E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
23
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
organization to move from its current state to adoption. E-Government services are
its desired medium or long term future state. believed to bring positive changes with
E-services refer to specific services offered businesses and public. As such, e-
by government online. It includes business Government services help to improve the
related services such as license applications competitiveness of business environment to
and interactive consulting. It further includes create intelligent customers, helping
public-oriented services such as application businesses save time, enabling a good tool in
for residency permits, weather and traffic dealing with corruption.
information, and free e-mail services. A The purpose of this paper is to present
number of contacts between the local how e-participation is significant to increase
government and people will take place when quality government services in developing
specific services are needed. For example, countries such as Nepal and need of ethical
passport, birth certificates, and entry into issues on good governance. Majority of the
official databases. The major benefits of e- developing countries do not have the basic
Government include efficiency, improved infrastructure and technologies for going
services, better accessibility of public online and in the absence of Internet
services, and more transparency. infrastructure. Individuals do not have a
E-Government provides a number of choice connecting to the web [27]. A country
challenges for public administrators. needs to make sure of availability of
Governments are going online and using the infrastructures and knowledge for going
internet to deliver public services to its online. The basic infrastructures include
citizens which is called e-participation. computers, telephone lines, mobile phones,
Electronic government is thus a broadband connections and so on. The higher
government‟s use of technology, particularly level of access of these resources in a
web-based internet applications to enhance country will create a supporting environment
the access to and delivery of government for going online. A public access to the
information and service to its people, available facilities and knowledge need to be
business partners, employees, agencies and ensured. E-Government as a vehicle of
government entities [6]. It has the potential modern paradigms of administration and
to establish better relationships between politics that can be integrated meaningfully
government and the public by making into existing measures aimed at promoting
interaction smoother, easier and more public-sector reform, democracy, and
efficient. E-Government can be used as a economic development [18]. According to
tool to provide faster and better Gauld et al. (2010) [17], governments around
communication, increase competition, the world are motivated to promote public
minimize unrestricted power by efficient interaction because of the accessibility and
services, and allowing citizen to conduct affordability of ICTs. Many governments in
transactions among themselves. The the world are developing more complicated
governments all over the world are moving ways to promote active e-participation in
toward providing public services through governmental activities, offering them more
electronic means. effective access to e-Government services.
Developed countries take advantage from With this change and the rapid growth of
e-Government services, but there is still ICT, the paradigm has shifted from
much space for improvement [33]. A number traditional government to electronic
of challenges involved in the adoption of e- government.
Government services including Nepal still
exist, which leads to the low levels of the
adoption of e-Government services. Some
researchers [6] have proposed the necessity
for more study in the area of e-Government
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
24
Gajendra Sharma
25
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
26
Gajendra Sharma
27
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
28
Gajendra Sharma
factor that provides the vision and drives the Nepal has difficult terrain, lack of
nation. Thus it is essential to increase the infrastructure and electricity. These issues
awareness among the leaders about the should be cleared focused” (Interviewee 5).
importance of e-governance. Leaders should “…the people living far from the cities have
be committed and furnish high priority to e- lack of IT awareness. Majority of them are
governance system. Appropriate people illiterate. Top leadership enjoys
should be appointed at the right place which consolidating their power and enlarging
will develop the commitment to the their direct control. Some political leaders
implementation of e-governance. visit rural areas during election campaign.
“High security is needed in e-government Some of them do not have well knowledge on
service delivery. Some government e-government concepts” (Interviewee 6).
departments do not cooperate on this. They People must be aware about the e-
have lack of qualified IT experts and people governance system, its benefits and
have lack of awareness on e-government mechanism of its operation. People of
services. We know that our country has different fields are involved to participate in
deficit of energy so high rate of load e-governance system, thus frequent public
shedding” (Interviewee 3). awareness programs has to be organized.
“Government should implement IT policy Nepal has low literacy rate and technological
and e-government ethics strictly. Now the culture; frequent training programs will be
second phase of constituent assembly much effective in a short period of time.
election is approaching, government should Likewise, regular awareness programs will
encourage people to actively participate in assist to convince people and ensure the
its activities. The e-voting system should be privacy and reliability of the system. Each
expanded and improved” (Interviewee 4). Ministry should develop IT department to
Nepal has lack of good electricity supply, monitor and track the progress of the
telecommunication and internet access e-governance projects.
throughout the country. Hence, long term “…it is a great reform, e-government
investment should be made on building ICT enhances the capability of government
infrastructure. Though, Nepal is a country of departments. With more autonomous policy,
difficult landscape, the more focus has to be we can set down and carry out e-governance
given to develop wireless networks in the plan smoothly, as well as implementation of
country. The government integrated data upper level policy. As you know that the
center has to be implemented immediately to newly established government department,
its optimum level. Internet penetration High Level Commission of Information
should be improved. The quality and Technology is more responsible for adopting
capacity of ICT connectivity needs to be e- governance services” (Interviewee 7).
improved. Government should take Majority of the e-governance projects in
immediate steps to the direction of least developing countries fail to continue for
developing local area networks in all a long period of time. The influencing
government offices and then inter-connected components are financial factor,
with other offices through wide area technological factor, political factor and
networks social and environmental factor. So it is
“When we publicize government policy, crucial to develop long term e-government
the second level departments won’t respond projects. Government funding after stopping
as quickly as before, or sometimes there is the external funds, consistent evaluation and
no response; and we lack means to handle monitoring of e-governance projects,
this situation because it’s hard to control involvement of all stakeholders, public
them. Coordination is required between the leadership commitment are the key processes
government agencies. Government has to to develop sustainable e-governance models.
expand its e-services to rural areas also.
29
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
“…it seems really challenging to adopt ICT working, and public recognition and support.
policies, cyber law and e-government ethics. In this case, the top leadership serves as both
How can we think that people living in decision-makers and designers. E-
Himalayan region knows about computer government projects fail in some Asian and
and IT?The government is city focused, let’s other developing counties. Although e-
say people of Jumla and Dolpa do not know government in Nepal lags far behind
about computers. As you know that the road developed countries, this should be
transportation has recently reached there, considered more as a lack of capacity of the
but people have high illiteracy rate.” nation.
(Interviewee 8). South Asian countries including Nepal are
“Although local ICTs infrastructure and e- similar in a variety of ways, such as geography,
government develop rapidly, the application IT infrastructure, literacy rate, and e-Government
is insufficient. A number of civil servants still services development and adoption. According to
prefer working in the real world than Almakki (2009), [2] Asian countries have
challenges, such as the lack of good IT
utilising e-government facilities. They
infrastructure as well as cultural issues. E-
usually use computers for word processing Government is in infancy in the developing
and exchange internal information online, nations, where countries share common
but so far they continue to print paper files. challenges in the implementation of e-
Less than a half of departments have timely Government services. The goals of the e-
online interactions with customers and more Government of Nepal are to increase efficiency,
than one third of government websites have effectiveness, transparency, and accountability in
no regular updates (Interviewee 9). enhancing delivery of public services as well e-
Nepal e-government allowed for participation to its people. ICT infrastructure and
considerable progress in improving networks are the backbone to implement e-
government capabilities, providing better Governance. Nepal Telecom Company (NTC),
the state-owned telecom operator, has been the
public service, introducing democracy, and major builder and operator of the national
leading wide-ranging social development. telecom network. NTC along with other private
People actively dealt with structures with the companies provide telecommunication services
aid of ICTs and facilitated a series of social in the country. They provide the services of land
changes to sustain the new institutional line phone, GSM mobile, C-phone, sky phone,
properties brought by e-government. These sky data, internet, V-SAT and ADSL. As
are the successful factors of Nepal case. compared to other sectors, the
“Middle-level officials show different views telecommunication facilities have been enhanced
and attitudes towards e-government. Few of considerably in recent years. The growth of
them either fully support or fully resist the e- telecom facilities in Nepal is satisfactory but still
government project. They generally agree to the rate of use of internet is low. In the meantime,
more than 35 internet service providers are
apply ICT to improve the efficiency of daily providing services and total international internet
schedule and support the view of providing bandwidth used is in the ratio of 1: 2.25 with 58
better public service through innovation Mbps and 122 Mbps for uplink and downlink.
(Interviewee 10)” In five years, all the government agencies
Nepal government perceives the potential in Nepal would be interconnected via
of ICT as a driving force for economic network and Nepal will provide public-
growth, so that when e-government came centric and transparent services for its people
into existence, such as public administrative [16]. It will establish the knowledge-based
reform and industry restructuring were society through this. At the end, Nepal will
conducted through this ICT application. E- maximize the use of ICT to create values for
government is being maintained through individuals, organizations and all other parts
human actions, including top leadership‟s of society, and create synergy effect through
commitment, middle-level official‟s networking. According to the latest E-
coordination, operational staff‟s learning and Government survey by the United Nations
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
30
Gajendra Sharma
(UN), progress in online service delivery public sector efficiencies and streamline
continues in most countries around the governance systems to support sustainable
world. development. Among the e-Government
The UN E-Government survey 2012 leaders, innovative technology solutions
found that many countries have put in place have gained special recognition as the means
e-Government initiatives and ICT to revitalize lagging economic and social
applications for the people to further enhance sectors[32]
Country World e-Government E-
ranking Government
2012
2008 2010 2012
Maldives 95 92 95 0.4994
Sri Lanka 101 111 115 0.4357
India 113 119 124 0.3829
Pakistan 131 146 156 0.2823
Bhutan 134 152 152 0.2942
Bangladesh 142 134 150 0.2991
Nepal 150 153 164 0,2664
Afghanistan 167 168 184 0.1701
Table 1 shows the e-Government ranking further develop public sector efficiencies and
among South Asian nations. Nepal holds reorganize governance systems to maintain
164th position in 2012 in world e- sustainable development. Among the e-
Government ranking. As compared with Government leaders, modern technology
least developing countries for e-Government solutions have gained special recognition as
adoption, Nepal has been in satisfactory the means to invigorate lagging economic
position. There may be a number of reasons and social sectors. The overall conclusion
and issues on e-Governance development. that emerges from the 2012 Survey is that
Korea government and Asian while it is significant to continue with
Development Bank are helping to Nepal for service delivery, governments must
the development and implementation of e- increasingly begin to reconsider in terms of
Government system. E-Government master e-Government and e-Governance. An
plan was already prepared but yet to be important feature of this approach is to
implemented. Development in online service broaden the scope of e-Government for a
delivery continues in most countries around transformative role of the government
the world. The United Nations E- towards consistent, coordinated, and
Government Survey 2012 finds that many integrated processes and institutions through
counties have put in place e-Government which such sustainable development takes
initiatives ICT applications for the people to place.
31
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
Internet Total
SAARC user in % computer Computer Total
countries population user user % mobile
Afghanistan 1.76 110743.3 0.39 7898900
Bangladesh 0.36 3511145 2.25 50400000
Bhutan 0.72 17347.64 2.51 251000
India 7.00 36789349 3.18 601223402
Maldives 18.09 80218 20.24 435600
Nepal 1.75 137104.2 0.48 4200000
Pakistan 1.06 768145.7 0.44 97579940
Srilanka 5.46 801812.1 3.76 11082500
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
32
Gajendra Sharma
technologies, and infrastructures and skilled [7] Chung, I. “Roles and impacts of it on
IT human resources. This inconsistency may new social norms, ethical values and
come from the differences between measures legal frameworks in shaping a future
of success, satisfaction and the
digital society”. NSF/OECD workshop
e-Government performances and the
e-Government readiness index. Developing Washington, January 31, 2007, Social
countries like Nepal needs to develop an and Economic Factors Shaping the
ecosystem for the growth of IT sector, Future of the Internet.
effective implementation of polices [8] Deakins. E., Dillon, S. “E-Government
provisions and strategies. in New Zealand: The local authority
perspective”. International Journal of
REFERENCES
Public Sector Management, Vol. 15,
(Arranged in the order of citation in the
same fashion as the case of Footnotes.) No. 5, pp. 375-398.
[9] Dhami, D.B and Futo, I.
[1] Al Awadhi, S., and Morris A. “The use “Implementation Challenges of
of the UTAUT Model in adoption of e- E-governance in Nepal and Possible
Government services in Kuwait”. Steps towards Solutions”. Proceedings
Proceedings of the 41th Hawaii of the 8th International Conference on
International Conference on System
Applied Informatics, Eger, Hungary,
Science.
[2] Almakki, R. “Communities of Practice January 27–30, Vol. 1, pp. 433–445.
and Knowledge Sharing in [10] Ebrahim, Z.A. “The Adoption of
E-Government Initiatives”. The E-Government in the Kingdom of
University of Manchester. Bahrain”. School of Information
[3] Bélanger, F., Hiller, J. and Smith, W. Systems. Computing and Mathematics:
“Trustworthiness in electronic Brunel University.
commerce: the role of privacy, security, [11] Fang, Z. “E-Government in digital era:
and site attributes”. Journal of Strategic Concept, practice, and development”.
Information Systems, Vol. 11, No. 3, International. Journal of the Computer,
pp. 245–270. the Internet and Management, Vol. 10,
[4] Bélanger, F., and Hiller, J. “A No. 2, pp. 1-22.
framework for e-government: Privacy [12] Fink. D., and Jaruwachirathanakul, B.
implications”. Business Process “Internet banking adoption strategies
Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, for a developing country: The case of
pp. 48-60. Thailand”. Internet Research:
[5] Carter, L. and Bélanger, F. “The Electronic Networking Applications
utilization of e-government services: and Policy, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 295-311.
citizen trust, innovation and acceptance [13] Fu, J., Farn, C. and Chao, W.
factors”. Information Systems Journal, “Acceptance of electronic tax filing: A
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 5-25. study of taxpayer intentions”.
[6] Carter, L., and Weetakkody V. “E- Information and Management, Vol. 43,
Government adoption: A culture No. 1, pp. 109-126.
comparison”. Information Systems
Frontiers, Vol. 10, No. b4, pp. 473-482.
33
E-Government, E-Participation and Challenging Issues: A Case Study
International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.22 No.1 (January-April, 2014) pp 23-35
34
Gajendra Sharma
[29] Sachdeva, S. “Twenty five steps [32] United Nations (UN). “United Nations
towards successful e-governance”. E-Government Survey”. New York:
from <http://www.indiaegov.org/ U.N. Publications.
knowledgeexchg/25stepstoegovsuccess [33] UN. “United Nations E-Government
.pdf.>. Accessed October 10, 2012 Survey”.Refrievedon <http://upan1.
[30] Sharma, G., Bao, X. and Qiang, W. un.org/intradoc/groups/public/docume
“E-government: public participation nts/UN-DPADM/UNPAN
and ethical issues”. Journal of E- 038853.pdf.> Accessed January 1,
Governance, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 195- 2011
204. [34] United Nations. “E-Government for
[31] Silverstone, R. “Media and Morality: the People, E-government survey”.
On the Rrise of the Mediapolis”. <http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/
Cambridge, MA: Polity Press. public/documents/un/unpan048065.
pdf.>. Accessed September 21, 2012
35