Accra, Dec. 9, GNA - All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)=

are expected to have functional websites to publish information, interact=

with citizens and conduct business transactions online, the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), said on Thursday. NITA said all MDAs should form Website Review Committees to manage a= nd monitor the appropriateness of their website content and deal with websit= e security-related issues.

The statement said these committees would be the first point of call=

for all breaches of their respective websites. NITA, an agency under the Ministry of Communications, responsible fo= r all ICT implementations, standards and quality of service, said the directive made on November 30 at a meeting with representatives from selected MDAs to discuss the responsibilities of the committees, was part= of the implementation of its e-government initiative. "While this is important, agencies have been cautioned against inappropriate acts on their websites such as copyright breaches, unauthorised use of images and personal information exposure." It said the website review committees were expected to ensure that these issues were prevented with accurate and up-to-date content before approving them for publication. NITA asked MDAs to ensure that the design, structure and content of their websites were based on stakeholder/citizen research while their web=

services were easy to find and use.

They should also ensure that the web content was aligned with overal= l MDA communications strategies while consistent design principles were applied across government MDAs, it said. The statement added that under the e-government initiative, the NITA=

was developing policies, guidelines and best practices to aid the design,=

development and maintenance of websites in the public sector. This is to promote excellence in public sector web sites, through go= od management, content and design.