No more queues with 200 online public services by 2020 – Minister Hughes

Minister of Public Telecommunications Catherine Hughes says by early 2020 over 200 public services for citizens and businesses would be online.

The Minister was addressing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders participating in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored exponential technology training at the Marriot Hotel this morning.

According Minister Hughes, the transformation occurring around the world can thrust Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean forward. “I am saying to you that by the end of next year, by 2020 there is going to be a total of 200 services that citizens require, and businesses require online.”

The services would apply to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), The Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) amoung others. For too long, persons have had to be trudging from agency to agency.

“We cannot have individuals going to ten different places,” Hughes said. “So, imagine your driver’s license application, that application for a TIN number, all these services can be done online and therefore we have to start heading in that direction…and the private sector, you are going to be left behind also if you continue to do this the old way,” she warned.

The event saw an exhibition of apps and other programmes developed by local entrepreneurs.

Source: Alexis Rodney – DPI

Images courtesy of Jules Gibson.