The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

A CONTRACT was signed yesterday by a government official and the University of the Bahamas to allow UB to conduct a survey to gather information that the government will use to measure the progress and success of digitisation in the public service.

Speaking during a press conference, Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson said it is very important to prepare people for the transformation that is to come, adding that the survey was the first step.

He said: "For many in the public sector, the word transformation is a difficult one. Transformation sometimes flies in the face of tradition, habit, custom and moves us from the place of comfort that comes with doing things the same way it's always been done for a long period of time. Quite often, the same old way is inefficient, time consuming, repetitive and expensive.

"The government of the Bahamas has been committed to charting a new course by the honourable prime minister that focuses on the best practices that will result in an improvement and mechanisms of government and the provisions of government services to our domestic and international clients."

He added: "A country's place in the ease of doing business ranking demands that we become nimble, more responsive, more urgent and more digital. That's actually the emphasis more digital. To meet the 21st century expectations."

Mr Thompson said the government must work for the people instead of the people working for the government.

The Government and Public Policy Institute, headed by former Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing, is carrying out the survey.

Mr Thompson added: "We want to know whether the public is aware of the services that government offers; whether they use the online services and if not, why not. We need to know the public appetite for change to online services, we need to know the public's expectation and satisfaction with government services. Here is the truism -- what gets measured, gets done."

The minister noted the government's goal is fixed on a digitised public service environment where customers can expect an improvement in the ease of doing business through a reduction in the time it takes to incorporate a business.

He said the aim of the initiative is ". . .greater transparency in the government process; improvement in services, both in process and delivery; better data collection and analysis to assist with more informed decision making; and to create an environment that fosters greater public private ICT partnerships and innovations. You will be hearing more about the latter in short order."

Dr Rodney Smith, UB president, said a government and policy institute was established at the University of the Bahamas in 2017 for the purpose of collecting date, analysing data and providing feedback to policy makers.

Dr Smith said: "One of the missions of the government and policy institute headed by Mr Zhivargo Laing is also to monitor and report on national key performance indicators that gives the government and opportunity to see how well we are doing, how well the country is progressing and moving forward.

"This survey is one of those tools that we will continue to use. This survey will also help us as we continue to produce more studies for use by our policy makers as we move forward into the future. I welcome this opportunity and I thank you very much minister of behalf of the University of the Bahamas. "