ICTs Government
E-Government has been defined by the UN as aPermanent commitment by government to improve the relationship between the prvate citizen and the public sector through enhanced, cost-effective and efficient delivery of services, information and knowledge a and generally it is the use of ICT to improve the quality of service from public authorities to the citizen. Citizens can be offered service or information in minutes or hours, versus todays common standard of days or weeks.
To achieve this, major initiatives have been launched in the US (Presidents Management Agenda for E-Government, 2002) and by the EU (the Lisbon decision with follow up, e.g., the European eGovernment Conference July 2003). Smaller countries as the Nordic countries and Singapore have, however, achieved more in this area. Singapore started its initiatives in 1981 with a National Computer Board and National Computerization Plan. The IT 2000 Blueprint for Intelligence Island from 1997 was, however, the strategy that moved Singapore into a top-position in the e-world. It had the objectives to create an electronic network linking all libraries in that country; secure infrastructure for e-commerce: expert system for checking all building plans in the country and above all to establish Singapore ONE, one network for everyone in Singapore. The efforts have continued with Connected Singapore from 2003 with the aim of the total realization of all e-government possibilities through the Infocomm project of the country. The basic philosophy of the government is Whatever services that can be delivered electronically must be delivered electronically.
Many developing countries are finding it difficult to follow this route and divert scarce resources towards ICT applications. It is this disparity between opportunity and feasibility that could lead to a deepening of the digital divide. But others have formulated ICT policy programs as, e.g., Ghana with its ICT Policy and Plan Development for Ghana. This includes the WIRING GHANA PROJECT under which the government intends to develop and build appropriate infrastructure to reach all the district capitals in the country. This program is anticipated to improve efficiency of government, increase transparency in governance and financial management, boost local economy and above all bring government to the doorstep of the citizenry.

From: ICTs Internasional N edited by Khidi.