Govt walks halfway towards ‘electronic rule’

According to Ministry of Health, Uganda has only 4 neurosurgeons for a population of 34.9 million. With the ever growing digital revolution, imagine one of them seated on his computer at Mulago hospital advising a non-specialised colleague on what to do for a dying patient 460km away at Moroto hospital?
A medical operation can be conducted via video and VoIP link from Kampala to Moroto. That might sound so out of this world.

The idea has been mooted before in recent years; e-health, e-learning, e-justice, and other e-systems are among the hundreds of applications that are supposed to run on the national data transmission backbone and e-government infrastructure project (NBI/EGI).

The government conceived the project in 2006 with a $106 million (Shs300 billion) tagged as the project cost, a loan from China’s import Exim Bank.

The ambitious fibre cable was proposed to change the way government agencies work (going online), interlink all government operations on a single network to reduce administration costs and promote operational efficiency.

Laying of the NBI/EGI infrastructure, 2,118km of fibre cables was meant to commence in 2006 to facilitate the Chogm meeting a year later and end in 2011. Phase I of the project did take off in 2011, phase II in 2013, and with the recent approval of the $26 million (about Shs76.2b), implementation of phase III is set to start soon.

Uganda single-sourced a Chinese telecommunications firm, Huawei technologies to implement the project. The National Information Technology Authority (NITA) manages the infrastructure for government.

How efficient is it?
However, with the poor and costly internet penetration, adamancy of the end users (in government), limited access to computers by majority Ugandans and the usual mismanagement of critical infrastructures, it is not hard to imagine whether the project can step up the digital revolution and or change the way government works. So far, the project has been running for five years.

All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), according to the plan are supposed to be connected onto the e-government network that allows services such as internet access, video conferencing, data exchange, to mention but a few. In that way, there would be little requirement for an official to drive from ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Finance to deliver a document.

According to NITA, NBI/EGI will also connect major towns, notably district headquarters across the country, to the internet fibre optic network. The NBI is the optical fibre infrastructure, while EGI is for interlinking all MDAs.

NITA’s corporate communications officer, Leonah Mbonimpa, says they have so far completed and commercialised two phases of the project, with implementation of phase III expected to start soon.

During the two phases, NITA says they have laid a fibre optic cable network of 1,400.76 km and accompanied it with a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a backbone of Internet connectivity to wider area through cable transmission.

“The e-government network has a connectivity of 45 MDAs, 30 of which are currently receiving internet bandwidth through the NBI,” she told Saturday Monitor.

Until 2011, existing fiber optic cables were/are laid by private telecommunication companies, UTL and MTN, and other Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the vendors of broadband to government departments, private companies and for mobile telephony.

Currently, NITA procures bulk broadband/internet data and distributes it among the MDAs connected to the network. Ms Mbonimpa, says in doing so, they have managed to lower the average cost of internet bandwidth from $600 (about Shs1.8m) per Mbps to $300 (aboutShs870,000) per Mbps for all entities connected to the NBI, creating a saving of $1.9m (Shs5.6 billion) annually.

“When we connect an additional 60 MDAs, we will have an additional saving of $3.3m (Shs9.8 billion) in addition to the $1.9 million,” she says.

The connection also includes an e-government Intercom (central government VOIP phones & Video Conferencing facilities), a two-way audio path between connected entities that is not charged. Like for example the a CAO in Tororo district calling a commissioner at the ministry of Finance.

Where is the problem?
While NITA is chest-thumping on the savings made from procurement of broadband, revelations from the end users indicate otherwise. Respective officials from about 10 MDAs the national IT regulator says are fully connected but the infrastructure has a lot of loopholes, provides the “worst/slow” internet band width and they continue outsourcing broadband data from ISPs such as UTL, Africell, among others.

However, they agree that the concept is good and if managed well, it can change the way government operates but they just do not trust it yet. The network is grossly susceptible to breakdown, hacking and leaking of data.

One technical officer at Uganda Revenue Authority, which has repute for online services such as e-registration, e-tax filing, among others, said such portals hold mega data from users and it is not apparent if NBI is strong to hold such capacity.

“We are connected to NBI, but we still incur huge expenses on outsourcing broadband. A private cable can guarantee a lot of potential unlike our government line,” he noted.

The 24-core, 2.5 GB fibre cable, with potential for upgrade to 10 GB, was conceived to lower costs of internet connectivity for government.
The connectivity would later be extended to hospitals to facilitate e-health, universities/ research institutions and public schools to support e-learning, and late Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs).

All district local governments are to have websites developed under the Rural Communication Development Program (RCDP) but only a handful of districts, even those connected have updated websites while several MDAs have the worst online presence.

Unutilised equipment
You could have seen LCD flat screens stocked at several government offices; they are not for televisions purposes but rather Video Conferencing Systems which cost government $400 million (about Shs1.3 billion).

The equipment was sold to government as part of the NBI by Huawei on grounds that they are a requirement. But several officials asked whether they have embraced video communication, the response was unenthusiastic.

In fact, a 2013 Auditor General John Muwanga report of the NBI, which was directed by President Museveni after red flags were raised over the substandard civil works done under the project, indicated that overall, Huawei sold government other equipment worth $6.5 million (about Shs19.2 billion), which are lying idle at most ministries, and for which the firm was paid another $1.4 million (about Shs4.1 billion) for installation and configuration.

According to the chairperson of ICT committee in Parliament, Mr Vincent Bagiire, the NBI concept was a good idea, notwithstanding the snags and other technical issues. He argues that the infrastructure might not step up the digital revolution now but in the global world where the future is in data, it will undoubtedly serve the purpose.

“I think what the project manager, NITA needs to work on right now is managing behavioural change of the end users,” Mr Bagiire noted in an interview. “The challenge is that NITA is trying to do what they call IT rationalising - buying data in bulk and distributing across, so obviously MDAs which previously controlled their own budgets to procure data cannot embrace the network.”

Most MDAs still lag behind when it comes to online visibility with websites not updated for years. After completing phases I and II, NITA says they embarked on commercialisation of the lines in April 2012. A sub-contractor, a Kenyan firm Soliton Telmec Ltd, was procured and licenced to operate the line—providing internet services. After a thorough network assessment and remediation of gaps, the network was handed over to Soliton in May 2013.

The assessment was borne out of some of the issues that Mr Muwanga raised in the report.
Other technical issues he raised include the laying of G652 cables that transmit only 2.5 GB data, instead of the required G655 cables that have the capacity to transmit up to 40 GB per second, and the absence of the Network Operation Centers (NOCs)—for network monitoring and control.

Mr Bagiire, an IT expert himself, however, says studies have been conducted back and forth and the cables castigated are still functional.
“When you buy a Mercedes car this year, and another model comes out next year, it does not render what you have obsolete. Yes, there were glitches somewhere but I am sure remedial works have been done.”

He adds that in a growing country such as Uganda, it would be so unfortunate for all fibre cables to be in the hands of private players who can pack and leave anytime without government operating a backup.

NITA says the infrastructure is generating revenue for government by leasing capacity to private companies, while government saves on the costs of MDAs

According to Ms Mbonimpa, to date, there are 12 private companies leasing capacity on the NBI and providing internet services. During phase III, whose designs are complete, 756km of fibre cables, will be installed and extended to the towns of Masaka, Mutukula, Mbarara, Kabale and Katuna” at Uganda’s boarder points.

A factor for economic growth
According to the Electronic Government policy framework, ICT has the potential not only to revolutionize the way Government operates, but also to enhance the relationship between Government and Citizens (G2C), Government and Business community (G2B) and within Government to Government departments (G2G).

“The government is aware that the path to achieving effective e-government is a big challenge and as such, it will require focused political will, a change of mindsets at all levels of government and entire citizenry, a strategic partnership. A requisite institutional framework and structure will be put in place to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the e-Government programme.,” the policy reads in part.

A 2013 World Bank report indicated that access to better information and communication technology corresponded with economic growth. The report documents that for every 10 percentage points of increase in high-speed Internet access, economic growth rose 1.3 percentage points.

Neighbouring Rwanda is the perfect example of the findings. Notwithstanding its size, the country spent $40 million (about Shs116 billion) to lay cables covering a distance of 2,300km to connect 35 sites, while Uganda for phase I covering only 2,100km, spent $62 million (Shs183 billion); an indication that Rwanda spent $16,521(Shs48 million) per kilometer and Uganda spent Shs87 million for the same.

However, Rwanda’a NBI and investment in ICT, according to reports, accounted for 45 per cent of all foreign direct investments (FDI) and contributed 3 per cent of the country’s GDP and is expected to jump to 4 per cent in 2015.
Can the digital revolution take Uganda in the same direction?

Applications running on the NBI/EGI

Some of the applications said to be running NBI/EGI include, the Integrated Financial Management (IFMS) by Ministry of Finance, Integrated Resource (MIS) by Ministry of Defence, Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS) to manage corruption and ghosts in the Ministry of Public Service, and the recent National Security Information System (NSIS) or national ID project by Internal Affairs.
Uganda’s loan acquired in 2006 attracts a 2 per cent interest per annum, and 1 per cent loan management fee.

According to the Auditor General, the delayed commercialisation of the project cost government $19million (Shs56 billion).

In phase I, districts including Wakiso, Jinja, Kampala, and Mukono were connected, while phase II connected Masindi, Mbale, Mbarara, Mukono, Busia, Bushenyi, Fort Portal, Gulu, Jinja, Nakasongola, Soroti, Tororo, Kasese, Kyenjojo, Kumi, Lira, Luwero.

Some of the MDAs connected include, Ministry of Education, Foreign Affairs, Gender, Energy, Health, Finance, Internal Affairs, Parliament, Office of President, among others.
In phase III NITA says will connect 50MDAs in 2014/15 and another 60MDAs in 2015/2016.

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