Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 11, 2017 Features / Columnists, My Column
I had a chance to hear about the developments in eGovernment, and I must say that the developments so far have been impressive. The rollout began some time ago, but there were setbacks. For one, the cable that was supposed to bring more bandwidth from neighbouring Brazil was a failure. It was supposed to open a whole world of digital communication.
I was there when the government launched the programme. There was the talk about the expenditure and the impact this programme would have on Guyana. This programme died in the mud. The cable broke in many places, and it was only a matter of time before the project was scrapped. A lot of money went down the drain.
It was the same with the Skeldon sugar factory. I remember when the announcement came that Guyana was going to modernize the sugar industry with a state-of- the-art sugar factory. Guyana spent more money on this project than on any other in its history, but the factory never got going.
It was all of US$150 million from the Chinese. For a poor country to throw so much money away is criminal, but that is what we did. But that was not the only money that this country poured down the drain because of ambitious projects, and foreign people who were bent on their own pockets than on national development. They saw a group of poor people reaching for the stars when they did not even have a ladder to reach the roof.
So there I was sitting to hear about the eGovernment programme that started with the cable from Brazil, but is continuing without it. According to the report, all the police stations have been linked. This tells me that each police station can access the main database at force headquarters.
This tells a lot. If a man is arrested in Berbice and he has a record in Essequibo, the police can easily track that person. I was hearing that wanted men were arrested in various parts of the country, but I simply did not know that every police station had the information.
Whenever I had a chance to travel, I could not help but be amazed that a police patrol car can pull up behind the driver of a car and before long, determine that this person had an outstanding ticket or a warrant in some other part of the country.
I did ask whether we have the same capability given the extended digital service, but I was told the hardware was missing. I suppose it has to do with the cost. But this is very necessary, because of late there has been the announcement that thousands of smuggled vehicles are in the country and they are unregistered.
We hear about cars bearing false number plates, and some months ago there was talk about digital number plates. This would mean that all the police have to do is scan that plate and know whether it belongs to that car. Rest assured, the use of cars to get away from crime scenes would be reduced, and the perpetrators would be caught.
My pet peeve, education, can also benefit from this programme. I am not sure why I am not hearing more about the use of the technology in schools. We complain about shortages of teachers in certain subject areas.
For sure, a school can use the system to access another teacher online. Word is that teachers from Turkeyen no longer have to drive to Tain on the Corentyne. The classes can be conducted electronically. There was a programme called ‘Broadcast to Schools’. The Education Ministry tried to use this programme to take certain programmes to schools in the remote part of the country.
Now here we are with technology to make things so much better, but we are slow to use it. This must be a case of old habits die hard.
But there are plusses. I am hearing about these hubs that have young people who may not have access to the internet being able to use their electronic devices to do research if they are so inclined. In my day there was always the library with the huge Encyclopedia Britannica. Some of us had to travel miles to do simple research. The library was almost always full.
These days everything is at our fingertips, and, with the digital networks, there is no reason for students not to do better. I hear that they could do their school-based assessments electronically. Gone are the days when the internet was the preserve of a few who had money.
But there are some people who use the internet for mischief. This week a video that was circulated caused quite a stir. Someone happened to have a camera phone that appeared to capture a man chopping at something. The video contended that the chopping was in Lodge, Georgetown.
But I had been near the location when this was to have happened and I saw or heard nothing. I so informed the person who sent me the video. Then the person attached a photograph of a badly chopped woman.
Later that night a woman called me to ask about the chopping. I said what I had been saying all day, that it did not happen anywhere in the city.
There have been other videos, probably gleaned from some source outside Guyana. With the expanded internet I expect to see more of this and with it, the panic that such things could cause. But there are advantages. In some countries the police were able to make arrests because people posted crimes and the perpetrators were readily identified.
To facilitate the expanded internet, the government is buying bandwidth from Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company. Somebody is making money, when indeed the government could have been saving money.
Listen how to run an oil country
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