ICT ministry to develops ease of doing business apps

The Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier services is seized with developing 120 applications that are set to improve service delivery and decentralise postal and courier services in the country.

The ministry is prioritising a digital economy to promote the 4th Industrial Revolution agenda, the Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal, and Courier Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere said at the official opening of the public procurement service centers in Bulawayo this Friday.

“Part of the Vision 2020 identifies key priorities that are going to turn around the macro economic landscape of the country. One of the priorities is a digital economy and in order to ensure that, the digital economy is the catalyst which is going to fuel and accelerate us into Vision 2030. The Ministry Of ICT, Postal and Courier Services has developed and is developing other online applications to ensure that we ease the way of doing business in the country,” he said.

He added that his ministry’s priority is ensuring that there is ubiquitous connectivity across the country.

“Part of our revolution as young people is the 4th Industrial Revolution. Our revolution is based on the use of ICT and as part of the foundation to improve on service delivery. Government has embarked on the maximum utilisation of e-Government platforms in order to ensure that we leave no-one behind and no place behind.”

Partnerships between government agencies have also been identified as key enablers in improving service delivery.

“The decentralisation of public procurement services is a response to the needs of stakeholders, contractors and general public to expand the geographical expanse of PRAZ services. We listened to the market and realized that the majority of small to medium enterprises women owned and youth owned business had challenges in accessing scanners and internet. In response, we came up with the idea of riding on the successful community information centres of Zim post which provide access to affordable internet services and also infrastructure to scan documents countrywide,” noted Vimbai Nyemba, PRAZ board chair.

Kainet Moyo, ZIMPOST board chair said: “The partnership between ZIMPOST and PRAZ here today, demonstrates our commitment to the objective of bridging the divide between the demad for critical government services and the citizens who need the services. ZIMPOST is seized in engaging all government departments, various companies and organisations in providing a one-stop fulfilment supermarket or platform that will link them with marginalised communities for sustainable socio-economic development in the country.”

The Smart Zimbabwe 2030 master plan, which is guiding the fourth industrial revolution in the country, is expected to accelerate the achievement of an upper middle-income society by 2030.

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