 44, 121
intangible benefits

evaluation 149
Integrating Technologies 357
Integration 216
Interactive Communication 360
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 152
International Digital Divide 723-724
International Public Software (IPS) 457
Internet Voting 125, 138-140, 393, 406, 584
Interoperability 228, 359
Intra-Government - See. Government to Employee
(G2E)
IT Recycling 309
J
Jogja Cyber Province 195
judicial system 178
K
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 300
Kitsong 245
L
Lanka Government Network (LGN) 5
launched the e-Sri Lanka 2
Law Modelling 395
Leadership 361
legacy voting 130
Legal Document 394
Legal infrastructure 122
Legally Defined Procedure 405
Legislative Framework 358
limited ICT infrastructure 73
Local Authorities 293
cxxviii
M
Maitlamo 254
malicious programming 128
m-Government 39, 353, 375
Migration 457
Model of Diffusion 718
Model of Internal Determinants 718
models of e-Government maturity 23
motivation of e-Government 72, 606
N
National Council of Justice (NCJ) 158-159, 164
Net Present Value (NPV) 150, 152, 155
Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2, 146, 416, 422
New Public Governance (NPG) 700
New Public Management 627
Nigeria Investment Promotions Commission (NIPC)
131
Nigerian electoral system 124
Nigerian polity 124
Nomos 395
Notarized by notary 100
Nteletsa II Project 246
O
Official stamp: for some 99
online and mobile payment 39
Online Government - See e-Government.
Ontology 392
Open Ballot System (OBS) 130
Open-Source Software (OSS) 457
Operational Performance 278
or Certification Authorities (CAs) 106
Organizational Change 444
Organizational Culture 443
Organizational Learning 444
Overall Online Sophistication (OOS) 698-699, 704
P
Paper-based e-Voting system 125
Payback Period (PB) 145, 150, 152
Pedagogical Approach 598
Perceived Intensity of Civil Conflict (PICC) 439
PMBOK 542
Politically Inclusive Participation 575
Privacy 358, 667
Private-Public Gaps 54
Project Management 538
Index
Project VIEGO 266

Public Administration 733
Public e-Services 741
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) 97, 104
Public Participation 477
Public Policy 717
Q
qualitative research 182-183
Quantitative data 3
Quicksilver Initiatives 612
R
Real Option Value (ROV) 149
recognition of e-Document 91, 93, 95
Regional Telecommunication Network project (RTN)
5
Relying party 107
Research Methodologies 643
Return on Investment (ROI) 38, 150, 188, 273, 283,
456, 470, 538
Return on Management (ROM) 150
Robotic Government 525
Rural Electrification 246
S
security features 129
Security Levels 669
Sesigo 245
Short Message Service (SMS) 45, 376
Signature 99
six e-Development 4
Social Capital 480
Social Divide 431
Social Inclusion 499
Socially Disadvantaged Public 575
Strategy 607
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) 17, 200, 202,
211
Symmetric Key Cryptography 105
systems for e-Commerce 91
T
tangible benefits

evaluation 150
TCO Model 459
Technological Neutrality 459
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) 683
Time stamping is a process 107
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 458

Total Quality Management (TQM) 631
Traceability 398
Transactional Perspective 265
Transformational Government 558
translates into e-Participation 74
Transparency 330, 682
Trusted Third Parties (TTPs) 106
U
Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology
(UTAUT) 497, 684
United Nations (UN) 8, 22-24, 30, 34, 39, 66, 69, 80,
86, 88, 161, 175, 191, 196, 235, 238-239, 241242, 255-256, 260, 264, 282, 289, 292, 305, 311,
315, 319, 332-333, 343-344, 369, 412, 418, 421,
457, 471, 475, 480-481, 493, 500-501, 519, 540,
555-556, 564, 570, 603, 705, 714, 719-721, 723,
727, 750-751, 755
Universal Access Service Fund (UASF) 245
Usability 503
User Centricity (UC) 704
V
Value Added Tax (VAT) 146, 562, 739
virtual agency 161
Vision 2016 243
VLPM 394
Voice 376
VOIP 11
W
Wasta - See Connections.
Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
- See e-Waste.
Web Portals 499
website space 30
What is e-Signature 101
World Economic Forum (WEF) 416
World Information Services and Technology Alliance
(WITSA) 540
World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 240
Y
Yogyakarta government 194, 197
Z
Zambia 78
cxxix

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Handbook of Research

Published in the United States of America by

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

British Cataloguing in Publication Data

Virgil Stoica, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania

Ana Corojan, Universidad Autnoma de Madrid, Spain

Detailed Table of Contents

Effective implementation of e-Government demands the likelihood of appropriately incorporating all

Bwalya Kelvin Joseph

Information and Communication Technologies

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

between government and citizens by improving

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

To adequately answer these research questions,

The qualitative data for this study is obtained

Table 1. An overview of the quantitative and qualitative data in this study

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of interview participants

of fifteen participants, a majority is in the age

try in Sri Lanka (Hanna, 2007). With the active

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

5. private sector capacity development program

processes with the implementation of various eGovernment applications (ICTA, 2010a). A

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

Figure 1. An overview of e-government development in Sri Lanka

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

ment of affordable information infrastructure is,

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

9. use licensed software or use open source

e-Sri Lanka initiative has a positive impact on

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

Figure 2. Sri Lankas e-government readiness

2007/2008, and to the 72nd in 2008/2009 and

(Dutta & Mia, 2010). The infrastructure element

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

information through websites giving anytime

public sector, which government agency should

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

process system, and (f) the e-Motoring project

available in these centres. Some of these centres

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

can improve organizational efficiency (ICTA &

Table 3. High-level program objectives and achievements

Human resources capacity building

To develop an eleadership capability in government

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

(a) ICT infrastructure related issues pertaining to

capital city is located (TRCSL, 2009). As shown

Figure 4. The provincial distribution of fixed phones in Sri Lanka

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

Figure 5. The growth in mobile phone subscribers

Motoring, e-Land registry, and so forth. Although

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

organizations (ICTA & MGC, 2008d). Only about

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

al., 2011). Conducting such a study can not only

Developments of e-Government in Sri Lanka

Ghapanchi, A., Albadvi, A., & Zarei, B. (2008).

Dada, D. (2006). Failures of e-government in

ICTA. (2010a). Re-engineering the government.

DCS-SL. (2007). Poverty indicators: Household

Deng, H. (2008). Towards objective benchmarking of electronic government: An inter-country

ICTA. (2010e). e-Society. Retrieved December 12,