3 Anti-corruption Questions You Should Ask Before Selecting Your Government Software Provider In Africa
Sometimes, the honesty of the government software provider you select, is more important than the software they produce.
Posted on 16 October 2020 at 08:59am
Avoiding corrupt government software providers.
1. Does the Software company you are talking to pay bribes to get government contracts?
Bribery and corruption undermines your countrys laws, democratic institutions and can contribute to the erosion of your countrys economy.
When a software company pays bribes to obtain government software contracts, this act eliminates genuine competition, which can lead to government officials signing up to an over priced software project which is of no real benefit to your country.
Once a contract has been awarded to a corrupt software company, there is actually no obligation, or incentive for the corrupt software company to provide value for money for your countrys tax payers. This is because the government software contract was not awarded to the company on its merits.
Even if several months down the line, the software project is seen to be failing, the corrupt software supplier who has paid a bribe to government officials or their associates, will expect the software project to continue, even in the face of strong public opposition.
In addition, those government associates or officials who have benefited from the bribe, will have an obligation to continue funding the project with tax payers money, regardless of a lack of project progress, or expert predictions of a negative outcome.
Any government funds which has been allocated to a corrupt software project may later be considered by government Ministers, government regulatory bodies and members of the public to be a waste of public funds.
This can lead to political instability within your country, as seen during the recent bribery scandal with Germanys SAP ERP Software Company and South Africas Eskom, which ultimately led to a number of political resignations at the highest level of government.
2. Can you trust a corrupt software company to keep your government data safe?
Keeping your government data safe.
Software companies fall into a privileged category of government service provider, in that they will always have full access to all your governments activities, transactions and data, as part of the software development and maintenance process.
In short, software companies see everything that happens within your government. This is why the vast majority of software companies work extremely hard to keep their reputation and integrity intact.
Because the privacy of your data is cruitial to the smooth operation of your government, once a software company has been caught paying bribes to attain government contracts. everything that the corrupt software company does from then on must now be questioned and scrutinised at all levels.
You may also ask yourself, if the corrupt software company was prepared to pay bribes to attain your government software contract, would they also be prepared to accept bribes which may compromise the privacy of your governments data.
Though this is very unlikely, the point is, once the trust between government and its software provider has been broken, every interaction you have with a corrupt software company must then be examine, for the sake of your countrys political stability, and national security.
3. Is your software provider working for the good of your country and the African Continent?
Before selecting a software company to develop your government systems, consider to what extent they really care about the prosperity of the African Continent?
When your government chooses to work with a software provider for the long term, it helps if you both share the same values and aspirations for the technological development of your country, and the African continent as a whole.
An Africa centric software company will always share those common goals, and act in the best interest of your country, its citizens and government institutions.
CFTA Software is an Africa Diaspora EGov software company made up of European based Engineers of African descent.
We specialise in the design and development of Integrated Commercial, E-Government and E-Governance software systems to Western standards, for governments and companies in the AfCFTA region.
Our pricing is in line with African Digital Infrastructure budgets, and we accept full or partial payments in your Local currency for software development projects.
Contact us to find out how to get started.
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