E-Government: The Case of the Gambia

Abstract

Many countries worldwide have been reforming their governments and public service delivery. They use information and communications technologies (ICT) as a key way to boost public sector accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness. It streamlines activities, reduces costs and paperwork for government, citizens and users of government services and it makes a much wider range of information available and up-to-date.

A baseline study undertaken in The Gambia to prepare for an e-government policy (see below) revealed further challenges which many African States face. If computer networks are available, they are often are not connected between government institutions and so they are not used for sharing data and information. Although Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide Internet services, they are hardly used by government to provide public services, mainly because of lack of awareness and expertise.