By Justina Paaga
Takoradi, December 15, GNA- As part of activities to implement the Twin-cities in sustainable partnership project, some media personnel in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have been engaged in the creation of an electronic government platform for the metropolis.
The engagement formed part of preliminary solicitation of inputs from multiple stakeholders on the design and adoption of the-government platform to enhance access to information and Municipal services as well as promote civic participation in urban governance, under the auspices of the Twin-cities in sustainable partnership project (TCSPP).
The TCSPP is a three-year project being implemented in the cities of Sekondi-Takoradi and Palermo (Italy), with funding from the European Union (EU). Which is aimed at enhancing the city authority’s capacity to respond to the challenges of urbanization and climate change, unemployment, and exclusion.
Mr Aziz Mahmoud, Governance & Social Accountability Officer for TCSPP, said STMA was organizing the stakeholder meetings as part of the implementation of the EU-Funded TCSPP to provide a platform for continuous dialogue with multiple stakeholders such as the media, civil society organizations, traditional authorities, and assembly members and staff of the assembly to solicit inputs for the design of an e-government platform to enhance access to information and improve upon responsiveness and efficiency in Municipal service delivery.
According to him, the stakeholder’s engagement was to among others give opportunities for citizens to make inputs into decisions that directly or indirectly affect their socio-economic well-being which are the guiding principles in Ghana’s local government systems.
He explained that the 1992 constitution, the local governance Act 2016(Act936), and the Right to Information Act, 2019(989) exist among others to empower citizens to participate in decision-making, demand transparency and accountability as well as gain unfettered access to legally permissible information from duty bearers in all aspects of national life, including local governance.
Mr Mahmoud noted that the enabling environment for citizens’ participation and the horizontal accountability mechanisms these legislations sought to provide have not engendered transparency nor accountability, creating mistrust in MMDAs.
He said it equally limited avenues to access information and bureaucracy in accessing Municipal services which further entrenched the feeling of neglect of the social contract between government and citizens.
Mr Mahmoud pointed out that turnaround time in assessing such services was equally not encouraging due to bureaucracy and susceptibility to corruption because of human intervention, adding that traditional avenues for participation such as citizens’ engagement platforms also limit the ability to involve a wider population to contribute to decision making resulting in apathy.
The participants discussed among others, what has been their experience in accessing information from STMA, what information they would like STMA to communicate to the media, it frequency and disclosure as well as what has been their experience in accessing Municipal services from STMA.
They also discussed how STMA can use technology to enhance access to information, Municipal services, and civic participation and what would be their role in Making sure the e-government platform would be effective and meet their needs. How to use e-government to promote transparency and accountability in governance.
The participants speaking to the GNA, lauded the idea to use e-government to manage the affairs of STMA and suggested the digitization of all the services such as (works, transport, marriages, waste management, environmental health, Social Welfare, and Business /Enterprise) of the Metropolitan Assembly, that they noted would help reduce cost and enhance transparency and accountability.
They also suggested the institution of a solid monitoring and evaluation team which would monitor all projects being executed by the Assembly and to act swiftly on complaints from the public.
GNA