Stephen G. Smith
IT 304 - Prof. James Kahrl
George Mason University
26 February 2008
| Introduction | Technical Analysis | References |
Introduction
As one of the more developed and stable countries in east Africa Zambia presents a good opportunity for e-government. With some existing ICT infrastructure to work with they can use it to streamline some services and educate citizens about crucial things like the voting process and public health. Surrounded by Tanzania, Botswana, Angola, and the Congo, it has a population of over 11 million. While the official language is English it has nine recognized regional languages and over 40 indigenous dialects. All of the online presence of their government agencies has developed in since 2005, [United Nations] which indicates strong growth and commitment since there are now several major agencies represented.
Current Situation
According to the 2008 UN E-Government Survey Zambia is ranked 158th in the world in terms of readiness for electronic government. [United Nations] This is in the lowest quarter of the range for east African countries, which extends from Mauritius at 63 down to Burundi at 174 and Somalia with no online presence at all. Doing a search in Google for pages located in the [dot]gov[dot]zm domain reveals several agencies with attractively designed web pages. There is a central site titled “Republic of Zambia [State House] – Home”, located at www.statehouse.gov.zm, which contains much basic info about the country and its government including the president, constitution, assembly, law enforcement, etc. The parliament has its own page at www.parliament.gov.zm which has a great deal of documentation available for download, such as the entire body of law and all the constitutions that have been in place since independence. There is also the opportunity to look up contact info for the Member of Parliament for a specific region. At www.zamstats.gov.zm is the page for the Central Statistical Office. Here the visitor can access census information, consumer price index reports, the economic census, national health information, and even the Zambia Sexual Behavior Survey, which provides in depth data related to HIV/AIDS in the country. The other major agency presence I found was the Ministry of Health at www.moh.gov.zm. While not providing any of their major documents as downloads they do offer a PDF listing of all the Hospitals and Health Centers in the country. Besides that they provide general health information and news about what the agency is doing to improve public health in the country. Finally I found a site for the Zambia National Tender Board, www.tenderboard.gov.zm, which seems to be the equivalent to a government contract management agency. Listings of contract opportunities are available along the appropriate documents for submitting a bid. Also something very interesting is a list of entities barred from bidding on contracts. It only has one entry, but it would seem that Quantum Technology Limited committed some transgression in the contracting process. There are also some pages that seem to be official government productions, but reside in the [dot]org[dot]zm domain. Two of these of note are the Zambian Privatization Agency and the Electoral Commission of Zambia. This could imply functions that have been contracted out to the private sector.