In all honesty, I do not want to be a President in this day and age, nor would I like to be a Minister or a member of parliament.

Governments and Presidents are constantly under fire, dissatisfied citizens of the world are on the increase, whether the topics are jobs, food, homes, education, health, or infrastructure.

The disconnect is huge, governments and Presidents believe that they are doing their best, yet, the question is, is that what the citizens want? Also, how do they cater for it all with limited budgets, high demands, and endless expectations?

Citizens want food on the table, a roof over their heads, well-maintained infrastructure, quality education, and health care, and above all jobs to provide for their families. Rather a tall order, come to think of it.

Is technology the answer, and if so, how can governments and Presidents leverage technology to deliver on the need for immediate gratification whilst improving on the conditions of satisfaction?

On the other hand, do governments know what it is that their citizens want? Are they connected to those they have been elected by to serve? Are they optimising service delivery through digitisation and quick access? Are they creating trust through transparency? Is there a strategy empowered by a fair and sufficient budget? Does information and communication technology form part of this?

Information Technology can enable a policy decision taken by government to be quickly executed and implemented at multiple locations, across the length and breadth of the country.

According to a news article on drishti, technology can be used to bring about e-Legislature, strengthen parliamentary committees, virtual judiciary, promote participative democracy, implement good governance, achieving sustainable development goals. All this through technology.

Governments can no longer wait for perfect and expensive solutions, they need to adopt available working ICT solutions today, and work together with the citizens to refine and improve the delivery of key services for economic prosperity and political stability. Once governments understand the intelligence and functionality in their existing procured technologies, they will understand how they can start rolling out various e-Services today.

Technology holds the key to seating government and citizens around the same dinner table to understand and attain common goals and objectives. It also enables transparency through the government’s ability to communicate directly with the citizens and eliminate disinformation and disconnection. It becomes easier for citizens to hold government accountable for their commitments to improve, uplift, develop and grow a country as a whole.

In conclusion, when governments embrace transparent technology, citizens are able to prosper.

Author: Christopher Swart - Commercial Expansion Account Manager @ Salt

Attending the 2021 Africa Symposium on Women and Girls in Technology hosted by the World Wide Web Foundation, I realised again, for Namibia, it is not the gender inequality that will cost Namibia billions of dollars in the future, but it is the lack of access to reliable, affordable, and secure internet and eServices such as Education and Health care – as a basic human right.

It is time that we as a collective stand up and demand our collective basic human rights, the technology exists, the opportunity for change is an everyday reality. Henry Ford said: “If I had to ask people what they want, they would have said faster horses”. It is thus the responsibility of the knowledgeable to challenge the status quo, empower the people and impact the future. Be the change you would like to see now and in the future.

The first-round table should be around what affordable platforms and technology are currently available and how can we make it available to the whole of the citizens in a way that every person has access to affordable connectivity. However, we need to be cognisant that this is only part of the solution, tools and devices need to be provided for learning and eServices to be consumed.

While there are regular complaints on various social media platforms about Namibia’s internet access and the cost thereof, the complaint remains just there, on social media. All the stakeholders, regulators, and governments are not coming together to find a sustainable solution to overcome expensive challenges to ensure economic prosperity and growth.

We have talked about it for so many years, yet here we are, still talking about it with nothing to show. I remember a conversation with colleagues in 2002 about containers being converted into smart classrooms that can be made available to rural areas for education, in 2016 we spoke about converting vans into smart clinics that can bring the doctor to the village doorstep. These are still not a reality in Namibia, we will probably still talk about it in 2050. We need a tangible plan, we need actionable tasks, we need ownership and accountability, and we need it now!