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1. Introduction

Following the development of the World Wide Web, governments are taking

various initiatives on the adoption of web based technologies. The development

in the web based technologies has shaped the business environment across the

world. The first notably attention is on the business to business environment and

business to consumer environment. Government interacts with business and

citizens.It interacts with business in the aspect that the government creates

condusive environment in which the business operates and the business in return

pays tax to the government. Government to citizen is through service provision.

It is not supprising that the governments have been too slower in adopting the

web-enabled bandwagon.

Governments are traditionally more conservative entities, slower to change and

slower to adopt new initiatives, than operators in the commercial field (Davison,

Wagner, & Louis, 2005). Following the revolutions or reformation in the public

sectors, there is a notably move of the government to e-government.

Government whether local, national ministerial department, agencies and

different government institutions are struggling hard to catch up with the

changing environment, so as to provide the service to the public accordingly.

Here it is wise to inquiry ourself, is it true that the government really want to

make transition to e-government?

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In this paper, we are going to analyse, the extent of readness of the Tanzania

government in adopting e-government. Analyses shall be based on the 8Cs

which are connectivity, content, community, commerce, capacity, culture, co-

orporation and capital. Before we embark into the analysis we are going to

elaborate in a nutshell the essentials of the government to adopt e-government.

E-government

E-government entails the way the government is ready to make use of

Information and Communication Technology in service provision. It is seen that

most of the governments all over the world are adopting information and

communication technologies (ICT) as a tool for providing effective and efficient

services to their citizens.

The World Bank (2004) defines e-government as the use by government

agencies of information (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile

computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses

and other arms of the goverrnment (Word Bank, 2004). According to (Laudon &

Laudon, 2007) egovernment refers to the application of the internet and

networking technologies to digitally enable government and public sector

agencies relationships with the citizens, businesses, and other arms of

government. In additional to improving delivery of government services, e-

government can make government operations mor efficient and also empower

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citizens by giving the easier access to information and the ability to network

electronically with other citizens.

The Centre for Technology in Government (2004) notes that e-government

encompasses four key functions of the government, which are: e-services, e-

democracy, e-commerce, and e-management (Mnjama & Wamukoya, 2007).

y The electronic service encompases the electronic delivery of government

information, programs, and services often (but not exclusively) over the

internet.

y Electronic democracy entails the use of electronic communications to

increase citizen participation in the public decision-making process.

y E-commerce. The electronic exchange of money for goods and services

such as citizens paying taxes and utility bills, renewing vehicle

registrations, and paying for recreation programs, or government buying

supplies and auctioning surplus equipment.

y E-management. The application of the information technology in running

government operations such as recording, supervising, and

communication ie report writing etc thereby improving the management

of government, from reorganization of business processes and improving

the flow and integration of information.

Analysis of e-government in Tanzania

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The United Republic of Tanzania being among the developing countries, it lags

behind in the adoption of e-government. However several initiatives are made by

the government to make sure that it copes with the changing World

environment. Some of the initiatives that are witnessed are like the

establishment of Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority Act no. 12 of

2003 is an independent Authority for the postal, broadcasting and electronic

communication industries in the united republic of Tanzania. Specifically the

Authority is responsible for enhancing the wealfare of Tanzanians through:

y Promotion of effective competition and economic efficiency;

y Protecting the interests of consumers;

y Promoting the availability of regulated services;

y Licensing and enforcing licence conditions of broadcasting, postal and

Telecommunications operators

y Establishing standards for regulated goods and services

y Regulating rates and charges (tariffs);

y Managing the radio frequency spectrum;

y Monitoring the performance of the regulated sectors.

y Monitoring the implementation of ICT applications

Following the establishment of the TCRA, the United Republic of Tanzania

through ministry of communications and transport formed the ICT governing

policy in the country. The ICT vision, mission and contents as provided by the

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United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Communications and Transport- National

Information and Communication Technologies (URT, 2003) are as follows:

Vision

The Tanzania ICT Policy is aligned to the following vision statement:

Tanzania to become a hub of ICT Infrastructure and ICT solutions that enhance

sustainable socio-economic development and accelerated poverty reduction both

nationally and globally

Mission

The overall mission of the Policy is:

To enhance nation-wide economic growth and social progress by encouraging

beneficial ICT activities in all sectors through providing a conducive framework

for investments in capacity building and in promoting multi-layered co-operation

and knowledge sharing locally as well as globally.

The policy context

The Tanzania Development Vision 2025 foresees a nation instill with five main

attributes: high quality livelihood; peace, stability and unity; good governance; a

well educated and learning society; and a strong and competitive economy

capable of producing sustainable growth and shared benefits. On the other hand,

this Policy has articulated ten main focus areas in harnessing ICT in Tanzania

which include strategic ICT leadership; ICT infrastructure; ICT Industry; Human

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Capital; Legal and Regulatory Framework; Productive Sectors; Service Sectors;

Public Service; Local Content; and Universal Access.

In Tanzania various sector of the government have made significant

advancement in application of ICT in e-government solutions. These solutions

can be categorised into both e-government and e-governance solutions.

Several departments of the government are transforming their operations by

deploying ICT for example ministries and other governmental departments have

established website though which they display various information of their

operations or activities and these can easilly be accessed by different people who

want to see the work of the government.However, the government has not fully

adopted e-government, there are several operations of the government which

need to be integrated to e-government such as voters e-registration, e-voting, e-

recording and integration of different government departmental models to ease

service provision. The possibility of providing e-governance services depends

upon the existence of an effective e-government infrastructure through which

the public service can communicate internally and with the intended beneficiaries

of its services.

Assessing Tanzania e-readiness through 8Cs

E-readiness (Electronic readness) is a measure of the degree to which a country,

nation or economy may be ready, willing or prepared to obtain benefit which

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arise from information and communication technologies (ICT) (Dada, 2006). E-

readiness measures how a country is ready to partake in electronic activities

such as E- commerce and E- government.

Connectivity

There are number of means of communication in the country, the

communicational links present in the country facilitate the government to deploy

the advantages of the ICT application. These communicational channels facilitate

the link between the government and the business and government and citizens

thereby improving service provision. In Tanzania, basic web sites have been

developed, corresponding to an early phase of the systems focus stage with

static information provision. A basic level of functionality is visible in Tanzania:

the central government has a web site (see www.tanzania.go.tz) where there are

links to president office public service management www.estabs.go.tz, ministerial

website as each ministry has its own website as well as every department in

exception of the local government authorities

Internet

There is several Internet service providers operating in the country some of them

are simbanet, ucc, rahanet, infonsis, cat-net etc also internet is accessible

through the use of different mobile phones companies such as vodacom modem,

zain modem, tigo modem, zantel modem and TTCL- through broadband etc most

of the service providers are concentrated in Dar es Salaam and major cities like

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Mwanza, Arusha, Dodoma, Mbeya nad Morogoro. Mobile phone modem can be

accessed throughout the country since mobile phones are almost covering the

whole of the Tanzania Mainland and Isles. Internet use in Tanzania is minimum it

is easy to find internet in offices but hardly to find them to the household. The

household who have internet are those of the literate classes (lecturers) and

some of the business class. In general, there is a slow Internet penetration in

Tanzania.

Commerce

Due to the change in the World business, that is ways of undertaking business

worldwide is changing and the introduction of the e-commerce the country have

laid down strategies to govern both local and foreign organization, by striving to

build ICT infrastructure which will attract both foreign and local investors. This is

witnessed from the Tanzania policy for ICT. E-commerce has been widely

acceptable in the tourism industry in the form of online entrance and reservation

and booking systems. It is noted that the number of tourism getting in Tanzania

is increasing and this increase the national income.

Despite the adoption of Internet technology (IT) in Tanzania, to realize

applications of e-commerce, there are initiatives from the framework on e-

commerce and e-tourism (Oreku, Li, Kimeli, & Mtenzi, 2009).

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Hardware and software

Hardware and software in Tanzania are just imported, no local manufacturer of

the ICT equipment in Tanzania. Just few local companies like University of Dar es

Salaam Computing Centre are developing computer application packages Most of

the software used by both public and private sectors is imported at considerable

cost. The use of open-source software is on the lower side. Tanzania has a small

emerging skilled capacity to support the ICT industry in terms of developing,

selling or supporting hardware and software.

E-voting and e-registration

Preparation of the voters register book, can be done via internet if and only if

infrastructure allows also voting can be done through internet.When registration

and voting are done electronically are called e-registration and e-voting. In

Tanzania ICT infrastructure do not allow that. E-voting is an election system that

allows a voter to record his or her secure and secret ballot electronically

(Techtarget, 2008). In 2004, it's estimated that approximately 30 percent of the

voting population in the United States used some form of e-voting technology.

Advocates of e-voting point out that electronic voting can reduce election costs

and increase civic participation by making the voting process more convenient.

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Discusion

The main role of the government is to provide service to the citizens and

maintainance of tranquility. The e-government provides the government with the

opportunity to enhance not only the operational transparency, clearness, and

responsiveness to the citizen but also their own internal efficiency and

effectiveness also it increases public pressure for internal accountability.

Transparency is increasing citizen empowerment that they will be able to access

information of their choice rather than accepting whatever explanation provided

to them. Accountability is enhanced in the sence that citizens will understand

how matters are undertaken therefore it becomes difficult to be lied by the

government employees, information will easily reach the citizens. Duel all these

operations of the government will improve and quality service provided. In

Tanzania service are now provided quickly, and as you can see Tanzania revenue

Authority launched electronic tax register (ETR) which is to be used by retail

business that issue receipt manually (TRA, 2010).

Following the nature and functions of the government it becomes difficult to

display most of its activities in the web for security purpose.

References

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Dada, D. (2006). E- readness for developing countries: Moving the focus from the

environment to the user . The electronic journal on information systems in developing

country. , 1 - 14.

Davison, R . M., Wagner , C., & Louis, C. K . (2005). From government to e-government:

a tr ansition model. Information Technology and People , Vol.!8 (No. 3), pp 280-299.

K alinga, A. E., Bagile, R . B., & Trojer , L. (2007). An Inter active e-learning Management

System(e-LMS): A Solution to Tanzanian Secondary Schoo'sl Eduction. . World

Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. , 109-112.

Laudon

,K .

C.,

& Laudon

,J.

P.

(2007). Managing Information Systems (Tenth e

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Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Mnjama, N., & Wamukoya, J. (2007). An assessment tool for e-recor ds readiness in

government. E-government and record management , pp 274-284.

Oreku, G. S., Li, J., Kimeli, K ., & Mtenzi, F. J. (2009). State of Tanzania e-readiness and

e-commerce:overview. Information Technology for Development , Vol. 14(4), 302-311.

Techtarget. (2008). e-voting. Retrieved 08 04, 2010, from Techtarget.:

http://whatis.techtarget.com

TRA. (2010). Home. Retrieved August 4, 2010, from Tanzania Revenue Authority:

www.tr a.go.tz

URT. (2003). National Information and Communications Technologies Policy. Dar es

Slaam: Ministry of communications and Tr ansport.

Wor d Bank . (2004, March). A definition of e-government . Retrieved June 29, 2010, from

A World Bank Web site: www.ctg.albany.edu/publication

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