Theme: ICTs and Social Accountability: The Ghana Context. Topic: Using ICTs to Promote Social Accountability

Transcription

1 Presentation by Mr Samuel Zan Akologo Country Director of SEND Ghana at the Northern ICT4D Cyber Series Organised by GINKS, FILLA FM and the Institute of Local government Studies (ILGS), held at IGLS conference Hall Tamale, 24 th April 2008 Theme: ICTs and Social Accountability: The Ghana Context Topic: Using ICTs to Promote Social Accountability Introduction I am happy for this opportunity to participate in this cyber series by contributing to the discussion on social accountability in Ghana and how Information and Communication Technologies can be applied to enhance the process of making state actors more accountable to citizens. I must say that this subject is dear to my heart mainly because of my background as a human rights activist and secondly SEND has been deeply involved in mobilising right holders (ordinary citizens) to engage with duty bearers (state actors) at the grassroots level to improve the quality of implementing HIPC funded project and programmes, contract management and awards and the Ghana school feeding programme using the participatory monitoring and evaluation framework. Understanding Social Accountability Before I talk on social accountability, lets us first refresh our minds on what is accountability as this would paint the picture quietly clearly. Accountability can be defined as the obligation of power-holders to account for or take responsibility for their actions. Power-holders refers to those who hold political, financial or other forms of power and include officials in government, private corporations, international financial institutions and civil society organizations. Social accountability on the other hand has been defined by the world bank as an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e., in which it is ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations that participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. Hence social accountability is a two-way process which is underpinned by two fundamental principles; namely rights and obligations. Its is as much a right of citizens to demand it as it is an obligation for those with power to answer. In the public sector context, there are a broad range of actions and mechanisms that citizens, communities, independent media and civil society organizations use to hold public officials and public servants accountable. These include, among others, participatory budgeting, public expenditure tracking, monitoring of public service delivery (e.g. HIPC funded programs/ projects, capitation grants, school feeding program etc), investigative journalism, public commissions etc. These citizen-driven accountability measures complement and reinforce conventional mechanisms of accountability such as political checks and balances, accounting and auditing systems, administrative rules and legal procedures. 1

2 Importance of social accountability Social accountability contributes to poverty reduction as it allows grassroots people to make their inputs in terms of their felt needs that find expression in pro poor policy making. In addition it promotes improved good governance through the quality of citizen s participation in the decision making process thereby enhancing civic engagement. Again it leads to increased development effectiveness through better service delivery initiatives as ordinary people make their inputs in the design, implementation and monitoring of development interventions. In addition it promotes citizens empowerment through their access to timely, reliable and accurate information. It also promotes transparency in the utilization of public funds and for that matter efficiency in financial management. It leads to enhanced decentralization as the gap between right holders and duty bearers is bridged through dialogue and consultation. Ultimately, it is a political exercise that gives practical meaning to rights, duties, responsibilities and obligations of political stakeholders. ICTs as Tools for Social Development ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any information, communication device or application for processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination namely: radio, television, cellular phones, computer systems (hardware and software), satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. The link between ICTs and Social Accountability therefore lies in the power of ICTs to make reliable, timely and accurate information available to the people to make good judgments and informed choices in the decision making process. Millennium development Goal 8 (Develop a global partnership for development) and specifically target 18 has recognised the power of ICTs for development by calling for cooperation with the private sector to make available the benefits of new technologies, specifically information and communications. ICTs can improve governance and transparency not only in the public sector but also in the private sector. Recent corporate scandal in the USA (the case of Enron) has generated discussions and brought to the fore the subject of good corporate governance Chairperson, it is worthy of note however that the importance of ICTs lies less in the technology itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and communication by serving as an interface between state actors and the citizenry and thereby ensuring a higher degree of accountability and good governance. In this context, ICTs are being recognized not as mere tools, but as weapons to make governments accountable, sensitive, and answerable to their people. 2

3 Social Accountability initiatives in Ghana include, Government Accountability Improved Trust: The Ghana HIPC watch Project, Governance Information Forum, Budget Advocacy, the Ghana Community Radio etc Using ICTs to promote Social Accountability 1. Civic engagement with government works very well where there is the existence of reliable, timely and accurate public information. This type of information can be made easily available and accessible to the people through radio stations and the internet. The official government website for example ( make available policy documents to the general public. The recent PriceWaterHouseCoopers report on the Ghana school feeding programme is clear eg where reportage and discussion on the report has been widespread through radio, television and the internet. The national budget for e.g. is online for easy accessibility. The old excuse of the Officer is not at his/her desk has been challenged by ICTs. 2. The internet for e.g. has been used in some countries to provide public expenditure for citizens or CSOs to track and monitor government disbursements of public funds. In Ghana However this information is not available online but rather offline at the Ministry of Finance 3. ICTs provide an avenue for the citizenry to engage effectively on national discussions by making their voices heard through contributions. The very popular medium of doing this in Ghana is through the proliferation of radio stations via the phone in programmes where the ordinary people give feedback on government polices to improve the quality of programme implementation 4. National revenue figures and all other inflows can be made available for public scrutiny as a way of promoting accountability. In Norway for eg oil revenue figures and performance can be assessed easily on the internet. In Uganda financial transfers to district education offices are announced in local FM stations. I think that this is a good practice that we can learn as a country to deal with the management of our newly discovered oil reserve which has become a curse rather than a blessing for most developing countries. 5. Budget preparation requires the participation and the involvement of grassroots people. Time and again however, the space for the ordinary person to engage in this process is limited. ICTs can therefore be mainstreamed in doing a thing like this where the awareness level of local people will be raised about district budgeting processes. This will ultimately enhance civic engagement by creating an informed citizens to make district development plans more relevant to the felt needs of the people 3

4 6. Constitutionally mandated structures to fight corruption in Ghana can be very effective if ICTs are mainstreamed in their operations. For e.g. it would be much easier for an individual to send an or text via mobile phone about an alleged corrupt public official or practice than for e.g. physically go to CHRAJ, police station, Office of accountability, serious fraud office etc 7. Information on public procurement for example can be posted on the internet or advertised through the radio for all to have access and would be bidders to apply. This would therefore create a level playing field in the award of contracts and thereby improve the quality of implementing the procurement law (Act 663). In South Korea for e.g. a special Web site called Online Procedures Enhancement for Civil Applications (OPEN) has been set up to handle various transactions as a way of dealing with deliberate delays in processing and release of documents and the impositions of arbitrary fees on public transactions by clerical staff 8. ICT can be applied to advocate for an improvement in the implementation of a public policy through the use of electronic notice boards for posting policy options. The use of signatures sign ups by individuals and virtual lobby teams can bring pressure to bear on duty bearers to react to public demands 9. ICTs have been used to disseminate information among social accountability activists across the globe in terms of best practices, approaches, success challenges and frameworks that can be replicated in other parts of the world. 10. ICTs have helped globalised national issues, exposed state s clandestine conspiracies and reduced impunity of state actors. No more shielding under state borders! Challenges in Using ICTs in Social Accountability o The proliferation of radio stations and internet as an avenue for information dissemination on topical national issues comes with its own challenges as a result of misinformation and political machination. Internet fraud, falsehood and pettiness makes less reliable. (See Ghanaweb interactive site) o ICTS provide so much information and for the matter the public is confronted with dealing with the subject of information overload, ie how to determine relevant information at a given point in time o The Digital divide poses a serious challenge to developing countries that have weak infrastructure and low ICT penetration. This is mainly due to high cost of ICT support services, poor access and weak capacity to use ICT tools. This prevents a large section of the population who are vulnerable and marginalized to hold state actors accountable using ICTs. 4

5 o The absence of enabling legal regimes or policy guidelines affects the effective functionality of ICTs. In china and Cuba for example, the internet is heavily controlled through censorship and this is a limitation. In Ghana, the passage of the right to information bill, whistle blowers act will go a long way to enhance the role of ICTs in making state actors socially accountable Conclusion In conclusion however, ICTs have enormous potential in contributing to the fight against corruption, enhancing civic engagement, participation and the promotion of social accountability. Additionally it has the power to bridge the information gap created by traditional power relational structures. This would be achieved largely through a critical mass of informed citizens who can participate effectively in the democratic governance processes. The national ICT4D policy document for e.g. when fully implemented will deal with some of the aforementioned challenges and ensure E-democratic governance practices in Ghana. Thank your chair and thank you audience for listening References: 1. The Role of Communication in Promoting Community Empowerment and Social Accountability, Paper by Mr Samuel Zan Akologo at a workshop organized by the Ghana Journalist Association and the World Bank in Accra, October 2005) 2. World Bank Social Development Papers, Participation and civic engagement paper No 76 December Improving the transparency, quality and effectiveness of pro-poor public services using ICTs. An attempt by Transparency International. By Basheerhamad Shadrach and Lilian Ekeanyanwu, May Stocktaking of Social Accountability Initiatives in the Asia and Pacific Region Dennis Arroyo and Karen Sirker pages. Stock No