PROMOTING INCLUSIVENESS AND PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNANCE: THE DIRECTIONS OF ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT IN GHANA

In Ghana, there are more mobile phones than people; as a result people who are connected to the internet are more than those in schools. In spite of this, ICT tools have not been optimized to contribute to development. E-Government as a tool for ensuring inclusiveness and participation in governance in Ghana is characterized with challenges such as inability to fulfill the basic prerequisite for e-government development which includes minimum technological infrastructure, conducive environment and human capital. This paper attempts to assess the e-Government initiatives of Ghana; e-Government projects in Ghana, success stories and failures, IT visions of administration and the future directions of e-Government in Ghana. The emergence of the concept: e-Government in Ghana can be linked to the effort of the Ghana government to ratify and adopt an ICT policy in 2003-Informations and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD). A cursory look at the Ghana e-Government initiatives reveals that Ghana is making considerable strides in allowing citizens and businesses to access and pay for services through an online network infrastructure. Renewal of driving licenses, clearing of goods at the port, business registrations, paying of taxes, public procurement and NABCO applications has been made possible through Government of Ghana electronic portal. This study dwelled on mainly secondary sources of data from peer reviewed journal articles, government policy documents and web sources. The study found that, Government of Ghana has exhibited commitment with her attempt to digitalize governance in Ghana. However, this paper also acknowledges the fact that the attempt by the Government of Ghana to digitalize the public sector of Ghana has not been rosy. Improved network and ICT infrastructural facilities should be extended to rural communities as a foundation for e-governance accessibility, awareness, education and proper training session should be held to educate personnel of public sectors about benefit of e-governance, installation and maintenance of ICT gadgets in public sectors in Ghana to facilitate smooth implementation of e-governance services, proper security checks must be improved upon to restore peoples? confidence in transacting or dealings through e-governance, extensive advertisements and publication of e-governance must be embarked upon to create awareness of the e-governance services available in Ghana.