I want to draw on two anecdotes that make me doubt the extent to which we, i.e., Botswana, are willing to modernise our public service delivery platforms. There is a lot of talk about modernising and providing services online, but the level of our commitment to fulfilling that mission raises some questions.
And I want to highlight those anecdotes which I recently noted. The first is the long queue that they had at the Main Mall Post Office. This was a queue of beneficiaries of the Old Age Pension, and it was really strange that. you would. make people queue for that long. If, truly, we want to modernise our systems, then it is more convenient to pay directly into pensioners’individual accounts. Alternatively, there are other payment methods. We could, for instance, pay through their mobile payment systems. Why that is. not being done is a mystery.
The second anecdote, again, concerns the government. There are several cases where they allow you to pay online but still demand a hard copy of the proof of payment. This then begs the question of the value of paying online if you now have to worry about submitting a hard copy.
As I said, these are two anecdotes, there might be unfair to conclude on the government willingness to embrace technology to improve services. And I understand that.
So if we really want to modernise our systems and automate them, then going online must mean going online. You cannot go online, but then insist that you want, uh, a hard copy of proof, to prove that indeed, the transaction has been made online. That comes across. like double-handling. So the fact of the matter is that it’s either one or the other but not both. There have been several instances where the public is. allowed to pay online. But then you still have the government asking for physical copies of proof of payment. That is just unfortunate.
You also have cases where. email is still not really considered as a form of formal communication or invitation. For example, when they invite you for a formal meeting via email, they will still double that invitation with a letter. So, effectively, they invite you twice. And that is unnecessary, and also costly. Because we have written an email spending time on that email. And then following that email with a letter. Which is delivered physically. Even if they don’t deliver it, the fact that a letter, say, is accompanying an email is unnecessary. So that’s. is where we are.
By being tentative, the government is missing out on an opportunity to tap into technology to improve services. Doing so also helps the government to raise productivity, especially given the scarce resources. It also helps to reduce costs
This is the time to do more with less. And there is no reason why. We should ignore the benefits that come along with it, allowing most of our services to be provided online.