icegov2012 proceedings

Here the authors wish to extend the analysis of the ECP project by
gauging against the success factor model proposed by Sandy and
Macmillian [29] to evaluate the internal effects on the government
based on six points:
Cost: Governments need to find cost effective solutions to ensure
funding and look into options for joint operations. In this case,
even buying services from MNO in the long-term or in a bulk
package lasting only during the verification drive, might have
further lessened or eliminated the charge of the service on the
public, perhaps making it more inclusive. Who might pay for the
novelty of receiving an SMS for a service viewed as too
expensive? After all e-government services tend to have an elastic
demand [24] and do not stand the test of the cost distribution well.
Similarly, attracting and keeping staff with “requisite agility” will
make for a self-conscious government that can adequately handle
and deal with citizen demand [5].
Business Reengineering: A central authority and political support
in the form of a coordinated and bench-marked national egovernment
plan with specific m-government services recognized
with clearly defined deliverables would ensure a better and
cohesive strategy. This would mean that dependency on legacy
systems be reduced and government should try to keep or
maintain central databases or platforms that can be used to test,
pilot-run and launch e-government or m-government initiatives,
which will prove to be launching pads and resource centres for all
departments and sectors.
Education: Better access and training programs to ensure adoption
of m-government initiatives so as to have stronger back office
work. Identifying and maintaining open source international
standards that would make it easier for both employees and public
to remain at the top of the infrastructural game and the everchanging
technology blitz.
Acceptance: There should be ownership of the projects to ensure
that the increased participation of the public is handled well or it
would have a reverse effect on inclusive nature of m-government.
Here, the popularity of the e-Sahulat programme over the Kiosk
system may explain the local populace’s preference for human
interaction rather than machine-human interfaces [3]. For this
purpose, incorporating government officials in the design and
feedback of such initiatives will create interest. Supporting
employees with technically sound and well-fitted offices with
clearly defined job descriptions will ensure accountability.
Security: Data loss in terms of device theft can be limited by
ensuring that mobile phone SIMs are registered against CNICs.
Similarly providing access to an online temporary identification
should also be accepted in case of ID theft. Data protocols on
office machinery should be defined and stripped down for work
purposes only and IT administrators should have strict policies
against external data storage devices in workplaces. These
policies currently prevail in NADRA offices.
Access: Providing key infrastructure to all actors, both within and
without the government. Presence of content in local language,
regular and audited updating of CMS system and providing
similar opportunities for people with physical disability and
special needs will ensure equal access for all.
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5.1 Litmus Test- Requisite Agility of the
CERS II and SMS application
Coming to the last factor- has the governance module succeeded
with this initiative? Coupling this system with the aforementioned
electoral bill, the CNIC numbers have essentially become unique
identifying factors in elections. The ECP’s initiative has the
potential to promote transparency and would help in removal of
defunct or fraudulent votes from the vote bank - hence the
strengthening of related factors of openness, accountability and
participation. Here, one recent incident that was reported during
the verification procedure serves as a litmus test of this initiative’s
working. After the display of electoral rolls, a member of national
and another of provincial assembly observed abnormal increase in
the electorate records of their respective constituencies and
reported it to the ECP. The ECP gave NADRA and its provincial
election commission office a forty-eight hour deadline to explain
the cause behind this anomaly. Not only was the mistake traced
and rectified, but NADRA investigated that five people had tried
to manually fill thousands of vote-transfer forms and migrated
voters in these districts. As they had submitted these forms with
some identification, NADRA used the biometric assets of the
CNIC and traced the culprits. Similar patterns were also traced out
in two other constituencies and rectified [9] [26].
6. CONCLUSION
Encouraging as the result of this debilitation may be, it is
however, difficult to say as to what extent governance will be
fostered by this initiative in the long run despite its wide usage
and demonstrated benefits. But the ECP-NADRA app surely is a
unique experiment in strengthening the democratic culture in
Pakistan. Apart from NADRA’s kiosk machine project and an
eSahulat programme, the ECP SMS app can be considered as
another contribution in the category of alternative channel of
electronic public service delivery which excludes the web portal
as a main communication medium. This app has tried to exploit
the most frequently used gadget, i.e., a mobile phone which does
not even have to be a smart phone to use this app. For a young
democracy like Pakistan the ECP-NADRA collaboration seems to
have contributed to a larger extent in assuring the effective
participation and/or voting equality in Dahl’s sense of effective
democracy. The way multiple governmental agency have
collaborated in the preparation of electoral rolls, the ECP and
NADRA have set up a decent example for other developing
countries how vertical boundaries can be overcome in such inter
agency collaborations. M-government presents a substantive case
in enfranchising the participatory nature and equal rights to
information sharing for all citizens. Once this information divide
is plugged, participation may seep into the public policy
formulation sphere. However, the external implication of mgovernment
on public is not the only factor in their success.
The internal implications that m-government will have in making
the government effective and efficient in its function is also
important. There is diverse literature from organisational
behaviour studies that shows that lack of ownership for projects
from within governments can kill the most promising innovations.
The public and governments are generally seen as complacent in
their business models and more so when accountability and
checks and balances are absent or hindered by fledging,
discontinuous democracies. This is also the political case of
Pakistan, where change in governments leads to entire and sudden
shifts in policy which means squandering the already deficit