Tanzania plans to adopt AI in e-govt platforms

Arusha. Tanzania is considering the adoption of artificial intelligence in its e-government platforms as the country strives to upgrade the national digital data pool and related e-services.

The minister of State in the President’s Office [Public Service Management and Good Governance], Mr George Simbachawene, revealed here this week that the same case applies to the recently launched Tanzania Enterprise Service Bus (GovESB).

“Physical delivery of services in public institutions and government agencies continues to be a challenge due to the prevalent lackadaisical attitude among many workers. This often results in delays and substandard execution of tasks,” pointed out the minister.

Simbachawene was addressing participants attending the three-day 4th e-Government Annual General Meeting taking place at the Arusha International Conference Centre.

On the other hand, he insisted that all government institutions and public service entities must be linked to the e-government system, which is the only way to curb corruption and address delays in transactions.

“We also want to totally eradicate queues and delays as people scramble to be served at public institutions and organisations, something that has been raising many complaints from people across the country,” stated Chimbachawene.

Some participants attending the meeting called for seamless linkage of data and individual profiles between government agencies such as the Police, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the Immigration Department and the National Identity Agencies to create a single national pool of information to ease access and speed up service provision.

On his part, the director general of the e-government agency, Benedict Ndomba, explained that the fourth eGA General Meeting targets to address challenges arising from related digital services in the country, especially where technology development and data upgrading are concerned, as well as boost system performance.

“We also want to ensure that safety takes priority in the country’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector, especially where privacy is concerned,” stated Ndomba.

He pointed out that the government is currently investing billions of shillings in the development of Information Technology, e-government, and the new Tanzania Enterprise Service Bus.

The director added that Tanzania is currently also creating a single window through which all information and data involving government agencies and public institutions can be accessed easily.