d. A relatively weak parliamentary oversight, lack of policies to protect the vulnerable and weak; inefficient channels of communication resulting in weak and ineffective service delivery mechanisms. e. Poor financial control and asset management. f. Poor human resource management. g. High Government expenditure. A1-8-2 Objectives a. To improve the quality of public sector governance through ICT interventions like egovernment programmes to build an open and transparent administration and guarantee delivery of services to the poor. b. To facilitate online channel of transactions between government and citizen. Transactions may include: Electronic payments and benefits transfer (pensions and benefits, family allowance, scholarships, etc.), payment of taxes, licenses, bills, fines, and registration of businesses, births, deaths, marriages. c. To promote transparency in the functioning of Government through open access to Government information that could be disclosed to the public through MDA websites. d. To use online discussion forums that can play an important role in raising awareness among communities on social development issues and encourage more active participation. e. To ensure implementation of a Financial Management System along side an Asset Management System to manage Government finances and assets. f. To implement a Human Resource Management System to manage performance in MDAs with individual objectives cascading from ministerial performance management contracts. g. Use of ICT to cut expenditure and ensure value for money in Government MDAs. A1-8-3 Challenges a. Renewing the Government’s ICT infrastructure for an effective e-Government system that allows end-to-end execution of government business processes. b. Efficient and effective public access through affordable/available Internet points of access especially in the rural areas to enable the citizens in remote areas to securely tap into government services from home, school, office, libraries, public electronic kiosks, and community resource centres. c. Popularisation of ICT tools for administering the work of MDAs e.g. intranet emails, electronic calendars, and word processing, document management and workflow applications for tracking work progress and status, and decision support and management applications. ICT Policy of Sierra Leone Page 55 / 63