PRIME Minister Dr Andrew Holness says Jamaica is moving to put most Government services online as the country’s economic future now depends on its ability to use technology to eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies that have long slowed growth and weakened global competitiveness.

Holness was speaking on Tuesday at a panel discussion titled ‘Beyond Bureaucracy: Jamaica’s Resilience for the Digital Age’, held at the Faculty of Law at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona campus by Generation 2000, the young professionals arm of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party.

Outlining the Government’s push to digitise public administration and modernise how citizens interact with the State the prime minister reiterated his argument that improving efficiency must now be treated as a national resource if Jamaica is to sustain economic progress and improve living standards.

“For a smaller developing State like Jamaica, efficiency is not a by-product of growth, it is a driver of growth. We cannot compete on size, no. We cannot compete on scale, maybe not. But we must compete on speed, we must compete on clarity, we must compete on efficiency. It is a travesty that we have the fastest human beings on Earth, but we are amongst the slowest in the speed of doing business, the speed of innovation, the speed of approval and permitting, the speed of getting things done. So, yes, efficiency is a resource in and of itself that we must develop,” Holness said.

He warned again that bureaucratic delays have real and damaging consequences for citizens, even if the system itself does not feel the urgency.

“So, to the officers making the rules, enforcing the rules, delay does not have a price. Delay has no cost. They get paid regardless. Whether or not the house is built, they get paid. But to you, delay does have a price, and this is indeed the challenge that Jamaica now faces: how do we create smart bureaucracy?” he said.

Pointing to real-life examples, the prime minister said technology is already helping to eliminate unnecessary requirements, including the once mandatory in-person renewal of motor vehicle registration.

“I couldn’t understand why it was that motor vehicle registration had to be an in-person transaction… and we decided, listen, there is no reason why the registration should be done in-person. You can do it online, and, you know, with the advance of technology for motor vehicles, you don’t need to go and recertify your vehicle for fitness every year. That’s a simple restructuring of our system. You know how much time that will save?” Holness said.

Despite these changes, he acknowledged that many Jamaicans remain reluctant to fully embrace digital services.

“We have literally hundreds of government services that are digitised that you can use online but not a lot of people use it. Why? Access. So not everyone has access to serviceable Internet, and [there is] fear. There are some people who just feel, you know what? I need to count that cash, and I need to see the physical paper,” he said.

To support the transition, Holness said the Government has been investing in digital infrastructure, including faster and more reliable Internet connectivity, to ensure citizens can access online services faster and easier.

He also pointed to identity verification as one of the biggest obstacles to efficient public administration, noting that repeated identity checks contribute to delays and inefficiency.

“If the Government is going to give you a dollar, you want to know that the dollar that was given as a taxpayer went to someone who deserves it, and it can be accounted for, and so the person needs to identify it. You need to identify it. Now, the challenge, of course, is that where you can have multiple identities, or identities can be stolen, or identities can’t be verified, bureaucracies, as they do in trying to ensure that nobody gets through, will ask you, at each time that you interact with them, to provide identity, and that becomes the greatest frustration. But every time you go to interact with [the] Government, there’s this process of trying to re-establish identity [and] that in itself leads to all kinds of possibilities of corruption,” he said.

Holness reiterated that bureaucracy itself is not inherently negative, but warned that systems designed to ensure order can become obstacles if they are not modernised.

“The very system that made modern civilisation possible is now, in many parts of the world, slowing its progress. That system is bureaucracy. For centuries, bureaucracy has been the backbone of order, fairness, and predictability in governance. But in the digital age we must ask a bold question: Is our bureaucracy enabling or restraining growth?”

He pointed to countries such as Singapore and South Korea, which transformed their economies by investing heavily in administrative efficiency and digital government.

“They managed to develop administrative efficiency, predictable regulations, faster food policy. More than that, they digitised and digitalised their Government rapidly while we are arguing about some conspiracy theory nonsense. They invested heavily in digitalising their economy and their public administration, and you know what else they did? They made sure that Government served industry,” he explained.

While stressing the importance of reform, Holness made it clear that the Government’s goal is to modernise bureaucracy, not eliminate it.

“I am not here to propose a world without bureaucracy. A world without bureaucracy would be chaos. Corruption would be blatant, negligence would be blatant, lack of standards would be blatant. But I am here to propose a transformation of our bureaucracy, to make it more efficient so it eliminates the possibility of corruption,” he said.

Holness said Jamaica is now investing in the infrastructure, systems, and technology needed to support a fully digital public sector, arguing that integrating technology into government operations is critical to improving service delivery and strengthening the country’s long-term economic prospects.

“Technology is, indeed, the critical component… governments have to be a great instrument of delivery in ensuring that the technologies that exist are integrated quickly into our systems of managing people and resources,” he said.

The Government’s digital transformation push comes as Jamaica continues efforts to modernise its public sector, improve the ease of doing business, and position the country to compete in an increasingly technology-driven global economy.