By Staff Writer
Government has revealed that there is a significant revenue leakage in motor vehicle insurance that needs to be dealt with by having an aggregated database which currently has variances.
Technology and Science Minister Felix Mutati said following a meeting with Road Transport and Safety Agency RTSA and Insurance Association of Zambia, it was discovered that within the same economy, the association had about 300,000 vehicles insured while RTSA had over 400,000 vehicles with insurance discs yet their database had over 800,000 vehicles.
Mr Mutati said these are indications that there are disparities in common data by government institutions, an indication of significant revenue leakages that should be dealt with as ordinary Zambians are paying the price.
The Minister was speaking at the launch of the inclusive digital economy status report for the year 2022 which among other findings reveals that Zambia’s transformation of the digital economy stands at 45 percent while digital infrastructure coverage had reached 92 percent.
Mr Mutati said it is therefore, imperative that through his ministry, options to use digital solutions to aggregate the database are explored using Zambians who are talented with digital skills in order to address identified variances.
He noted that when the country underperforms in tax collection among others, it is because there is a lack of integrated data and therefore, the journey now should be to have common data for the nation using digital platforms which are key, using a single digital identity for the citizens.
Mr Mutati also said the overall objective for the ministry will be to create convenience, reliability and transparency in the delivery of government services which is being aggressively worked on in order to be achieved before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Mr Mutati said the creation of his ministry by President Hakainde Hichilema was a decisive move aimed at driving the digital transformation of the Zambian economy, which according to the World Bank economic diagnostic study for 2020 identified that the country has a strong foundation for the use of digital tools to drive the transformation required in the socio-economic areas as set out in vision 2030.
