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21.02.2014 General News

Ministries, Gov’t Agencies Still Not Connected

21.02.2014 LISTEN
By ItNewsGhana.Com

SEVERAL government departments have not been connected to the Ghana Government Online Services Project (eServices) to deliver Government services to the public because of a lack of e-service portals.

Among these are the Ministries of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Chieftaincy and Traditional Affairs, Employment and Labour Relations as well as Water Resources, Works and Housing.

These and other agencies have no websites or any social media presence, investigations by ITNewsGhana established.

Others are Ministries of Information, Justice and Attorney General, Lands and Natural Resource as well as Ghana National Fire Service.

IMANI Ghana, a leading policy and education think-tank lamented the revelations.

“The only Facebook page identified for the Ministry of Information seems like an unofficial one and was last updated in 2010,” said the president of IMANI Ghana, Franklyn Cudjoe noted.

Also, there are no associated social media accounts; which means that Government is not taking advantage of the over 1.6 million Ghanaians who are on Facebook alone, noted Cudjoe.

However, the Director General of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), William Tevie, said the e-services Portal was a one-stop service portal for Government services and would soon be extended to some 100 MDAs country-wide.

Subsequently, the official said, the government departments and ministries would be connected to the e-service portals by the close of this year.

Tevie disclosed that China Exim Bank would finance the project but declined to disclose the amount of money that would be spent.

Last year, 11 MDAs were connected to e-services.
These include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Passport Office, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Food and Drugs Authority, Births and Deaths Registry, National Identification Authority, National Communications Authority, NITA, Ghana Tourism Authority, Minerals Commission, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, and Ghana Police Service's CID Office.

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