ISSUE 3

IT and Public Sector Reform in the Caribbean: A Role for the Internet?

The Internet has been described as “A window of opportunity to Developing Countries in terms of facilitating inter-governmental negotiations, to monitor efforts at sustainable development and to transfer technical data.” (Madon).

Most Caribbean governments have in recent times emphasized the role of services in their development thrust and so the acquisition of internet facility has become a priority. Madon also posed the question as to whether for DCs the internet was an opportunity or threat. It is therefore appropriate to identify and discuss some of the opportunities, threats and problems with which these governments are confronted as they seek to utilize internet technology within their public sectors.

(i) Opportunities - These include:

• Internet as a communications tool. Global connectivity is provided for a wide range of persons such as academics, decision-makers and laymen.
• Internet as an information resource tool. A wealth of information resources and services is available via on-line access almost entirely free-of-charge.
• Internet as an information disseminating tool. Publishing on the internet is easy and so governments and businesses can market their services and resources for a prospective global audience. Tourism agencies in the Caribbean region have been utilizing this tool with some success.
• Internet as a equalizing medium. Once connectivity has been established, a citizen in a DC can compete with one in a developed country through use of his intellectual capital e.g. in the area of software development.

(ii) Threats - These include:

• Continued dependence on developed countries for software, hardware and, unnecessarily in some instances, consultants. This situation looms larger now when EDUTECH programs, emphasing electronic delivery of education in the primary and secondary school system, are being recommended and implemented. Virtually all the course materials for these programs might have been developed in the U.S.
• Possibility of erroneous or contentious material being published.

(iii) Problems or Weaknesses - These include:

• Internet as a technology-intensive service. Thus it requires significant capital investment and highly skilled technical personnel to implement and maintain web pages and other services.
• Internet connectivity and its dependence on the telecommunications infrastructure in place. Whilst this infrastructure is generally quite modern in the Caribbean, costs, with possible exception of Jamaica, are high. Also the notion of universal access, passionately promulgated in developed countries, is a forlorn hope in a region where telephone connections varies between 60-322 per 1000 persons.
• Competition in provision of internet services. The number of service providers in the countries varies from five in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and three in Barbados to one in most of the others. The monopoly-provider of external telecommunications service throughout the region also doubles as a service provider.
• Availability of trained internet personnel. The dearth of these computer specialists, poses a problem. This situation is especially serious in the Public Sector which continues to lose its experts to the private sector at home or abroad.

• Maintenance of web pages. The mere existence of a Web page will avail nothing if:

(i) its design does not compel surfers to revisit it, and
(ii) its contents are not up-to-date and accurate.


• Organisations and administrators are often so excited at establishing a presence on the Web that no concern is paid to the above preconditions.
• Employees as web surfers. There is a wealth of information, good, bad and indifferent, on the internet and some employees have been known to spend inordinate time surfing the internet. This clearly affects their productivity. Also they have, by their posting of information, put their organizations in difficult positions. One solution to this problem could be the creation of an intranet within the public sector where the intranet web sites could contain reports, procedure and training manuals, internal telephone directories, and newsletters.
• For almost three decades, governments in the Caribbean and in other DCs have looked to IT as a prime vehicle to bring sustainable development. Large investments on IT have not ushered in the desired improvements in efficiency and productivity.
• In the wake of trends towards trade liberalisation and globalisation and their own restructuring programmes Caribbean governments have introduced Public Sector Reform. The continued commitment to IT application has been accompanied by promises of greater control and accountability with IT expenditure.
• Recent developments in IT, particularly the internet, have been successfully implemented in the developed countries and are being investigated by DCs for their suitability and applicability. The internet, possibly for the first time, gives Caribbean governments an opportunity to market their products and services to the rest of the world without incurring huge expenses. (Corbin).

• The hype and enthusiasm that have followed the emergence of the internet elsewhere have predictably overtaken Caribbean countries. This enthusiasm seems to be specially evident with ministers and senior officials known to champion IT investment in their respective public sectors. However, along with the enthusiasm must be a realisation that the potential of the internet, as with other IT, depends on the existence of supporting infrastructures - human resource, telecommunications and legislation - and an appropriate IT culture.
• The greatest success for the Internet hitherto has been as a result of its informational capacity in sending information e.g. advertising and marketing of products and services and gathering information from the network of databases. The transactional aspect of the internet, mainly in the form of electronic commerce, has yet to be established fully. Confidentiality and security concerns still have to be conclusively addressed.
• For the present, the major thrust for internet utilisation by Caribbean governments ought to be in the marketing of their products and services. The lack of universal access to the internet locally and a general reliance on the oral and paper sources render it virtually useless as a medium through which citizens can be informed about legislation and other government information - a major function played by it in developed countries.
• The creation and deployment of an Intranet within the public sector is recommended. This would provide controlled access for employees, free of the temptation to surf the several internet sites. It would also allow public sector departments and ministries to develop the type of quality databases and services which may ultimately be used by a global audience.

This is an abstract of a fuller article provided by Stewart Bishop of the University of the West Indies in Barbados. The complete text can be obtained from osbishop@uwichill.edu.bb.