Interview with Dr. Edmond A. Mansoor

Minister of State Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology, Office of the Prime Minister, Antigua and Barbuda

By José Luis Tesoro

1.- How do you perceive the progress of e-Government benefits in Antigua and Barbuda in relation to the state of the art in the region and in the world? In which sectors do you see more improvements and slowdowns?

Antigua and Barbuda has fully accepted that technology is a tool for, not just a reward of, growth and development. In building a people-centred ICT Society, the Government of Antigua has leveraged on new technologies to make it easier for citizens to conduct their affairs with Government and to simply retrieve important information they need.

The Government has made major progress in assuring the citizenry of the key benefits of e-Government for citizens including convenience, improved quality of customer service and access to more and higher quality information.

A fully automated platform that allows the electronic processing of customs declarations as well as an electronic immigration management control system have helped position Antigua and Barbuda as an ICT leader in the Caribbean region.

The Government has begun to develop other electronic platforms that will lower the cost of doing business with Government as well as providing a greater amount of information to businesses and providing it in a more organized and accessible manner.

More improvements are planned that will leverage on technology across many areas to avoid the high cost of maintaining multiple redundant and independently hosted e-Government solutions. In addition, e-Government platforms are already helping Antiguans and Barbudans to focus on mission critical activities and allowing routine inquiries to be handled electronically.

2.- Do you consider that the potential of e-Government is successfully used by the different sectors and governmental organisations in Antigua and Barbuda? What are the factors that inhibit the use of e-Government?

The true potential of e-Government has to be considered in its ability to deliver services within Government, to the private sector and wider community. Success can be measured in Antigua and Barbuda in the following areas:

a. Strengthening the relationship between the Government and the people through greater opportunities for participation

b. Increasing collaboration between Government organisations

c. Providing the Government with an opportunity to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its services to the citizenry while, at the same time, reducing the cost of delivery.

The Government has, in collaboration with the Organisation of American States (OAS), digitized the cadastral and is currently implementing a platform that supports the payment of taxes on-line. The provision of integrated electronic services is already a successful sequel to different Government organizations being able to communicate more effectively with each other.

The current rate limiting factors are related to the provisioning of high-speed point to point intranet connectivity. Redundancy and suboptimal security provisioning are also recognised as challenges.

3.- What are the main Government strategies to increase the use of e-Government potential by governmental organisations in Antigua and Barbuda?

The main components of the pan-national e-Government strategy are:

a. Broadband connectivity (wireless and/or wired) to all Government offices and agencies, including all public health and education facilities

b. Mass training of critical areas of the public service up to the equivalent of intermediate level IT skills coupled with focussed, highly specialised, mission specific IT training

c. Collaborating with the Organisation of American States, the World Bank and CARICOM support agencies in the deployment of specific software platforms in education, health, mass communication, public administration, agriculture and tourism Government services

d. Strengthening the e-Government Unit within the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology to include a highly competitive implementation arm

e. Leverage on the hugely successful network infrastructure that supports the award-winning CONECT ANTIGUA BARBUDA INITIATIVE to equip public servants with IT skill sets that are vital to their jobs

f. Adopting best practice models in e-Government.

4.- Do you consider that the e-Government benefits available in Antigua and Barbuda are being successfully used by citizens? What are the factors that may inhibit the use of the e-Government potential by citizens? How would you describe the impact of the arrival of e-Government to the more disadvantaged social sectors?

In an Antigua and Barbuda context, the benefits that are currently successfully utilised by the citizenry are:

a. More convenience

b. Better customer service

c. More information access

d. Lower costs.

The main factor that inhibits the use of e-Government by citizens is the cost of access to computerized technology, particularly computers.

The Government has opened seventeen (17) Community Computer Access Centres, all of which are provisioned with high speed computers and broadband access. Five Toyota Coaster buses have been out-fitted as mobile classrooms, each with seventeen (17) high-speed, touch-screen computers with wireless high-speed Internet. These Centres as well as the mobile classrooms are reliable conduits for accessing e-Government services.

5.- What are the main Government strategies to increase the use of the e-Government potential by citizens and by the more disadvantaged social sectors?

Part of this was already captured in response to question 3 above.
Under the Connect Antigua and Barbuda Initiative, targeted programs have been developed that ensure disadvantaged social groups and sectors are not left behind in the robust Digital Agenda developed in Antigua. These programs provide:

a. Access to computer hardware and specialised software, where applicable

b. Access to broadband Internet

c. Specialised training in mission critical software.

The targeting of these groups and agencies has been a major focus of the Connect Antigua and Barbuda Initiative. Special attention has been paid to the physically, visually and otherwise challenged as well as non-Governmental organisations, community and faith-based organisations.

6.- In your opinion, what are the arguments or strategies to be used in order to convince a political leader about the importance of e-Government?

The current and projected benefits of e-Government are phenomenal. Up front investments are very challenging and inhibitory for developing countries. The top arguments must include:

a. Marked increase in efficiency, horizontally, vertically and obliquely; the benefits may begin small but grow larger over time

b. There is a strong potential for certain key programs to contribute independently to the total increase in efficiency (increase in “whole of Government” efficiency gains)

c. Marked increase in revenue collection, far out-stripping the costs of deployment

d. Increased esteem as e-Government improves the image of the Government in the eyes of the citizens

The deployment of e-Government initiatives as part of the e-Commerce continuum is an unforgiving imperative for any society that is developing an information-enabled, globally-connected, knowledge-based society.

Dr. Edmond A. Mansoor

Minister of State Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology, Office of the Prime Minister, Antigua and Barbuda:

Dr. Mansoor, who is also a renown physician, is a past President of the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda.
He is the pioneer of the award winning CONNECT ANTIGUA and BARBUDA INITIATIVE, a multi-faceted community centric technology program.