ABOUT 60 per cent of all government institutions and agencies have no official websites and majority of the existing ones are dormant, hence delaying full functioning of the public sector.
The revelation was made in Dar es Salaam
yesterday by the Director of Tanzania Information Services, Maelezo, Mr
Hassan Abbas, who also directed all government institutions and
agencies to have live/active websites before next month.
According to the information department
chief, Tanzania has 498 public institutions, organisations and agencies,
but only 200 institutions had official websites.
Mr Abbas said the websites were
catalysts in contributing to new services and process that address
citizens, government to government services and in informing the public
of development activities “Some of the websites are not regularly
updated amidst endless events and activities under the same office.
I hereby direct all institutions to
update and upgrade their websites before November 1,” he stressed. He
issued the directive during a joint press conference with the Electronic
Government Agency (EGA) Communications Manager, Ms Suzanna Mutagahywa.
“We will conduct regular check-ups of
all websites and institutions under central or local government that
have not designed official websites should seek assistance from the
EGA,” he directed.
The director said all necessary
information needed for public consumption must be uploaded on site
regularly. He was concerned that some institutions had assigned
officials to handle the websites yet they remained too slow to execute
their duties.
“This is unacceptable and we will ensure
such people are no longer part of the team ... we want the public to
access information wherever they are,” he added.
EGA’s Head of Communication said the
government adopted specific guidelines for a public website, which
distinguish it from other websites.
She said a website must meet a certain
level of requirements, which include containing Kiswahili and English
language, national logo and firm identity, photos depicting economic
activity of the area and a national flag background at the webpage
header.
Ms Mutagahywa said, however, that a
number of institutions were also slow to update the two main state
websites; www.wananchi.go.tz thus making the two ineffective.
“About 70 per cent of the websites are
hosted in foreign countries, especially United States of America,
Australia and United Kingdom. We want all these agencies to be hosted
under the local domain,” she added
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