Cayman’s Civil Service wants to harness the power of the Internet to provide faster, more convenient, services to citizens.
Speaking last week at a regional workshop on e-government, Chief Officer and Deputy Head of the Civil Service Peter Gough, said e-government initiatives could make the civil service more efficient, reducing costs for government and easing the burden on citizens.
‘I’m sure if you ask most citizens, they would like to be able to do online some of the things that you now have to queue up for,’ Mr. Gough said.
‘Look at the time it takes to get your drivers license. Maybe there is a way that we can speed up that process through e-government.’
Mr. Gough said e-government initiatives in Cayman had, until now, been instituted on an ad-hoc basis.
With the support of the Government, there is now an overall strategy in place to develop e-government services in Cayman, he said.
Mr. Gough said e-government is a way of making government more transparent and accountable, which can lead to a greater understanding of how government works, increasing public confidence in government.
This point was backed by Commonwealth Secretariat Advisor Devindra Ramnarine.
‘When you start using technology in government, it starts becoming more transparent and open,’ he said.
‘Automatically, the information you have is more correct and more up to date.
‘Therefore, not only is the whole image of government improving, if you want information about what government is doing, be it expenditure or service levels; it’s all there.’
Titled the Commonwealth Secretariat Regional Workshop on e-governance and Readiness for Effective Public Service Delivery, the workshop brought together senior policy advisers and e-government experts from the Caribbean, East Africa, Asia, and North America.
The workshop was organised by the Cayman Islands Cabinet Office with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Cayman Islands Portfolio of the Civil Service.
Mr. Gough explained that improving e-government services is part of the broader process of reforming and improving the Civil Service.
‘Any e-government initiative has to be part of a total reform process. They have to have a champion and they have to be supported from the top.
‘We, as a government, have to be more citizen-centric in terms of making reforms benefit the citizens and the community.’
During a session about civil service reform, visiting delegates said they were impressed with the breadth and success of the reform process that had been instituted in Cayman.
Mr. Gough said Cayman is one of the few governments that has carried out a holistic reform of the civil service.
‘We are not just talking about it, we have actually done it,’ he said.
‘If people can see that in a small place like Cayman, it gives them encouragement to go and try and do it themselves.’
University College of the Cayman Islands Professor Bob Weisham explained to visiting delegates how Cayman’s new Civil Service College will improve the Civil Service.
The goal of the CSC is to help civil servants do their job better through practical training, Prof. Weisham said.
‘No one wants the stereotype idea of public servants. We need government service to take back the sense of pride and the sense of being a noble vocation,’ he said.
‘Public service is at the root of any great society. Public service is an essential calling and people ought to aspire to it.
‘If we have problems in our public service, it is not because we have evil people or bumbling idiots in those jobs, it is often because we haven’t given the opportunity to people to be great.
‘This is about giving people real skills to do real work. It is about letting people realise their potential and be successful,’ Prof. Weisman explained.
Classes at the CSC, which was allocated almost $800,000 in the 2007/08 Government budget, are scheduled to begin September.
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