E-Government Development in Uganda

The beginning of 2000s in Uganda was marked by the ICT importance trend in the development of governance and economy. Two successive Uganda national IT policies (Uganda National ICT Policy Framework, 2003, and the National Information Technology Policy, 2009) stressed a pivotal role of information and IT in socio-economic development of the country, including an increase in efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.

The e-Government implementation posed a number of challenges, connected with unstable power supply (if any in some rural communities) and poor internet penetration, lack of skilled IT personnel and illiteracy of citizens in general, insufficient equipment, limited usage of the internet in offices and mainly static web-sites of government ministries, and other problems. The project initiated creating regulatory and institutional frameworks, ICT infrastructure which have been constantly modernised for the following decade.

As far as strengthening the institutional structure is concerned, The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and National Guidance was established in 2006 to enhance the ICT use and promote digital services in the country. In 2009, there was created The National Information Technology Authority – Uganda (NITA-U) whose mission is outlined as developing a technical and regulatory environment for reliable and secure e-services delivery throughout the country under the supervision of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. 

In terms of legal and regulatory framework, a number of acts were passed (among them are the cyber laws, including The Computer Misuse Act, 2011, The Electronics Signatures Act, 2011, The Electronics Transactions Act, 2011, Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019, Data Protection and Privacy Regulations 2021, NITA-U (E-Government Regulations), 2015 - SI No. 27 of 2015) as well as some basic policies and strategies were elaborated. The National Electronic Government Policy Framework, 2011 declared the main goals of e-Government deployment as making service delivery more accessible to citizens and business, improving internal efficiency of agencies due to their interaction in the process of providing services, and facilitating community participation in e-Government policy implementation. 

The programme announced the introduction of computerisation projects in a number of  government institutions, which resulted in digitisation of their registers and services according to Digital Government Strategy (Draft), 2022. The latter is being designed and aligned with other policy documents, underlying  governance frameworks for national development (Uganda e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF), 2021, The Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) 2020/21 – 2024/25, National Planning Authority, 2020, The e-Government Master Plan (2012 - 2016) and others). The main goal is defined as transforming Uganda into a digitally enabled society that is innovative, productive and competitive, which requires developing three domains, namely digital government, connectivity, trust and security. 

Alongside with the thoroughly elaborated policies and strategies, e-service delivery is still facing the challenges of poor infrastructure, high costs of the internet, low investment, and low citizens’ awareness of e-government advantages. Moreover, there are no catalogues of registries and data services even in the form of a list as it exists for public services. The duplicated functions of different ICT systems and difficulties in data sharing between these heterogeneous systems and low development of shared information systems, paper documents management are also mentioned as weaknesses of the present-day e-Government practice. One of the new aspirations proclaimed by the e-GIF is interoperability, aiming at cooperation, exchanging information for legal and political purposes, sharing and using it for the efficient delivery of public services and the reduction of administrative burden for citizens and businesses. 

From the start the e-Government project has been aligned with East African Community programmes, it has been monitored by the UN and supported by the funding of the UN Development Programme, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank. The Government of Uganda encourages cooperation and experience sharing with other countries using more advanced e-government practices. 

Rankings

Despite the achievements of the Government of Uganda in e-Government practices implementation, the country is still to make a long journey to efficient e-services delivery, which is made obvious by the results of The UN E-Government Survey 2022. The rank of Uganda is 144 (7 points lower than in 2020) with an EGDI of 0.44.

Integration System

In 2021, NITA-U launched a Data Integration Platform (UGHub) – eCitizen portal as a one-stop shop platform for a significant number of government services. The development of the platform was financed by the World Bank under the Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme. 

The platform is structured to facilitate access to all 86 e-services by means of an online search, by subject, by topic, or through a link to a ministry, department, or agency. Besides, the portal offers other options for a search, namely Services to Citizens, Business, and Non-Residents. The design of web-pages on the platform is more or less unified, with either the name of a government institution or the list of services, or both, and the logo of the institution. Some services on the platform are accessed through signing up, with a unique registration form and procedure for each public body, delivering a service. 

Signing-up is required on the platform for users to access the services.

Source: eCitizen portal

Open data is searched through a link to a required institution website, sometimes without redirecting, or with contents being outdated, or claimed unavailable. The portal allows users to report wrongdoing (terrorism, money laundering, corruption), suspected adverse drug reactions (https://primaryreporting.who-umc.org/UG), to get monetary and financial information on the website of the Bank of Uganda, trade data on the Trade information portal, register for taxes on the Revenue Authority website and others. 

E-Immigration System

Visas/permits and citizenship can be applied for through the Electronic Visa/Permit Application System on the immigration portal of The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control. The website of the DCIC provides the list of services and the detailed information on the steps taken to apply for visas and permits as well as links to electronic forms to get e-services.

Citizens can apply for passports through the passport portal, schedule an appointment, and check the application status.                                                                                                                               

E-Licencing

With e-Licensing business entities and individuals can obtain information about licenсes, permits, and fees, required to start up a business, and apply for them online.  The Uganda Business information licensing portal, which can also be accessed through the eCitizen portal, is an online database of business licenсes issued by government agencies and local authorities for individuals, business entities, and investors striving to learn about a particular licenсe, or a certificate.  On the platform the data on 521 licenses and permits are available, including the name, the issuing authority, the downloadable content, fees, laws, duration, etc.

Source: Business information licensing portal

Other procedures of licensing via the e-licensing portal (applying and paying for licensing, viewing the application status, uploading required documents, and getting notifications) are to be developed. Moreover, the portal provides links to online applications. They duplicate the ones provided on the e-Citizen platform (among them are applying for a passport, an electronic visa/permit, applying for crops and fisheries certification on the website of The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, getting the identification numbers for payment registration on the online platforms  and others), but their shortened list makes the information graspable and easily accessible.

The Ministry of Agriculture website is not only an informational resource, containing the certification guidelines, but also a transactional one, redirecting the user to the portals for online application and certification for crops and fisheries.

Source: The Ministry of Agriculture

Business Support System

Besides e-licensing, a number of portals were designed to facilitate starting up and operating business. On the platform of The Uganda Registration Services Bureau a company can be registered, the procedure beginning from  name reservation to generating payments, applying for registration  and uploading all required documents. 

Source: The Uganda Registration Services Bureau

The Uganda Trade Portal is claimed to be a one-stop shop for trade information, providing step-by-step guides for import, export, and transit of a commodity (steps taken, institutions involved, results, documents, costs, etc.)  

Source: The Uganda Trade Portal

The electronic One Stop Centre, which was established by The Uganda Investment Authority, is the web portal providing e-services (e.g. applying for investment licenses), the links to e-services on other portals (e.g. reserving a business name, registering a company, applying for a work permit, tax registration, etc.), business ideas and information on investment opportunities. The transactions via the portal require signing up.

Source: The electronic One Stop Centre

E-Taxes

The Integrated Tax Administration System (e-Tax) was introduced by the Uganda Revenue Authority to provide online services to taxpayers, including tax registration (TIN registration) and payments.

Source: The Integrated Tax Administration System

Payments can also be generated on the online payment platforms of KCCA and the Ministry of Local Government, which provide access to online transactions, reference materials on local services, electronic application submission and tracking of application.

The online payment system is designed for paying taxes, fees, rents (national and local ones) as a series of procedures, including payment registration (getting a payment reference number which is necessary for making a payment in a bank or using mobile payment), online payment, and checking the payment status. 

Public Procurement

In 2021, The Electronic Government Procurement System was launched by The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) as  a pilot project in 12 selected entities. In 2022, 26 ministries, agencies, and departments of the government, two local governments signed up for the system, about 6308 local companies registered on the platform. The current procurement systems (e.g. GPP, IFMS, ROP) are semi-automated, largely paper based, and they handle a few components of the procurement process. The e-GP is being developed to improve the current systems and integrate with them while making all the procurement processes electronic.

Source: The Electronic Government Procurement System

Data Management

At the Mobile World Congress with Huawei Technologies in Spain on 27th Feb to 2nd March 2023 the Minister of ICT and National Guidance Dr. Chris Baryomuns pointed to the importance of implementing e-Government and creating a national cloud platform and data centres for storing data. The Government of Uganda has a Tier III (Level 3) Data Center which was opened in 2019. It relies on various cloud solutions (IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, Disaster Recovery AS A Service and BAAS) and serves 132 Government and Local public institutions. The National Data Centre allows to enhance security of the information and makes government services more available and efficient.

E-Government services are possible due to creating and developing the requisite platforms that secure Government communication and information sharing (e.g. Unified Messaging and Communications System), services delivery to citizens (e.g. Ughub), online payments (e.g. e-Pay).

Author:

Maria Saulina