Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Director of Institute of Local Government Studies, says her dream for local government is for Ghanaians to access pertinent information and do simple transactions electronically without having to leave their geographical locations.

“I dream of the day that women of Topreman, Kpandai, Vli Afegame, Pobiman, Chorkor can electronically access maternal health information, register the birth of their children, check on market prices for cassava and maize in different parts of the country, get insights on what their assembly plans to do in the market where they sell, complain about burst pipes and noisy preachers in their localities and be informed about the fees fixed on their dress-making businesses.

“Is that too much to ask from Ghanaian local government?” She asked in a keynote address at the opening of the 66th annual New Year School and Conference, organised by the University of Ghana’s Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, on the theme ‘Improving the Performance of the Local Government System in the Era of E-Governance.”

Dr Ofei-Aboagye noted that the local level of governance is the one closest to the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens and thus very strategic for assemblies, in effectively improving the lives of the people.

She said in order for the assemblies to fulfil their constitutional mandate of deepening democracy, facilitating service delivery, promoting local level development and enhancing participation in governance, it is required that they effectively communicate with and engage all critical parties at their level.

She said in line with increasing attention on the demographic dividends, which is economic growth resulting from a change in the age structure of a county’s population, the phenomenon of large sections of the population under 30, connected to technology, endowed with energy and curiosity but unevenly educated and impressionable, hungry for knowledge and purpose, needs to be turned to advantage.

This, she said, calls for expedited, enhanced and innovative action on the parts of local authorities the world over and their non-state and private partners.

Dr Ofei-Aboagye explained that although there are on-going efforts at reforming the 2010 Decentralisation Policy over the four years of its implementation in order to make decentralisation more responsive in Ghana, there are concerns that the process as well as the assembly system are failing to deliver, with citizens’ satisfaction and understanding of assembly operations, perceptions of responsiveness and contacts with grassroots lagging behind.

An assessment of the capacity constraints of the assembly in the implementation of the national decentralisation policy framework through effective monitoring and reporting undertaken in 2014 by the inter-ministerial coordinating committee on decentralisation also indicated that improved management information systems are urgently required for effectiveness.

“The incorporation of information communication technology (ICT) facilities into the operations of assemblies would expedite ready storage, retrieval and access to critical information.

“Good governance is predicated on various principles that involve citizens being able to participate in the formulation and implementation of decisions that affect them.

“This basic assumption is underpinned by access to information” Dr Ofei- Aboagye said.

She said there are innovations and technological advancements and best practices that would facilitate information availability, dissemination, exchange, feedback between the government and governance stakeholders and enhance accountability.

Dr Ofei-Aboagye cautioned that in spite of its benefits and good prospects, the use of e-governance would present administrative, institutional, technological and human challenges such as differential levels of e-governance achievement between the central and local government levels and sectors, establishment of systems to reach different end users, levels of computer literacy apart from mobile penetration and different levels of individual and institutional capacity across sectors.

She called on government to pro-active by providing a framework for local government networking into the national informational technology effort but with adequate flexibility for local innovation and interaction.