Evaluation of the implementation of electronic government in Ghana

Abstract

Poverty and lack of access to technology continues to pose a perpetual threat to Africa’s e-government implementation program. While significant progress in e-government has been chalked, huge disparities remain within and among African countries. This study examines the implementation progress of e-government in Ghana’s ministries and agencies. Based on Gartner’s maturity stage of e-government, underpinned by a quantitative approach, surveys were conducted in 182 government agencies. Findings of the study showed that e-government resources are available and used to facilitate e-government activities in government ministries and agencies. However, Public sector organizations are still plagued with infrastructural, economic and legal challenges and human resources in the development of e-government. It recommended that the Ghana’s government should expand the use of online services by adopting a more citizen-centric approach to promote e-government planning and implementation in infrastructure, law, human capacity.

Keywords

Electronic government gartner four phase e-government model web presence open government partnership maturity model

1. Introduction

The United Nations in 2016 adopted the agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to address the shortfalls in the Millennium Development Goals. The policy agenda sought to impress upon government around the world to create a peaceful and inclusive societies under an accountable and inclusive institutions. Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and e-government were identified as the main tools to realize these objectives presumably because trends in the development of e-government across the globe is inching towards higher levels of e-government. Thus, countries which were hitherto performing abysmally in the UN e-government ranking are embracing innovative ways of ICT to deliver services [42]. One of such countries is Ghana. Ever since Ghana embarked on an e-government implementation campaign in 2008, it has made tremendous progress. A framework for the development of an e-government infrastructure to improve upon her online service delivery and to ensure that public institutions are more inclusive, effective, accountable and transparent were put into effect. Such developments culminated into the implementation of e-government projects across ministries and their allied agencies. Thus, a significant improvement was observed when Ghana’s rankings improved, from 145th in 2012 to 123rd in 2014 and 120th in 2016 in the United Nations’ e-government surveys [40, 41, 42]. Given the importance of these progressive improvements in Ghana in the last three editions of the UN e-government rankings, this study aims to investigate the implementation stage of e-government by examining the e-government development status of Ghana under the following research questions:

(1)
What are the available e-government infrastructure resources across the ministries and agencies?
(2)
What are the maturity stages of e-government implementation in Ghana? and
(3)
What are the e-government challenges facing the ministries and agencies?

These key research questions were examined within the framework of the various maturity models in e-government as they provide guidance and guidelines to identify the best practices.
2. Context of the study

As a burgeoning democracy, Ghana recognizes that no developing economy can be sustained without recourse to the integration of ICT and E-government. It concedes that the spread of ICT has a potential to bridge the digital divide and to improve knowledge societies. In order to actualize this vision, it declared ICT as a national priority with the issuing of a National ICT for Accelerated Development Policy Statement [36] which was approved by Cabinet in early 2004. This move subsequently resulted in the establishment of the National Information Technology Agency implementation project of government [28]. This initiative was undertaken in anticipation of Ghana’s cherished commitment to sign on to the Open Government Partnership initiative (OGP), a multilateral initiative that seeks to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance [46]. The purpose of Ghana’s membership is to enhance public services, increase public integrity and increase corporate accountability which feeds into the ultimate aim of the implementation of e-government. The e-government project was to ease the lives of people and businesses interacting with the government and to establish Ghana as the economic hub for trade in West Africa. In recognizing this trend and the work of the Ghana government, little independent research exists to show Ghana’s progress in e-government implementation.

3. Theoretical perspective

Despite its growing popularity in academic, professional and policy fronts, e-government lacks a universal definition. As a relatively young discipline, e-government has generally been used to mean electronic delivery of government information and services. The United Nations Global Electronic-Government Readiness Report [17] explains e-government as the application of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) by the government for the provision of information and public services. In other words, it is basically a process where public sector orgnaisations deploy ICT in the delivery of government services. The growing interest in e-government has produced quite a number of models that explain the development of e-government. Foremost among them is the maturity model which underscored that countries go through a number of phases/stages before they are able to transform service delivery systems and provide an integrated service experience to the citizens. The Baum and Maio [5] model is considered as the first model to describe the evolution of e-government. According to Baum and Maio model, e-government development involves four predictable and distinct stages: presence, interaction, transaction and transformation. It conceptualizes e-government from a simple Web presence (displaying basic information) to a second stage that allows citizens to contact government organisations and officials and interact with them electronically. This is followed by a stage in which citizens are able to transact business with government online. The final stage is characterised by a complete transformation of service delivery, thereby providing the citizens with an experience of seamless service. Layne and Lee [24] model which is akin to the Baum and Maio [5] model also proposes a four-level maturity model for functional e-government, viz: catalogue, transaction, vertical integration, and horizontal integration). The model signify developments that would allow sharing of data and information between upper and lower levels of government online.

While the Baum and Maio [5] and Layne and Lee [24] model provide a linear progression, Hiller and Belanger [18] model suggests a slightly different progression from these two models. According to Hiller and Belanger [18], e-government development involves five basic stages: information, communication, transaction, integration and participation. Each of these stages is characterised by different level of sophistication and interface with citizens and others. Stage one is the basic stage, featuring one-way information dissemination, and stage five is the most sophisticated level which allows variety of political participation including online voting, opinion polls and consultations. On the flipside, Wescott [45] proposes a six-step evolution from e-mail and internal network development to joined-up government. Although the nomenclatures are different, these stages have a great deal of similarity. For example, exchange of value is often known as transaction, while digital democracy and joined-up government are referred to as seamless government. Again, researchers like Janowoski [21] have either reproduced or expanded the Baum and Maio model [10]. These expansions have resulted in several benefits [16, 33, 3, 19]. First, a maturity model plays a crucial role in guiding governments to improve the visible and invisible performance of e-government. Other studies on e-government have used the models to explain the reasons why countries in Africa are ranked low [4, 7, 41] and why many governments website still remain at a simple web-presence level [3].

Maturity models developed by the United Nations and the American Society for Public Administration [37], the Ronaghan [32] model and the Hiller and Belanger model [18] similarly underscore how maturity models are used to examine the implementation of e-government. Thus, the United Nations and the American Society for Public Administration [37] model provides a sign post as to how to assess a country’s e-government environment. The first stage of the model (emerging) is a basic stage which presents an independent online websites, whereas the highest stage (seamless) refers to a full integration of most activities across governments. In spite of the fact that models follow a linear progression, every government can pursue various components of the models concurrently and use it to explain the evolution of e-government. For instance, the United Nations has adopted the Ronaghan [32] model in comparing e-government developments around the world [38], while Moon [27] similarly used the Hiller and Belanger model in assessing the evolution of e-government among the municipalities in the USA. This paper adopted the Baum and Maio [5] model as the framework for analysis for several reasons. First, it addresses the key variables of the research objectives in this paper. Secondly, subsequent models have not offered much criticism to it even though it is the most popular model that describes the process of e-government development. Finally, the implementation of e-government in Ghana is still maturing and it will be unrealistic to assume that Ghana has achieved the level of sophistication some of the other models contemplate. Accordingly, the Baum and Maio model was deemed appropriate for the study.

3.1 Baum and Maio Model

As was noted in Section 3.0, the Baum and Maio Model classifies the progression of e-government into four stages in a connected environment: web presence, interaction, transaction and transformation stages. The web presence stage which is the first, is classified by the provision of a web site in a passive nature. It represents the simple and least expensive entry into e-government and encompasses the publication of information on a website for citizens seeking knowledge about the delivery of government services [5]. For example, such websites list mail addresses, office hours and phone numbers but has no interactive capabilities. The second stage focuses on online interactivity where efforts are made to streamline and automate government functions. Interaction basically revolves around the provision of information with the sole objective of helping customers avoid a trip to an office or make a phone call to request for information or forms [5]. This may include instructions for obtaining services, downloadable forms to be printed and mailed back to an agency, or e-mail contact to respond to simple questions. The transaction stage is more advanced and engages citizens to complete online transactions, including buying and selling activities, such as license renewals, paying taxes and fees, and submitting bids for procurement contracts [5]. Although the level of interactivity is of a higher magnitude than the second stage, the activities still involve a flow of information that is primarily one-way. The fourth, the transformation stage, is where all government operational processes are integrated, unified and personalized and is the most advanced level of e-government. This stage facilitates the seamless flow of information where more than one department or ministry is involved in processing information, such as government portals (e.g. ghana.gov.gh). Together with an identifiable strategy and other combined factors, each stage contributes to success. On the back of these maturity stages, this study investigates the implementation stages of e-government in Ghana.

Essentially, e-government is conducted in many different ways. Some of these include interactions between government, business and citizens such as government to citizens (G2C); government to businesses (G2B); and government to government (G2G). The G2C dimension facilitates citizens’ interaction with the government – a core element of the public service. G2B element allows interaction between the government and businesses in the form of exchange of information, oversight, purchase and regulatory enforcement. G2G indicates the online relationship between government at various levels and governmental agencies working together, providing information and services to each other for a more efficient and effective service delivery.

Given such a broad conceptualisation and potentially significant benefit it offers in various domains, e-government has enjoyed massive popularity. Chiefly among them are: improved efficiency, convenient and faster access to government services, increased transparency, accountability of government functionaries, reduced costs of administrative services, improved democracy [22]and ensuring the privacy and security of government data [14, 44]. These benefits have been facilitated by efficient online services, telecommunication infrastructure and human capacity [41], and prompted some researchers to describe e-government as the integration of disparate data sources into one stop websites to improve access and communication between governments, businesses, citizens and other related interests [29, 26]. However, reaping the ultimate goals of e-government can be extremely difficult if the implementation plan is not anchored on infrastructure, policy, governance, and outreach [41, 42]. This supposition is further elaborated by Siau and Long [33] when they observed that the development and implementation of e-government are built on three core areas: income level, development status, and region. Thus, the income level of a country has a strong influence on a national e-government development, as income is a general indicator of economic capacity [41].

3.2 Challenges of e-government

While it is obvious that e-government promotes good governance, enhances democracy and have wider implications for the growth and development of developing countries, literature suggests that the outcomes of e-government have often been problematic [30, 43]. The reality is that e-government initiatives in many developing countries suffer from a wide variety of challenges and barriers [15]. Such barriers include but not limited to: laws relating to the development of e-government, lack of strategic plans, lack of policy and regulation for e-usage, shortage of financial resources, infrastructural weaknesses, lack of standards for system interoperability and databases [2, 30, 31, 43, 40]. These challenges have stifled Africa’s efforts to reap the full benefits of e-government ever since the concept of e-government emerged. An Accenture study undertaken in 2004 had similarly, reported that out of the 191 member countries of the UN, 173 countries operated websites and the remaining 18 countries that remain offline were from Africa [1]. The 2016 UN e-government ranking points to the same direction as countries like Somalia (ranked 193rd), Chad (ranked 188th), South Sudan (ranked 183rd), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (ranked 180th) performed woefully [42]. Reasons for Africa’s poor performances in the e-government ranking were attributed to limited technology-related challenges, including lack of infrastructure, low level of internet penetration and limited availability of broadband [8, 11, 25, 39]. These factors clearly impede the initiative of users to access e-government information [34]. In addition to technology-related challenges, 60% of all e-government initiatives in developing countries fail and go waste [38]. Cloete [9] and Economic and Social Council record [12] ascribed these failures to the undue concentration of technologies and the lack of policies on ICT guiding the implementation of e-government.

Access to technologies such as computers, digital repositories, internet, storage devices, VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) which are precondition factors for e-government are usually discussed within the context of digital divide. Having these technologies go a long way to enhance the delivery of e-government. However, the lack of access to technology, poverty and inequality are common phenomenon within the continent of Africa as reported by the UN [42]. This situation excludes many citizens in the developing countries from engaging in e-government related activities and determines the extent to which citizens can use or afford these technologies even when they are available [6, 23].

4. Research methodology

As was stated in Section 1.0, this paper seeks to investigate the implementation stage of e-government by examining the e-government development status of Ghana under the following research questions:

1.
What are the available e-government infrastructure resources across the ministries and agencies?
2.
What are the maturity stages of e-government implementation in Ghana? and
3.
What are the e-government challenges facing the ministries and agencies?

In order to achieve these objectives, the population was drawn from government ministries and public agencies. The government ministries and the public agencies were the focus of the study because they are the implementing agencies for the government of Ghana e-government strategy and the drivers of the ICT policies of government. At the time this study was conducted in 2016, there were 24 government ministries and 132 agencies on the official website of the government of Ghana: (www.ghana.gov.gh). The 132 agencies operate under the aegis or mandate of the 24 ministries with their directors, IT heads and records managers. This study identified 27 respondents made up of record managers and IT heads across the 24 ministries and an additional 155 record managers and IT heads in public agencies. A purposive sampling technique called the “complete collection” strategy [35, p. 93] was used select all the record managers and IT heads in each of Ghana’s government ministries and agencies. In applying this concept to the survey, a complete survey was conducted with an entire population of 182 respondents.

Considering the objectives of the study and the representation of the quantitative data in this paper, the quantitative data (questionnaire) was accorded priority [20]. This decision was influenced by the purpose of the study to examine the implementation of e-government across the public sector organisations in Ghana. The paper further adopted the questionnaire and the observation method in view of the quantitative nature of the study. In order to apply these methods effectively, the questionnaire was pretested in two public agencies. The feedback from the pretesting helped to determine the breadth and depth of revision needed to be made on the questionnaire, the length of the questionnaire and wording of the questions. An observation strategy was also adopted to validate and confirm responses from the questionnaire. With a list of possible ICT products for digital e-government, the researcher ticked the facilities available as he moved from one ministry to another. Thus, a number of items and equipment used to assess the e-government activities were observed. For instance, tools for accessing digital records, computers, digital cameras, web portals, CD players, pen drives and software for preservation were earmarked. In all, the observation technique generated data that complemented information obtained from the questionnaire.

Three key research questions guided the conduct of the study: (1) what are the available e-government infrastructure resources across the ministries and agencies? (2) what are the maturity stages of e-government implementation in Ghana? and (3) what are the e-government challenges facing the ministries and agencies? A structured questionnaire based on the Gartner four phase principles was used to collect data. The questionnaire was divided into four sections, with each section addressing an aspect of the research questions of the study. The first section of the questionnaire addressed background information, which included the position held and the number of years, name of the ministry or agency, website and phone number. The second section raised questions about e-government resources available in each ministry and agency. The third section ascertained the stage of e-government in Ghana by using the Gartner four phase model. The final section had questions regarding challenges of the ministries, departments and agencies in the adoption of e-government. In this study, out of the 182 invitation letters and questionnaires distributed across government ministries and agencies, 120 were returned and deemed to be valid for data analysis, representing a 66% response rate in the population. The questionnaire was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to measure and summarize descriptive results.
5. Findings

To confirm and validate responses from the questionnaire on the progress Ghana has made with respect to e-government, an observation approach was used to investigate the type of ICT products used for digital e-government. With a list of possible ICT products for digital preservation and e-government, the researcher ticked the facilities available as he moved from one ministry to another.

The findings of the study are displayed in the actual numbers and percentage of respondents who responded to each question.

5.1 Available e-government infrastructure resources

In ascertaining the e-government infrastructure resources available across the ministries, respondents were asked to indicate whether the given resource exists. Table 1 shows that apart from digital repositories (54 respondents, 45%), video cameras (59 respondents, 49.2%), palmtops (53 respondents, 44.2%), teleconferencing and VSAT satellite (30 respondents, 25% respectively) and video conferencing (42 respondents, 35%) which obtained less than the half mark (50%) across the ministries and agencies. The rest (14 items) of the e-government resources and infrastructure in the view of the researchers were all available across the ministries and agencies. This is a clear and positive demonstration of e-government implementation across ministries and agencies.

Table 1
E-government resources

E-government infrastructure	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Desktops	120	100
Laptops	91	75.8
Palmtops	53	44.2
Printers	108	90
PABX (intercom)	84	90
Video conferencing	42	35
Video cameras	59	49.2
TV	85	70.8
Digital cameras	96	80
Fax machines	84	70
Email	120	100
Internet	108	90
Teleconferencing	30	25
Website/website portal	79	65.8
VSAT satellite	30	25
Software programs	67	55.8
Tools for accessing digital doc.	65	54.2
Digital records security	65	54.2
Storage media devices	72	60
Digital repository	54	45

5.2 Maturity stages of e-government implementation

The next section investigated the maturity stages of e-government in Ghana. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree with the various options provided.

Table 2
Summary of maturity stages of e-government implementation in Ghana

	Agree		Disagree		Don’t know
Web presence
Your ministry has its own official website	83	(69.0%)	32	(27.0%)	5	(4.0%)
Citizens are able to obtain information on your website government and ministries and follow links to archives	57	(47.4%)	36	(30.2%)	27	(22.4%)
Your website provides information on government laws, public policy and relevant documentation.	77	(64.2%)	25	(20.8%)	18	(15.0%)
Your ministry archives and databases are posted online	25	(20.5%)	52	(43.8%)	43	(35.7%)
Citizens have online services for government transactions	76	(63.3%)	24	(20.0)	20	(16.7%)
Your ministry data is freely available for reuse	72	(60.0%)	32	(27.0%)	16	(13.0%)
Interaction
Citizens can lodge their complaints online	82	(68.33%)	17	(14.17%)	21	(17.50%)
Email contact to respond to simple questions is readily available	92	(76.67)	13	(10.83%)	15	(12.50%)
Citizens can download forms to be printed and mailed back to ministry/ agencies	85	(70.84%)	13	(10.33%)	22	(18.33%)
Instructions for obtaining services offered by ministry are available online	60	(50.00%)	24	(20.00%)	36	(30.00%)
Transaction
Citizens are able to undertake online transactions on your portal.	51	(42.5%)	37	(30.8%)	32	(26.7%)
Taxes can be paid online (e-taxation)	61	(50.8)	32	(26.7)	24	(22.5%)
Building records can be accessed online	29	(24.2%)	48	(40.0%)	43	(35.8%)
License renewals can be undertaken online	18	(15.0%)	52	(43.3%)	50	(41.7%)
Submission of bids for proposal/ procurement contracts are done via ministry website	35	(29.17%)	58	(48.33%)	27	(22.50%)
Transformation
Your systems are networked/ integrated to a higher level system	41	(34.2%)	36	(30%)	43	(35.8%)
Symbiotic relationship between your ministry and other ministries	55	(45.83%)	40	(33.34%)	25	(20.83%)
Collaborative decision-making between your ministry and agencies	45	(37.5%)	20	(16.7%)	55	(45.8%)
E-government has made your operations transparent	81	(67.5%)	22	(18.3)	17	(14.2%)

5.2.1 Web presence stage

The web presence stage seeks to find out whether or not the ministries have official websites and their policies are online and free. As Table 2 demonstrates, 83 respondents (69.0%) noted that their ministries, departments and agencies have an official website of their own, which is a positive sign. Seventy-seven respondents (64.2%) remarked that they provide free data on government laws, public policy and relevant documentation.

On the contrary, 95 respondents (79.5%) either disagreed or did not know whether their ministry archives and databases are posted online, which is negative. This result may have been caused by limited broadband width.

5.2.2 Interaction stage

Probing further, respondents at this stage were to indicate whether complaints can be made online and forms downloaded on their website. Eighty-two respondents (68.33%) remarked that their website has an interface that allows visitors to lodge complains. Eighty-five respondents (70.84%) noted that forms can be downloaded, filled in and mailed back to the ministry. Ninety-two respondents (76.67%) indicated that email responses and correspondence is available. The availability of guidance and instructions for obtaining services from ministries departments and agencies is only 60 respondents (50%).

5.2.3 Transaction stage

As one of the most difficult phases in the maturity model, this stage showed how far Ghana has reached in terms of the implementation of e-government. As displayed in Table 2, only 18 respondents (15.0%) indicated that license renewals can be undertaken online on their websites. Similarly, 29 respondents (24.2%) remarked that building records can be accessed online and 35 respondents (29.17%) stated that the submission of bids for proposals and procurement contracts can be done online. On the positive side, half of respondents (61 respondents, 50.8%) addressed that citizens were able to pay their taxes online. Thus, the transaction stage is currently far from complete in Ghana’s e-government implementation.

5.2.4 Transformation stage

This stage demonstrates a full blown e-government maturity stage. Considering the challenges noted at the transaction stage, it was not surprising that IT systems that are networked to higher-level systems and collaborative decisions and symbiotic relationships between ministries departments and agencies are less than 46%. Nevertheless, 81 respondents (67.5%) agreed that e-government has made operations transparent, which is a positive aspect for continuing e-government advancement.

5.3 Constraints and challenges

This section examines the challenges and constraints that confront Ghana ministries, departments and agencies with respect to infrastructure, economic, legal constraints and human capacities. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they consider the various options given to be high or low.

Table 3
Summary of constraints of e-government implementation in Ghana

	High		Low
Infrastructural constraints
Insufficiency of electricity/ load shedding	108	(90%)	12	(10%)
Limited broadband access	78	(65.2%)	42	(34.8%)
Prohibitive cost of internet	107	(89%)	13	(11%)
Low investment in ICT infrastructure across agencies	85	(71%)	35	(29%)
Prohibitive pricing of ICT devices	67	(56.1%)	53	(43.9%)
Economic constraints
Low income level	76	(63.2%)	44	(36.8%)
Abandoned e-government projects	34	(28%)	86	(72%)
Unfulfilled statutory obligation to e-government projects	87	(72.6%)	33	(27.4%)
Depreciation of Ghana’s currency against other currencies	106	(88.2%)	14	(21.8%)
Legal constraints
IT regulatory environment	68	(56.5%)	52	(43.5%)
ICT policies lacking implementation	104	(86.7%)	16	(13.3%)
Laws on privacy and security of data	77	(64%)	43	(36%)
Human capacity
Experts in e-government	61	(50.7%)	59	(49.3%)
Uninformed about e-government initiatives	99	(82.5%)	21	(17.5%)
Unaware of digital preservation strategies	52	(43.7%)	68	(56.3%)
Technophobia-fear of technology	72	(60.1%)	48	(39.9%)

5.3.1 Infrastructural constraints

Despite the modicum of progress made in the 2014 e-government rankings, Table 3 illustrates that Ghana is still confronted with infrastructural constraints including insufficient electricity/load shedding (90%), prohibitive cost of internet access (89%), and low investment in ICT infrastructure (71%), limited broadband access (65.2%), and prohibitive pricing of ICT devices (56.1%). Although Table 1 shows that 14 items are more than 50% available, respondents believe that infrastructural resources are needed to further advance e-government activities.

5.3.2 Economic constraints

Apart from infrastructural challenges, the current economic challenges of the country have compelled the government to abandon part of the e-government projects earmarked for the country. Although the government did not abandon e-government projects (72%), the government’s attempt to cut down on public expenditures has made it difficult to fulfill its statutory obligation (72.6%) for most government agencies, thereby negatively affecting income levels (63.2%). Above all, the depreciation of Ghana’s currency (88.2%) has led to a hike in ICT products. Thus, economic constraints can be considered one of the fundamental factors impeding e-government progress.

5.3.3 Legal constraints

Table 3 shows that the legal regime for ICT has not performed badly. With a regulatory environment clocking a little above 50 percent (56.5%) and a high level of privacy and security in data (64%), Ghana should be making some inroads into the ICT industry. That notwithstanding, 104 respondents (86.7%) indicated that most of the ICT policies guiding the implementation of e-government are deficient.

5.3.4 Human capacity

Results from the human capacity section were also not encouraging. Ninety-nine respondents (82.5%) stated that government ministries, departments and agencies were not aware of e-government initiatives. Seventy-two respondents (60.1%) noted that these inherent challenges with respect to human resources are exacerbated by technophobia-fear of technology. Sixty-one respondents (50.7%) noted that experts in e-government are constraints. Fifty-two respondents (43.6%) are not aware of digital preservation strategies for their institution. Thus, it is important for e-government projects to be announced and communicated to employees. At the same time, human resources to operate and lead e-government projects need to be substantially trained and prepared.

6. Discussion and conclusion

This section discusses and interprets the findings of the study according to the research questions.

6.1 Available e-government infrastructures resources across the ministries and agencies

One of the key objectives of this paper is to determine the available e-government infrastructure resources across public sector organisations in Ghana. Findings of the study showed what e-government resources (e.g. computers, laptops, digital cameras, websites portals, storage media devices and fax machines) were available to facilitate e-government activities at government ministries and agencies. This finding concurs with the UN 2014 e-government survey [41] where the telecommunication infrastructure index (e.g. personal computers, web portals, television sets, etc.) were used as one of the benchmarks in measuring the extent of e-government implementation. So the provision of these resources across the ministries, departments and agencies can be considered as a testament of the government’s commitment to e-government activities. Based on Tables 1 and 3, evidence of the availability of these resources exists. However, respondents are likely to think that more infrastructural resources are needed since the installation of infrastructure resources is only a basic step.

6.2 Maturity stages of e-government implementation in Ghana

This particular section addresses the second objective of the paper viz: to examine the maturity stages of the e-government implementation in Ghana. As with the infrastructure resources, Ghana has found itself in the interaction stage of e-government, as ministries, departments and agencies have an official website that provides free data on government laws, public policy and relevant documentation and further provides access to online services for government transactions. These findings underscore the web presence stage of e-government according to the Gartner four phase model. However, it runs contrary to the assertion by Ciborra [8] Dada [11] Maumbe et al. [25] and United Nations [39] that internet access continues to present a major barrier to the effective use of e-education. In order to transform the web presence stage to a fully blown e-government stage, ministries, departments and agencies should work as a channel of communication to other ministries and citizens. Furthermore, the interaction stage demonstrates that more than two-thirds of ministries, departments and agencies have made internet services available for citizens to lodge complaints online, download forms to be filled. On the other hand, the transaction stage recorded a woeful stage of e-government, as license renewals cannot be undertaken online, the submission of bids for proposals and procurement contracts cannot be done and ministries’ records cannot be accessed online. Ghana can properly position herself in the transaction stage, if there is frequent engagement and high levels of interactivity with citizens as required. Unfortunately, the results from the transaction stage provide a contrary view. In the same manner, the transformation stage has recorded the same results as the transaction stage. Recalling that the UN noted that the transaction and transformation stages are those that African countries usually contend with [41], we observed that Ghana’s e-government implementation has the same progress with other African companions. To solve this situation, Ghana government ought to expand the use of online services by adopting a more citizen-centric approach by way of putting the needs of citizens at the planning and implementation stages of online services ahead. This includes enhancing ICT infrastructure and improving the ICT literacy of citizens. In this regard, license renewals and submissions of proposals for contracts could be properly executed online with add-on payment features and electronic authentication on the websites.

6.3 E-government challenges facing the ministries and agencies

A panoramic view of Table 3 illustrates an intermittent supply of electricity, coupled with limited access to broadband and the prohibitive cost of internet access which goes to underscore the e-government challenges faced by the ministries and agencies. Recalling that infrastructure is one of the four dimensions of the UN e-government survey [41, 42] (e.g. infrastructure, policy, governance and outreach). As Backus [4] and Chen et al. [7] addressed, the first reason assigned to Africa’s poor showing at the e-government world ranking is limited to broadband access. This may cause a high level of illiteracy combined with poor economic conditions, resulting in low maturity levels in e-government maturity stages [4, 7]. Thus, it is clear that the low level of infrastructure, such as a low level of internet penetration and limited availability of broadband, impede the initiative of citizens to access e-government information, which is also consistent with existing studies [8, 11, 25].

Economically, the government is confronted with the challenge of fulfilling its financial statutory obligations to ministries and agencies, probably because of the recent World Bank conditionality for the government of Ghana to cut down on public expenditures. As a result, this conditionality seemed to influence the depreciation of Ghana’s currency against foreign currencies, which has led to high prices for IT products. It also influenced the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country and its income levels [33]. This further goes to show how ministries, departments and agencies have been starved of financial resources, resulting in a difficult time enhancing e-government activity. Regarding legal constraints, it further emerged that the legal environment for the supply of ICT products is positive, with most agencies and ministries ensuring the privacy and security of their data [14, 44] and upholding laws relating to the development of e-government [31]. However, the lack of policies on ICT guiding the implementation of e-government portends a worrying situation [12]. Moreover, the low awareness level for e-government initiatives and digital preservation strategies and the fear of technology among some staff members of ministries, departments and agencies underscores the need for government to develop policies towards the ICT sector.

6.4 Policy intervention

The findings of this study indicate that the policy environment is a significant consideration in implementing e-government strategy. Relyea [31] also noted that the policy environment for ICT is important in understanding the strategy for e-government implementation. In addition, the success of an e-government strategy is not only the result of ICT infrastructure, but the development of a rigorous legal framework. The top ten countries in the past three editions of UN e-government rankings emphasize the role of policy in the development of e-government strategy. Thus, Ghana’s government should develop policies geared toward vigorously promoting e-government planning and implementation. Policies should be carefully prepared in a holistic manner in the four fields: infrastructure, law, human capacity and economy.

7. Conclusions and recommendation

The paper observed that e-government resources were available in the government ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’s) and used to facilitate e-government activities. However, the MDA’s are still plagued with infrastructural, economic and legal challenges in the development of e-government. In terms of the maturity stage, Ghana is positioned at the interaction stage of e-government. Ghana can move a step to the transaction stage, if there is frequent engagement and high levels of interactivity with citizens as required. The low awareness level for e-government initiatives and the fear of technology among some staff members of ministries, departments and agencies underscore the need for the government to develop policies towards the ICT sector. To do this, infrastructure facilities and resources should be provided more to ministries, departments and agencies (e.g. broadband access). Secondly, the government should make more effort toward publicizing projects and planning agendas between ministries, departments and agencies and improving communications between and across ministries and agencies. As mentioned in the previous section, human resources and capacity development is a part of the important strategies for achieving success in the e-government environment. The government should prepare short and long term plans. For the short term plan, extensive training should be provided to staff members who use and maintain facilities and resources. For a long term plan, proper IT education for citizens and future professionals should be provided to manage and operate IT facilities in order to enhance IT literacy. Economically, as an immediate measure to address the poor income levels and stifling of statutory funds to ministries and agencies, the Ghana government needs to be prudent in its fiscal policy and implement austerity measures. In other words, monies allocated or earmarked to a particular ministry for e-government projects must be properly appropriated. In general, an increase in national income levels and GDP can be helpful in promoting Ghana’s e-government implementation. Specifically, Ghana should improve trade regulations and policies regarding the import and export of ICT goods toward protecting local ICT industries and controlling the prices of ICT products in the market. Although all of these works are not simple tasks, we hope that the advancement of Ghana’s e-government implementation will inch closer to its planned targets.

8. Further studies

For further study, the implication of the Open Data government should be examined within the context of e-government. While e-government addresses the application of ICT across public sector organizations, open data focuses on the utility of records through online services, reuse and distribution for the purposes of transparency and the participation of citizens.

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