Digital waves in Zanzibar: Enhancing government with smart systems

According to Dr. Juma Malik Akil, Zanzibar’s Finance and Planning Ministry Permanent Secretary, the introduction of government digital financial systems has helped fast-track execution of various roles and services’ deliveries.

A good example is the Zanzibar Planning, Budgeting and Reporting System (ZanPBRS) system which was the adopted from the Tanzania Mainland’s Planning, Budgeting and Reporting (PlanRep) system and now implemented in the Isles.

In Zanzibar, ZanPBRS has been integrated with the government’s expenditure management system, MUSE to come up with the planning, budgeting and expenditure system.

“After plans are created and approved in ZanPBRS, they are transferred to MUSE to enable expenditure for accounting purposes and funding to appear in ZanPBRS for tracking and reporting purposes,”  Dr. Malik Akil, commented.

Through the digitisation of information systems, now all processes are responsive to citizen’s needs allowing the delivery of quality services at the local level. The PS noted that digitization of Zanzibar’s government systems helps to improve efficiency both at national and local levels.

In particular, he said, it helps to improve the access, use and quality of service deliveries across agriculture, education, health and other sectors, with a major focus on support for underserved population.

Before the systems were introduced in isles, Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and Local Government Authorities (LGAs) used manual and non-responsive systems like Excel to plan, budget, and track expenditures, where users faced technical issues without prompt resolution, system communicates inadequately, or lacks customisation.

According to the PS, the manual operations  resulted in numerous errors and inconsistent data, which required extensive cross-checking due to the absence of automatic linkages and reduced efficiency leading to substantial costs. “Manual systems also left limited opportunities for authorities to detect funding misuse,” he pointed out.

In addition to providing technical assistance in the form of coding, system installation, and server configuration, Zanzibar government staff also received training to build their capacity to use, manage and institutionalise ZanPBRS.

The digital platforms (ZanPBRS and MUSE) are today revolutionising the way government employees do business, enhancing responsiveness and effectiveness in the delivery of public services.

The increased transparency provided by the digital platforms ensures that “…the budget the government allocates go where they are supposed to and improve service delivery to the citizens in our communities,” he added.

In his comments, eGAZ Director Said Seif Said said, before the introduction of PlanRep from the mainland and its customisation to ZanPBRS in Zanzibar, the budget element system was window-based (Isdor) but, after PlanRep was introduced, it transitioned to an online-based platform.

“This transition has solved the problem of lengthy data allocation, which used to be handled by a single person,” he said noting that the change has now reduced the time required for budget allocation.

“Now, each institution can insert its budget into the system and await final authorisation from the central government,” he pointed out.

“This system was customised to suit the needs of both the central government and other institutions,” he said.

Moving forward, the government of Zanzibar developed a five-year roadmap known as the Digital Economy and Statistics Map that government staff are now been trained to adopt.

“We need the skills to effectively utilise digital tools, enhance capacity building through human capital development and training,” he concluded.

Chipping in, Khadija Alhaji Bakari, Budget Officer in the Budget Department, President’s Office Finance and Planning Zanzibar said “before we digitized, we used the windowbased approach which was not efficient and was time-consuming. Budget creation was limited to a single individual, resulting in inefficiencies.”

“With the digital system, every responsible person, from the budget officer to the accounting personnel, can access and view the budget,” she said.

She agreed that, the transition from the previous system has significantly improved transparency.

“Now, the system can be accessed and viewed at all levels, from the upper management to the lowest division,” she noted

“What used to take three weeks to a month to input in the budget now only requires three days…This substantial timesaving improves service delivery to the community’s citizens,” she concluded.

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Zanzibar digital revolution improves service delivery, efficiency

Notably, the modification and adoption of the digital system has introduced new features, such as data relocation and improved reporting.

Head of Local Government Expenditure System Department Mr Salehe Bakari Hamis said, auditing reports used to suffer from mismatches between actual expenditure data and approved data, but now it is all resolved through data reallocation, resulting in accurate reports.

“The challenges associated with the previous system, which made it difficult to evaluate and monitor the budget, have now been successfully overcome,” he said.

“It has greatly assisted the local government in monitoring and evaluating their budgets,” he underscored.

He admitted that expenditure by the local government was not properly monitored before, which led to funds being used for other purposes like paying for  other activities not originally planned in the budget.

“Thanks to the new system, the local government now has a better understanding of resource utilisation, ensuring that funds are allocated for the intended orders or activities,” he detailed.

He said the system has raised awareness within the government, enabling them to identify the projects, which deserve more budget allocations.

“Previously, the government struggled to prioritise important policies and mainly focused on smaller projects. Now, they actively listen to the citizens, understand their needs, and effectively manage critical community projects,” he summed up.

Dr. Tamimu Hamad Said from Kiwinge Hospital in Zanzibar said  before the system improvements were made at the hospital, it took a long time for patients to receive medication and treatment.

“We lacked infrastructure and equipment, and the dispensary was quite small. Budget allocation from the government was also inadequate,” Said said.

“With the introduction of the new system, the government was able to allocate sufficient funds to construct a new hospital that can now accommodate more people,” said the pleased general physician.

“The hospital has seen an increase in the number of doctors and staff, as well as the acquisition of equipment that enables timely and accurate patient diagnoses,” she commented.

The successful development of ZanPBRS is among the efficiency gains and service delivery improvements that come from bilateral collaboration and government willingness to embrace and institutionalise improved digital systems.