09 Nov 2020

Government has adopted a Smart Botswana strategy or “SmartBots” to digitize service provision across the public sector.

Presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the National Assembly yesterday, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said the aim of the strategy was  to improve service delivery to the public and business.

Now in its implementation stage, SmartBots would be one of various government interventions to expand the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the public and private sectors, he said.

Dr Masisi said as Botswana aimed to pursue a digitally inclusive nation through implementation of the Digital Transformation Agenda, major initiatives were being introduced, covering the minerals, health, education and commerce spheres.

The initiatives include a National e-Commerce Strategy, the development of which commenced in 2019 and scheduled for completion by March 2021, which would facilitate trade across all sectors of the economy.

In the financial sector, private corporate entities continued to roll out digital products and services, Dr Masisi said citing  BotswanaPost which had launched an online service,

PosoMoney to help achieve financial inclusion for the unbanked and under banked with 66 000 registered users for the platform.

“In March 2020, the health sector successfully launched the E-health Strategy for 2020 to 2024.  The strategy will improve access to healthcare; health information, as well as monitoring and evaluation,” Dr Masisi said.

The development of a homegrown Centralised Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system was currently in progress, Dr Masisi said.

He explained that the system was envisioned to replace the use of paper-based medical patient cards as well as assisting in building an electronic health record.

In order to improve the clearance of cargo and facilitate the ease of doing business, the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) commenced the project of upgrading a number of ports of entry, including Ramokgwebana, Mamuno, Tlokweng and Pioneer Gate into one-stop border posts, the President revealed.

“The automation of national ports of entry will enhance compliance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), ensure efficient service delivery and validate authenticity of e-passports,” Dr Masisi disclosed.

He further said government was carrying out the installation of the Passport and Border Control System at the remaining six ports of entry, Two Rivers, Bokspits, Makopong, Paarshalt, Zanzibar and Mabolwe.

Dr Masisi further said capacity building for teachers in ICT was ongoing, with 3300 teachers already trained.

The development of a content platform to facilitate access to digital education was ongoing and would be completed by the end of the 2021-2022 financial year, said the President.ENDS