Post-colonial impact on information technology policy adoption in developing countries: the case of tanzania

Abstract

It is considered that the information technology (IT) revolution is rapidly changing economic as well as social activities by providing opportunities and challenges for accelerating development in the world. Governments and other institutions in industrialised countries (ICs) have changed their planning and other operation systems to benefit from these IT advancements. One of the major activities which has been considered to enable industrialised countries to achieve IT potential is to adopt IT policy. This is a documentary research which has used a qualitative approach to explore IT policy adoption. In developing countries (DCs), IT is not yet exploited because of various factors hindering the IT policy development process. This research investigated the factor that had not been studied, of the post-colonial impact on IT policy adoption in DCs, focusing Oil Tanzania as a case study. Specifically, it explored how IT advancement on the one hand, and post-colonialism on the other hand, influence policy-making activity in Tanzania. The study illustrated, among other aspects, the interaction between Tanzanian society and IT through observing existing government policies; opportunities to access IT; people's awareness regarding IT use for their socio-economic development; and IT infrastructure. The study revealed that there were several obstacles hindering IT use and development in relation to post-colonial influence in Tanzania. The factors identified include the following: insufficient funds located to the IT sector; lack of information policy that would facilitate IT investment; poor IT infrastructure; language barriers - as the majority of Tanzanians do not use English; poverty - as a large number of Tanzanians cannot purchase a computer and also are unable to afford Internet services; negative mindset of some policy-makers against IT use - as they lack IT knowledge and skills; lack of understanding of the importance of IT for national development; lack of commitment of the government regarding IT investment and use in various sectors; and the post-colonial impact at policy level - as the government is still influenced by colonial government structures in terms of existing too much bureaucracy, laws, and policy formulation procedures. The study also realised that, although it may take some time for IT use benefits to accrue, it is clear that the provision of IT access in the rural areas would help to break the rural-urban inequalities persisting in Tanzania, some being influenced by post-colonial legacy. Thus, it is emphasised that, as IT advances quickly, Tanzania like other developing countries (DCs) has no option other than embracing IT as a vital tool for accelerating her socio-economic development. Moreover, it could be argued that people must be at the "centre" of any social and economic planning, whether this is in the private or public sector. Much policy and planning in Tanzania of recent decades have not been people-centred but driven by a range of models from industrialised countries (ICs) which some have been proved unsuitable for the Tanzanian context. Thus, the study suggests that Tanzania needs a new organisation system at the policy level which would bring change from the traditional planning and governance approaches that are influenced by post-colonial legacy into a new approach of policy-making. Policies, which are confined to old technologies, have to be changed to account for the new emerging technologies. Similarly, Tanzania has to develop a new policy adoption model that would be people-centred so as to build the attitude of resource sharing among the people and encourages them to participate in the process of policy adoption and implementation. The new policy-making approach, which is essential to overcome post-colonial influence in Tanzania, would be expected to focus on how to integrate peoples' thinking in the course of using IT potential. Therefore, policy-makers in Tanzania need to foresee social and economic future impacts, and thus, design IT policy along with technological solutions that would match and support these future visions. In this way, Tanzania would be moving beyond the existing post-colonial influence by designing socio-economic and institutional instruments that would be meant to adjust the potential of IT to a full-employment future.