By Edward Acquah
Accra, Sept. 2, GNA – The Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor has presented modern Information Technology equipment worth about GHS8.9 million to three public sector institutions as part of efforts to digitise public service to enhance efficiency.
The package which formed part of the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP), saw the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Public Services Commission, and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development, receive separate equipment to improve service delivery.
Funded by the World Bank, the PSRRP, a four-year programme implemented from 2019 to 2023, seeks to improve efficiency and accountability in the delivery of selected services by Selected Entities.
The items presented to the DVLA included Desktop Card Printer, Card Print Device, signature pads, fingerprint readers, and cleaning swab kits, valued at GHS 8, 312, 121.
The Public Services Commission on the other hand received video conferencing equipment, 75’ smart television, laptops, colour printers, digital camera, server wracks, among other items valued at GHS 552,635.
The Local Government Ministry also received laptops, colour printers, projector, and wireless router valued at GHS 104, 312.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Presidential Advisor, on Friday, September 2, 2022, presented the items to the beneficiary institutions at their respective head offices in Accra.
The Senior Presidential Advisor said the equipment were procured to help the beneficiary institutions to effectively execute their activities for the benefit of improving service delivery to the people.
He said improving efficiency in the delivery of public services through modernisation was essential to the growth of the public sector.
“The private sector can only function properly when the public sector delivery is efficient. “We want the public service to be oriented along these lines that they would provide service to the private sector to make money for the economy to grow.” Mr Osafo-Maafo said.
He urged the various institutions to “make very good use” of the equipment and maintain it well to serve its purpose of improving service delivery.
Mr Thomas Kusi Boafo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Sector Reform Secretariat, said the PSRRP implementation covered 13 Selected Entities, constituting Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, with a $32m credit facility from the World Bank.
He urged the beneficiary institutions to use the equipment effectively and make a case for more support under the Project.
Dr Janet Ampadu Fofie, Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, said the equipment would enhance the Commission’s supervisory duties and reduce face-to-face interviews which she said cost time and money.
Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, a Deputy Local Government Minister, said the equipment would enhance the efficiency of collating data from the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
“Every analysis, financial statements from all the MMDAs are supposed to come to the Ministry. It is a process which is becoming quite tedious because of its manual nature,” he said.
Mr Akwasi Agyeman Busia, the Chief Executive Officer, DVLA, said the equipment would augment the Authority’s ongoing digitisation agenda, and pledged to continuously improve its services.
GNA