GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Residents of Gaza have typically had to spend hours waiting to lodge their complaints at various government agencies, but for a few weeks now, they have been able to submit their grievances with a click. On Sept. 5, the administration in Gaza inaugurated an electronic complaints system, which should save residents much time and effort. Previously, complaints had to be submitted in writing or in person.

The Centralized Complaints System is under the administration of the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology (MTIT), with complaints being channeled through the Governmental Performance Quality Unit. Some 100 employees follow up on the expressed grievances and route them to the concerned ministries.

Mohammed Kahil, a resident of the Sabra neighborhood, submitted a complaint about a ministerial employee failing to properly complete an official document related to his younger brother’s education at the Al-Falah School in Gaza. He told Al-Monitor, “It is difficult for citizens to directly contact directors and officials within ministries, but the e-government complaints system is a good step that will make it easier for us to submit our complaints to the government departments.”

Kahil said that the system should improve the performance of ministry employees, because they will be subject to government supervision. “Now they have to properly respond to the complaints and cannot ignore them, as they would do with complaints submitted by hand in some cases,” he said.