for those who don’t achieve. It’s the
UAE’s sweetest threat. May Allah
save our leaders who accept nothing
less than the first place.”
Abdullah bin Aqidah
(@Aa-
keeda) told Zakat Fund’s experience
with the mGovernment. He tweeted,
“Zakat Fund was one of the first
successful experiences. The Fund
launched Zakat calculation through
mobile phone in 2005. In the same
year, in cooperation with Dubai
eGovernment, it launched zakat on-
line payment. The Fund is proud to
have registered intellectual property
of five programmes with Ministry of
Economy designed by the Fund’s
staff.”
“How proud are we with our coun-
try. We’re proud to be the sons and
daughters of Zayed. Our leaders are
with us. They’re our role models to
achieve UAE’s progress,” Bin Aqidah
added.
Mohammed Al Maeeni (@redbey),
an IT Programmer and Developer
dreams that people will be able to
deal with the Government through a
single email id and receive notifica-
tions about payments and govern-
ment announcements. He also hopes
that people can access government
portals through a single sign-on via
computers or mobile phones.
“If each citizen and resident had an
email id linked to their Emirates ID,
how many paper correspondences
would we save? And what are the
chances of the transaction being
lost?” Al Maeeni wondered.
About the specifications of mGov-
ernment devices, Al Maeeni tweeted,
“The mGovernment needs 750 serv-
ers with a total of 2880 POWER7
processor cores and 16 Terabytes
that can process 500 gigabytes, the
equivalent of a million books, per
second.”
Another Tweep (@fatakae) wrote,
“Access to information any time
from different devices, ease of use
of government services, transpar-
ency and improving government ser-
vices through public cooperation are
among objectives of the mGovern-
ment.”
Dr. Saeed Al Dhaheri (@DDSaeed)
tweeted, “We used to cite examples
from the West. Now, we present real
examples from the UAE.”
Ali bin Ahmed (@Ali_Bin_Ahmed)
tweeted, “Our country is distin-
guished in all fields. It has become
one of the developed countries leav-
ing behind all difficulties. It’s led by
men who don’t know the impossible.”
Hamad Al Jabri (@Hamad_AL_
Jabri) wrote, “Some governments
tell you that the official is on leave
and ask you to come back after two
months. Other governments com-
plete your transactions round the
clock. The UAE Government was the
first Arab eGovernment. Now, it’s the
first mGovernment.”
Al Jabri wished the country of “Za-
yed” more prosperity and added,
“The UAE is not racing anyone or
competing with anyone. The UAE is
only racing time. Some of our broth-
ers in the Arab countries and in the
Gulf think that the UAE is competing
with them. We tell them that the UAE
is not competing with you. It only rac-
es ‘the current age.”
He added, “Any Emirati achievement
is for all Arabs, Muslims and human-
ity. If you are in the UAE, you have to
learn how to ‘race the current age’.
Everyone around you is racing. So,
be a racer.”
Abdullah Al-Etr (@AbdullahAletr)
had a number of suggestions that
he thought would contribute to the
success of this pioneering project.
He suggested establishing an Emi-
rati company for smart technologies
specialized in application develop-
ment. He said that the uniqueness
of the UAE mGovernment is due to:
pre-emptive strategy, unlimited de-
velopment, firm decision, supporting
creativity and speed.
For Mohammed Ali Al Hammadi,
mGovernment means “An end to
the era of going to different govern-
ment departments to complete some
documents or a single transaction. It
means the beginning of an era where
you can complete your transactions
while you’re at home or office.”
Khabil Wish said, “I think mGovern-
ment will benefit the customer as
well as the employee. Both can com-
plete the transactions from home
anytime.”
Another Tweep whose user name
translates into “The one who adores
the soil of my country” (@Buturkei)
said, “Despite the hard work and
efforts, we get refreshed and start
looking for other challenges as soon
as we see the achievements.”
Mohammed Al Mazemi wrote, “God
bless His Highness Sheikh Moham-
med bin Rashid Al Maktoum. What
have you instilled in our minds to
make us accept only the first place
and always look for achievements?
The incentive and motivation is crys-
tal clear for everyone. The only way
forward is hard and innovative work.
Farewell to those with rigid minds.”
We welcome your opinions, sug-
gestions and enquiries through the
eGovernment account on Twitter @
EmiratesEGov and Facebook www.
facebook.com/Emirates.eGov
Issue 1
October
2013
25
