Ghana is to put into operation a new electronic governance programme, which is being assisted by the Italian government to improve upon information flow leading to the creation of a national data centre in public administration.

The Public Sector Reforms Minister, Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, , under whose ministry the e-¬governance project is being spearheaded, has observed that, a proposal to set up a bilateral working group to work on the blue print for the pilot phase had been agreed upon by both countries.

Interacting with the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Fabrizio De Agostini, Mr Owusu-Agyei said President John Agyekum Kufuor and the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano were both very much interested to seeing the successful implementation of the project, which would soon take off.

"The support from the Italian government would put in place a certified e-mail infrastructure including¬ digital, signature and electronic document work flow that would improve among other things, the quality of work in the public service."

He said ministries such as Communication, Finance, Attorney General and Justice, and Foreign Affairs were involved in the project.

Mr Agostini said his call on the Minister was to speed up the process and reiterate the Italian government's commitment to the project.

He said the working group, currently in place where expected to work out the detailed modalities and practicalities for implementation to start, noting that the Italian government was prepared to share its experience on e-governance experience with
Ghana.

Mr Agostini said benefits of e-¬governance were enormous, adding that the project will afford citizens the opportunity to directly dialogue with public institutions.

Source: The Chronicle