From E-Government to M-Government - Challenges Faced by Sub-Saharan Africa

The rapid proliferation of mobile technology and the subsequent overwhelming penetration of mobile phones in developing countries have created a new platform, opportunity and challenge for the governments to communicate and deliver its services on 24/7 basis to citizens and business. This development paved way for governments to focus on modernizing public service delivery systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their services. This emerging phenomenon in public service delivery is referred to as Mobile Government (m- Government) and is an extension of Electronic Government (e-Government) in which mobile and wireless communication technologies are used in providing and accessing government services. This paper focus on exploring the migration from e- Government to m-Government service initiatives taking place in sub-Saharan Africa Region and give an analysis of the challenges of such endeavours and posse recommendations on the way-forward to overcome such stumbling-blocks. This study extensively explores contemporary research undertaken in this area to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by countries in sub-Sahara Africa adopting m-Government. The study found that sub-Saharan Africa nations face a mammoth of challenges in their endeavours to extent from e-Government to m-Government and most of them are inherently attributed to widespread digital divide, poor outreach on the part of government on mservices and trust. The study provide some vital information and recommendations for policy makers for shaping up the future of m-Government and overcome a host of challenges faced by many countries in sub-Saharan Africa Region.