African nations fall far below global standards regarding e-governance.

This is according to a United Nations (UN) report entitled ‘E-Government Survey 2014’.

The UN defines e-government initiatives as “the use and application of information technologies in public administration to streamline and integrate workflows and processes, to effectively manage data and information, enhance public service delivery, as well as expand communication channels for engagement and empowerment of people.”

And the top ranked African nations in the survey are Tunisia at 75 and Mauritius at 76.

The Mauritius government website, gov.mu, has over 100 e-services that the citizens can access online. Mauritius has also received recognition from the World Economic Forum (WEF) for being the top ranked African nation on the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) 2014.

Kenya; on the other hand, has remained steady at number 119 on the UN e-governance list from its last ranking in 2012, despite efforts to migrate major government services online.

Kenya; however, has been mentioned by the UN to have good e-participation along with Morocco.

But according to the UN’s e-government development index (EGDI) most African countries fall below the global average with Tanzania, Angola and Rwanda pegged among the least developed countries globally in this regard.

For Africa, the average EGDI is at 0.2661 while the global average is 0.4712

Yet, despite these challenges the UN notes that Africa has made advances.

“Continuing the trend towards greater levels of online connectivity since 2003, all 193 member states now have websites,” says the UN.

“This includes the Central African Republic, Guinea and Libya, which had no national website in 2012 and is a reflection both of evolving expectations on the part of increasingly connected citizens and the enhanced capacity of governments to utilise ICT in addressing public service needs,” the report notes.