MANAMA: The Foreign Affairs and Finance Ministries have joined the National Suggestions and Complaints System Tawasul, bringing the number of entities, which are currently benefiting from the system, to 13 governmental entities receiving suggestions, complaints, comments and inquiries electronically from citizens, residents and visitors to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
To strengthen communication with the citizens and beneficiaries, the eGovernment Authority (eGA) is working to include all government entities in the Tawasul system. Initially, Tawasul is a unified platform for effective communication with government entities in the Kingdom, and is considered the best mechanism for citizens to suggest solutions to difficulties in a timely manner, with the advantages of tracking the status of the complaint and expressing satisfaction towards the speed level of processing, confidentiality and simplicity. This comes without the trouble of the follow-up with more than one entity, especially with the association of some cases and complaints that requires more than one government entity.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Abdullatif Abdullah confirmed that the Ministry’s plans to apply the Tawasul system as per the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.
“HRH Prince Salman’s directions transpired for the need to build bridges of communication between service users from the citizens, residents and officials in the ministries, in order to improve the quality of life,” he said, adding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was coordinated with eGA in order to include the ministry’s services in the first phase of the system, which was launched in December 2013 as one of the eGovernment’s initiatives to enhance government performance and open direct channels of communication between government entities and citizens.
Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Information at the Ministry of Finance Ismail Abdul Nabi Al-Marhoun expressed his delight towards the joining of the Ministry of Finance to this new system, stressing that the ministry has always given utmost attention to the views and suggestions of all its stakeholders, any complaints they may put forward, and respond to everything it receives in this regard.
This makes stakeholders from the various sectors within the society, feel that the ministry is keen to build bridges of dialogue and interaction with them in all topics and issues that fall within the work scope of its duties and responsibilities.
In order to communicate effectively with the community and utmost quality, the continuous coordination between the eGovernment Authority and both ministries included training staff on using the system and on professional ways to deal with the ideas and aspirations of the citizens and beneficiaries. This is accomplished because Tawasul represents one of the permanent and direct channels of communication between citizens and officials of government entities, and promotes the development of all government services directed to citizens in its various sectors. This also comes as part of the eGovernment’s commitment to provide the best electronic services across multiple channels, expand the public’s participation and interaction, and improve the governance of government services.
The system allows the public to present any inquiry, suggestion or complaint to the participating government entities in the system, at any time and place. The suggestion or complaint passes through six stages; starting with the submission of the application, followed by reviewing and transferring, after that the government’s response, then auditing and investigation by the Central Bureau, the case is processed, and lastly it is followed by the process of analysis and development as its last stage .
Currently, Tawasul includes 13 government entities. Besides the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance, the system includes the Ministries of Housing, Social Development, Labour, Transportation, Works, Health, Municipalities of the Central Region and the Northern Region, Central Informatics Organisation (CIO), Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), and the eGovernment Authority.