E-Government Development in Ghana

There are at least 26 e-Government platforms currently available in Ghana. Although most experts consider basic G2C services to be well-developed, a number of essential platforms have not yet been introduced. Furthermore, a number of services related to digital security, governance and public registers are in their early stages of development.

The development of Ghanaian e-Government services is heavily influenced by various programmes of international organisations. For example, in 2022, the World Bank approved 200 million USD to help the Government of Ghana increase broadband internet access, enhance the efficiency and quality of selected digital public services, and promote digital innovation.

There are still challenges for projects’ implementation, as well as significant gaps in platforms’ functionality. Thus, despite the high demand for digitalization, the resources are still insufficient to implement all of the announced initiatives, – hence the importance of support from international institutions, such as the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

There is still room for improvement in the country’s platforms of inspection and supervision; controlling the turnover of pesticides and agrochemicals, alcoholic beverages and veterinary control. Among the promising areas for development are traffic law enforcement tools, platforms for animal health control, pesticide turnover and others are to be mentioned.

Rankings

Ghana is ranked 106th in the 2022 UN E-Government Development Index, while being one of the top 10 countries in Africa based on this indicator. However most citizens still do not benefit from the basic services only due to lack of awareness regarding the possibilities they offer. 

Integration of Public Services and Data Infrastructure

Ghana's Digital Services and Payments Platform, which integrates tax, social, health, passport, visa and registration services, is under development, while already enjoying high demand. An important element of the platform development strategy is the own data centre.

Source: Digital Services and Payments Platform (Search page)

Identification and Biometrics

GhanaCard is a national identity card with biometrics. The card is instrumental for accessing numerous public services, registration at government websites, migration control, and is linked to the national health insurance card. Despite the introduction of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) in 2020, no online voting system has yet been implemented.

Payment Systems

There is an integrated online payment platform called GhanaPay, which supports Visa and MaterCard, as well as Gh-link Card and mobile wallet. Gh-link EMV Card, is Ghana’s domestic card payment scheme launched by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) Limited in 2012. The platform interconnects all banks and financial institutions in Ghana and enables accredited financial institutions to issue EMV cards that are accepted nationwide across ATM and POS networks. The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana.

Healthcare

In 2016, the Ghanaian government contracted Lightwave eHealthcare Services, a private company, for the phased implementation of the Lightwave Health Information Management System, LHIMS. As of today, most hospitals in Ghana have adopted LHIMS, but its efficiency remains limited due to a lack of awareness among medical staff; and there is no unified platform for online doctor's appointments to this day. 

Source: LHIMS website (screenshot of the Patient Encounter Details)

Education

In the online education sector, Edmodo Ghana owned by the Chinese NetDragon Websoft is operational, providing access to educational content and messaging between teachers, students and parents. However, the platform doesn’t allow tracking student attendance and paying for school meals yet.

Source: Edmodo Ghana (Demo screenshot)

Legislation

Ghana does not dispose of public portals with draft legislation, or a system for registering and storing legislative documents. When it comes to the justice sector, e-Justice managed the Ministry of Justice is gradually being introduced, providing tools for filing documents, conducting legal proceedings, calculating and paying fees, as well as allocating cases to specific courts or judges. The project is fully financed by the World Bank.

The e-Judgment website provides access to case Law from all the Jurisdictions in Ghana, and the various specialised courts.

The Judicial Service of Ghana also provides e-forms required to apply for some legal procedures (e.g. for a protection order).

Source: Judicial Service of Ghana (e-Forms page)

Transport

In terms of traffic regulation, Ghana still lacks a unified system for vehicle detection and infringement recording, as well as platforms for online accident registration and automated accident reporting to emergency services.

Real Estate

In 2018, as part of the Tax Revenues for Economic Growth (TREE) project supported by the Netherlands, a new application was introduced to simplify the process of real estate registration. However, there is no unified system for real estate accounting or valuation.

Author:
Richard Asiama