Artificial intelligence technology as an innovative strategy to curb maladministration in the South African Public Sector

Abstract

Maladministration in the form of fraud and corruption is seen as a nightmare in most organisations, particularly in the public sector. This is because administrative activities and functions are mostly carried out traditionally by people who normally get tempted to maladministration in different forms. Literature has shown that maladministration in the public sector not only dents the image of the
public sector but also ruins limited resources that are intended to provide essential services to the citizens. Despite innovative efforts that the government has initiated, such as the use of blockchain for complete record-keeping, electronic procurement systems to eliminate bid-rigging, and data excavating to spot suspicious forms of maladministration in the use of public funds, there is still no clear framework in the public sector to prevent maladministration activities. This article is grounded on Digital Governance Theory and used literature as secondary data to analyse artificial intelligence technology as innovative strategy to curb maladministration in the context of South
African Public Sector. The conceptual framework was adopted to investigate and propose framework for artificial intelligence technology to curb maladministration in the form of fraud and corruption in South African public sector. The article discovered that there are lot of questionable administrative activities caried out in the public sector without any evidential records for accountability. The findings also revealed that most public sectors lack the ability and capabilities of implementing artificial intelligence technology. The outdated Information Technology systems infrastructure is found to be a stumbling block for effective utilisation of artificial intelligence in the
public sector. The article further proposed a framework for artificial intelligence technology to curb maladministration in the form of fraud and corruption in the public sector. It is hoped that the framework will guide the affected public entities on how public administration that is free from fraud and corruption can be attained through Artificial Intelligence technology.