AMMAN — The government’s e-service gateway application,
Sanad, is among the worst reviewed governmental applications — of which there are 41 — on the Google Play store for Android devices.
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The Land Transport Regulatory Authority’s application claims first place among the government’s worst-rated applications, followed by the Sanad application, and the “Jordan Transport Map” application, which is rated third worst.
A report issued on Monday by the Hayat Center — Rased, discussing Jordanians’ satisfaction with the electronic services provided by the government, found that only 10.4 percent of Jordanians are highly satisfied with the government applications, 49.9 percent of Jordanians are moderately and weakly satisfied, and 39.7 percent are dissatisfied.
However, it is worth mentioning that some governmental apps are rated well on the Google Play story. The apps have ratings ranging from as low as the Land Transport Regulatory Authority’s application to as high as five stars.
Hamzeh Tayyan, a resident of Amman, told
Jordan News that he and his friends have had trouble accessing the Sanad application. “This application is an important one that should be much better than how it is now,” he said.
Tayyan added: “I honestly have not tried to access any other governmental applications, but after this bad experience with Sanad, I do not think that I will use any other application.”
“The government should have known that the application was not working well before obligating citizens to use it,” he said. “If the current situation stays as it for too long, I assume that many users will stop using the application in the coming days.”
While registering on the Sanad application is not obligatory, and people may enter establishments using a number of other documents and official numbers, the app’s download numbers surged after Defense Order No. 46 was issued.
The order obligates shopping centers, the banking sector, telecommunications companies, tourist restaurants, cafes, hotels, and other establishments to not allow any person to enter unless they have taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine or have a negative PCR test.
The announcement of the order at time placed emphasis on the Sanad app. However, since then the government has clarified that using the app is not mandatory.
Sameer Khzouz, another resident of Amman, told
Jordan News that it does not make sense to force residents to use these applications, if not everyone has access to them. “My problem is not in whether the applications work efficiently or not, it is that many citizens may not have smartphones to access these applications.”
Khzouz added: “Jordan is not just Amman; there are many remote and poor areas in Jordan, in which many citizens cannot afford to buy smartphones. Can anyone tell me how these people manage to access these applications?”
However, Eman Al-Momani, who is an IT expert, told
Jordan News that “the main reason behind the weakness of the governmental applications is that programmers are not given the right training they need.”
“We suffer from a lack of training centers and even institutes that can help programmers in getting trained and experienced,” she said. “We in Jordan even do not have a master’s degree in programming, but if we did there are not enough highly qualified professors.”
From her side, Shorouq Hilal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, told
Jordan News that “a new version of the Sanad application will be released very soon.”
Hilal added that “the new version will be very satisfying for everyone. It will be user friendly and aims to help anyone in using the application in a very easy way, without any technical obstacles.”
“Programmers work on it tirelessly every day,” she said. “If anyone finds a problem in accessing the application he should not hesitate in calling us and informing us about the problem he faces anytime.”
She stressed that “for now, citizens do not have to register on the application to use their identity document, but rather can scan it directly from the home page of the application without having to register. This shall help them in benefiting from the application easily, with no obstacles.”
The spokesperson said that “the upcoming days hold for citizens many spectacular developments. … As I said before, programmers work tirelessly every day; they want to provide citizens with promising applications.”
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