National Information Technology Board (NITB) has revealed that some government officials are reluctant to use email accounts having (.gov.pk) domain for secure communications, which is hampering the entire implementation process.
Currently 3363 email ids have been created covering 26 ministries/departments and expecting to reach this figure to 10000 by December when all the 42 ministries/divisions would be covered.
The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) had directed the Ministry to devise a workable plan for implementation of email accounts having (.gov.pk) domain for all government offices for secure communication.
According to a brief prepared for the committee, NITB has stated that the task has been duly completed. Summary is as given below;
The Board has created 3363 email addresses for federal employees. Additional e-mail’s special requirements include Secretaries- 42, Federal Minister- 32, Minister of State- 4, Special Advisor- 4 and Special Assistant to Prime Minister- 9.
The Committee had directed the Ministry to write a letter to all ministries on the direction of the Committee that all professional/official correspondence in government offices should be conducted using official email address.
About the recruitment rules of vacant position in NITB, the committee was informed that several meetings have been conducted between NITB and Establishment division.
Recruitment rules are pending due to the status of NITB as an attached department whereas most of the hierarchy is composed of “MP scale” positions. MoITT had moved a summary in this regard to the cabinet to change the status of NITB from an attached department to that of an autonomous body, approved by the cabinet, which would now be enacted through act of Parliament.
While deliberating over the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of National Information Technology Boards, Senator Engr.
Rukhsana Zuberi enquired about details of services being provided to government departments. She asserted that in the current scenario E-governance should be priority. She demanded details of all PSDP projects, consultancies provided by NITB and other pertinent details at the earliest
No doubt the experience is poor compared to the major free email providers. This is a problem in the US as well. Hilary Clinton’s email use was a major issue in their elections. Trump’s son in laws use of insecure whatsapp is currently making the news. The private sector is much better at delivering a user friendly experience even in countries with a better public sector. One can only imagine what monstrosity the NITB has created.
Hillary was using a private server, instead of State Dept Mail which was maintained on secure Federal Government Servers. She used it for official communication, which went against the State Dept protocols and procedures. It is high time for officials to communicate through official email addresses. As long as they have good security policies and there is a secure mail server, there are no issues.
She used a private email server because the user experience of the official govt. one was poor. Kushner is using whatsapp because its convenient and easy. Other trump administration people are also using various IM and chat apps.
What do you think the NITB email is like? No competition. Complete government mandated monopoly with a captive audience. What kind of product do you think such a company will produce? Come on man. This is Pakistan.
All Government Department should have URL Page & Domain :
& One IT Department check all activity of user.