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E‐governance in Africa's local governments: Do district assemblies in Ghana optimize the use of websites and social media?
Author(s) -
Asamoah Kwame
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the electronic journal of information systems in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 18
ISSN - 1681-4835
DOI - 10.1002/isd2.12082
Subject(s) - metropolitan area , social media , local government , government (linguistics) , corporate governance , software deployment , focus group , business , public relations , political science , public administration , geography , marketing , engineering , linguistics , philosophy , software engineering , archaeology , finance , law
The case study research design was adopted to evaluate websites and social media portals (Facebook and Twitter) of two municipal assemblies in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data were collected through the researcher's interaction with these portals, interviews and focus group discussions with 36 respondents. It was established that these platforms have provided new channels for information sharing between local authorities and citizens. Again, it was also found that it facilitates interaction with local authorities. Nevertheless, it came out that its full deployment has not been realized. Despite favorable demographic characteristics, citizens in the study areas do not make good use of e‐government options to interact with their local government officials. The research explores the challenges and opportunities for the adoption of these e‐government initiatives by metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana. Key conclusions and policy implications are drawn from the study.