The Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor has presented modern Information Technology equipment worth about GHS8.9 million to three public sector institutions as part of efforts to digitize public service to enhance efficiency.
The package of the items formed part of the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP).
The institutions include the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Public Services Commission, and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization, and Rural Development, which receive separate equipment to improve service delivery.
Funded by the World Bank, the PSRRP, a four-year programme implemented from 2019 to 2023, seeks to improve efficiency and accountability in the delivery of selected services by Selected Entities.
The items presented to the DVLA included Desktop Card Printer, Card Print Device, signature pads, fingerprint readers, and cleaning swab kits, valued at GHS 8, 312, 121.
The Public Services Commission on the other hand received video conferencing equipment, 75’ smart television, laptops, color printers, digital camera, server wracks, among other items valued at GHS 552,635.
The Local Government Ministry also received laptops, color printers, projector, and wireless router valued at GHS 104, 312.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Senior Presidential Advisor, on Friday, September 2, 2022, presented the items to the beneficiary institutions at their respective head offices in Accra.
The Senior Presidential Advisor said the equipment were procured to help the beneficiary institutions to effectively execute their activities for the benefit of improving service delivery to the people.
He said improving efficiency in the delivery of public services through modernization was essential to the growth of the public sector.
“The private sector can only function properly when the public sector delivery is efficient. “We want the public service to be oriented along these lines that they would provide service to the private sector to make money for the economy to grow.” Mr Osafo-Maafo said.
He said, even though the Commission has several activities to implement under the PSRRP, the main goal of acquiring this equipment for the PSC is to enhance their work processes in the age of digitalization and improve their IT infrastructure to improve the services provided by the Commission.
He urged the various institutions to “make very good use” of the equipment and maintain it well to serve its purpose of improving service delivery.
Mr Akwasi Agyeman Busia, the Chief Executive Officer, DVLA, said the equipment would augment the Authority’s ongoing digitization agenda, and pledged to continuously improve its services.
After all the presentations, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Sector Reform Secretariat, Mr Thomas Kusi Boafo, said the PSRRP implementation covered 13 Selected Entities, constituting Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, with a $32m credit facility from the World Bank.
He urged the beneficiary institutions to use the equipment effectively and make a case for more support under the Project.
Also, Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, Dr Janet Ampadu Fofie said the equipment would enhance the Commission’s supervisory duties and reduce face-to-face interviews which she said cost time and money.
Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah, a Deputy Local Government Minister, said the equipment would enhance the efficiency of collating data from the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
“Every analysis, financial statements from all the MMDAs are supposed to come to the Ministry. It is a process which is becoming quite tedious because of its manual nature,” he said.