Services must be accessible online

 

If productivity is to increase in this island, government services must be accessible online.
 
Delivering the recent lunchtime lecture at the Democratic Labour Party’s headquarters, Senator Andre Worrell stated that e-technology must be embraced to increase efficiency in several public sector departments.
 
Chiding the lengthy wait a person desiring to pay his/her driver’s license and road tax must endure for example, the DLP’s Assistant General Secretary said it was a waste of resources to have people change these plastic cards every year.
 
He suggested the system should be one where the driver could do renewals online or even at Surepay, and linked to the insurance company and to the police.
 
“This is something we have to do. It would help to reduce the productive time that is being lost, because I am telling you no lie, if you have to renew your license or road tax, take the rest of the day off. That is what you have to do to get it done and sometimes you have to leave one place to go someplace else to get it done,” he pointed out.
 
“Why can’t we arrange a system, where we have an online real-time system where the police would have information knowing that if they stop you on the road, they know that your license is not up to date and they know that your road tax is not up to date even before stopping you, they can put in the information with your car’s registration number and recognize that your road tax is not up to date,” Worrell argued.
 
In addition, he proposed the use of color coded slips, so police would know “from a mile” that persons have not paid, “rather than have to stop you three and four times just to make sure that you have paid your drivers’ license and that your road tax is up to date.”
 
In addition, Worrell said that too many government websites were static and not up-to-date and many state agencies were not using social media – one of the main gateways used by the public, especially by the youth.
 
Pointing out while the island’s first 50 years were spent developing the island’s infrastructure and its people, in order to increase its competitiveness, he underlined that was critical now that innovation be placed at the forefront. (JMB)

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