There have been varied concerns in recent times about the essence of public sector reforms in Ghana. Whilst some do not find it useful, others see it as essential in modern-day institutional practice of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to the citizenry and the private sector. Arguably, introducing reforms across the public sector is a process and not an event.
Studies of IMF reports on “Country experiences with Public Sector Reform” in the 1970s and 1980s have shown that countries including Bangladesh, Chile, India, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Thailand and Ghana faced challenges related to fiscal policies, structural economic issues and weak financial policies. These countries were compelled to institute key public sector reforms to turn the tide. Reforms in this regard serve as a critical component in the service delivery of public sector institutions.
History of Public Sector Reforms in Ghana
Governments in the past have implemented public sector reforms in different ways. In the early 1980s, reforms were aimed at tackling the public service crisis in the context of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP). These reforms included Education Sector Reform Programme, 1986; the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Decentralization Programme, 1988; and the Civil Service Reform Programme (CSRP), 1987–1993. The SAP-associated reforms were partially successful as they were not comprehensive enough and did not focus much on institutional capacity development.
The Fourth Republican era then introduced wide-ranging public sector reforms such as the Civil Service Performance Improvement Programme (CSPIP), 1994–1998 and the National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP), 1998–2004. Aryee (2001) intimated that the reform was targeted at reorganizing the Civil Service to function with improved efficiency and effectiveness, provide optimum performance, ensure higher levels of productivity and strengthen the capacity for implementation of programmes for sustained social and economic development.
To further improve on the implemented reforms, a new Ministry of Public Sector Reform (MPSR) was established in 2005 to facilitate and coordinate public sector reforms across public institutions in Ghana. The new Ministry sought to rebrand most of the NIRP initiatives and to handle specific reform initiatives such as Civil Service Reform Programme; Conditions of Work Reform; Public Sector Pay and Pensions Reform; Public Financial Management Reform; and Decentralization Reform among others.
Development of the National Public Sector Reform Strategy
In 2009, the MPSR became the Public Sector Reform Secretariat (PSRS) and was placed under the Presidency with the primary aim of initiating, facilitating and coordinating key reform initiatives including the Open Government Partnership – an international initiative that seeks to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote openness, transparency, enhance citizen’s participation, promote accountability and adopt new technologies to enhance good governance. The PSRS, with its renewed aim of improving reform initiatives across public sector institutions, led the preparation of the first National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS), 2017–2027. This strategy document was later reviewed to NPSRS (2018–2023).
The Strategy centred on three principles of setting a new direction in purpose, building the capacity of the personnel to deliver public services and then streamline the processes of service delivery within public sector institutions. The six key pillars underpinning the strategy under which all public institutions were expected to establish key reform initiatives were as follows:
Pillar One: Citizen and Private Sector-Focused Public Sector
Pillar Two: Capable and Disciplined Work Force
Pillar Three: Strengthened Public Sector Regulatory Framework
Pillar Four: Modernized and Improved Work Conditions
Pillar Five: Strengthened Local Governance Structures
Pillar Six: Digitized Public Sector Services and Systems
Implementation of PSRRP for Improved Service Delivery
Based on the successful launch of the NPSRS (2018-2023), the government, in 2018, initiated a project in collaboration with the World Bank Group to provide partial funding support to the implementation of the NPSRS. This ushered in the development and implementation of a four-year Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP) 2019–2023. The Project covered thirteen (13) public sector institutions and objective was to “improve efficiency and accountability in the delivery of selected services by Selected Entities”.
The thirteen selected entities included the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Passport Office, Births and Deaths Registry (BDR), Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Office of the Head of Civil Service, Public Services Commission, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat; National Information Technology Agency and Public Sector Reform Secretariat, the implementing agency.
This article focuses mainly on some reform initiatives supported under the PSRRP and implemented by DVLA, Passport Office and BDR that were geared towards improving service delivery to the citizens.
DVLA
The main issue affecting DVLA was limited capacity in printing driver’s licenses due to outdated printing machines and other IT equipment. As a result, some clients encounter undue delays and inconvenience in acquiring their licenses whilst others become victims of unauthorized middlemen (goro boys). Through the Project, DVLA received advanced IT equipment, license printing machines and other items to improve their services. Data gathered shows that the production of driver’s licenses has significantly improved from 700 to 2,500 per day since 2022 due to the intervention provided. The Authority also reduced the backlog of 76,000 unprinted driver’s licenses to 8,455 as at March 2024.
Additionally, with the provision of six mini-vans from the project, DVLA introduced the DVLA Mobile Express Services (DEMOBS) and Tertiary Drive (TertDrive) initiatives to allow customers to access services in the comfort and convenience of their locations. Upon request by any institution or group of persons, personnel of the Authority will assess their needs and agree on a convenient date for the delivery of the service. Records available at DVLA shows the DEMOBS initiative successfully served a total of 13,871 clients between 2022 and 2023, whilst the TertDrive, covering 33 tertiary institutions across the country since 2020, processed a total of 10,712 students between 2022 and 2023. Out of this, 5,326 students successfully acquired new driver’s licenses.
DVLA also received support under the project for the development of a Driver and Vehicle Licensing Mobile Application. The user-friendly mobile app for DVLA is easily accessible by all clients to improve the service delivery standards.
Passport Office
In the case of Passport Office, they were faced with some operational and technical challenges including defective and obsolete ICT equipment, among others. The issue of dealing with huge backlog of passports to be processed and printed was a major challenge. The project supported Passport Office with various ICT equipment in addition to providing them with ten new data capturing booths distributed across Passport Application Centers to clear the backlog of applications.
Information gathered in 2023 shows that the capturing of biodata has improved significantly with the setting up of new biodata capturing booths, reducing the waiting period from six months to one month in Greater Accra and Kumasi offices. Passport Office, through the reform initiative was able to clear a backlog of 100,000 delayed applications since 2023. Consequently, Passport Office requires an industrial passport printing machine to scale up the production of passports to citizens, in addition to courier services for effective service delivery.
BDR
The key roadblock to achieving universal births registration in Ghana has been the delay in the notification of births according to the BDR. With funding from the Project and in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the BDR printed about 1.2 million maternal and child health record booklets with birth notification forms attached. The notification forms will allow GHS staff to transmit to BDR accurate and reliable information on all births for registration.
Again, BDR was supported under the Project to harmonize three (3) applications into one comprehensive harmonized system. As a result, a national repository of births and deaths was established to facilitate access to credible information on births in Ghana by reducing the incidence of multiple registration, reducing errors in data management and integrating BDR, National Identification Authority (NIA), GHS and Ghana.gov data systems.
In the quest to address the limited access to registration services especially in remote communities where rural dwellers for instance were compelled to travel several kilometers to access registration services, BDR was supported with 10 pick-up vehicles and 120 motorbikes to augment the limited numbers available to field officers. This initiative introduced mobile registration services by reaching out to the populace and bringing registration services to the doorstep of residents. The intervention resulted in the BDR achieving significant increase in birth registration in hard-to-reach areas from 58% in 2015 to 93% in 2022. Similarly, death registration recorded 38% from an initial record of 14% during the same period.
Conclusion and the Way Forward
The discussions and arguments surrounding public sector reforms are endless. Though, some people still find challenges with service delivery across public sector institutions, others appreciate that there has been an improvement with service delivery in some public institutions in recent times. More importantly, the focus here should be leveraging technology to establish robust reform initiatives to develop innovative systems, processes, and procedures to improve the services delivered.
The South Korean example from the 1960s onwards where public sector reform became the topmost priority among succeeding governments, should be a reference point for us. The Korean Ministry of Planning and Budget report on “How Korea Reformed the Public Sector (1998–2002)” aptly indicated that the key characteristics of their current reform programme such as streamlining public organizations and manpower, applying the principles pf competition and performance, ministries sharing responsibilities for reform and implementing a top-down enforced style to overcome resistance was extended to all fronts of the public sector. Reform was applied to all public sector entities, including state owned enterprises and government affiliated agencies.
It is, therefore, recognizable that governments throughout the period appreciate the enormous role that public sector reforms play in modern governance processes. It is imperative in this regard, that government continues to support the policy framework, technical and financial or budgetary provisions for reforms agenda as necessary for improvement of service delivery standards in all public sector institutions in Ghana.
The Writer:
Ernest Zume
He is the Head, Public Relations at the Public Sector Reform Secretariat. He is a staff of the Information Services Department and member of the IPR, Ghana
Email: [email protected]