6. ICTs and Traditional Governance in Ghana: International Development Research Centre

A major challenge for most of Africa is the quest for good governance. This quest must take into consideration the dual "mixed" nature of the system of governance that is inherent in African local culture and due to its historical evolution.

On the one hand, is the western or European model of governance that has been "imported" with colonisation. On the other hand, is the traditional or indigenous form of governance, which evolved out of the history, tradition and culture of the people. Furthermore, the traditional or indigenous institutions, within which context traditional governance operates, are defined and linked to diverse ethnic identities, and to the perception of governance held by various ethnic groups.

Ghana has more than 40 ethnic groups and within these groups is a variety of forms and institutions. These include priestly authority, female traditional authority in the forms of Queen Mothers, female Chiefs and priestesses, traditional military companies, indigenous health delivery, agriculture and commercial authority. At the apex of these structures of governance is the institution of Chieftaincy, which permeates through all the 40 or so ethnic groups, limited only in power and influence by the history, tradition and culture of the various communities where the authority is exercised.

In pre-colonial times, traditional institutions were entirely responsible for governance, and Chiefs played a crucial and leading role in most municipalities in Africa. The advent of colonial rule introduced western forms of governance that, today, with their accompanying political and administrative structures, dominate at the national and regional levels. However, at the district and community levels they share the responsibility of governance with traditional authority, mainly that of the Chiefs. In rural communities, for example, inadequate infrastructure and poverty hamper access to modern or state agencies of security, justice and health. In such a situation, the chief assumes a very central role to the people, being therefore a vital and strategic partner for development. Under colonial rule and post-colonial governments, traditional institutions of governance suffered erosion of their authority. Now that the government, Chiefs and the people were rising to the challenges of modernisation, democratisation and the role of the chief as an agent of development, a new initiative was needed to facilitate and accelerate growth of a system of governance sensitive to the culture and history of Ghana. This may provide the answers for stability, alternative dispute resolution, peace-building, poverty alleviation and wealth generation.

But while western institutions of governance have been able to adjust to some of the challenges brought by modernisation, traditional forms of governance have been slow to respond to change.

The pressure due to globalisation and the democratisation process blowing through Africa is now strongly addressing the need to consider the duality of the mixed nature of the system of governance in Africa.

Chiefs have been asking for integration of the traditional system into mainstream governance, and at the same time, the role of indigenous institutions, in relation to the modern state, was receiving increasing attention and has been the subject of seminars, conferences, workshops and publications. In this context, it has also to be considered that Chiefs are now transforming their role, being often young and well educated people, able to fully grasp the advantages of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and global knowledge.

6.1.2. Traditional Governance and its role for Democratic Consolidation

The significance of traditional governance in Ghana has been such that the various constitutions of the country have guaranteed its existence and operation. The Chieftaincy Act of 1971, for example, sets out the guidelines for the functioning of the various Houses of Chiefs and mandates the National House of Chiefs to undertake the progressive study, interpretation and codification of customary laws. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana continues to recognise and guarantee the institution, although it bans Chiefs from participating in partisan politics.

To facilitate the administration of the diverse traditional authorities and units and as evidence of the importance attached to the institutions of traditional governance, the Government of Ghana has been maintaining a regulatory unit in charge of Chieftaincy Affairs at the national level, referred to as the "Chieftaincy Secretariat". It is in effect the Chieftaincy Division of the Office of the President, thus part of the Presidency and under the seat of the Government. In addition to the Secretariat, there is a National House of Chiefs, ten Regional Houses of Chiefs (representing each region of the country) and 165 Traditional Councils, representing each traditional area. The 1992 Constitution paid special attention to Chieftaincy, guaranteeing its protection. Moreover, in 2003, the President of the Republic John Agyekum Kuffour, set up a special Presidential Commission of Chieftaincy Affairs.

The constitutional guarantees reflect the relevance of traditional governance in modern democratic governance and clearly justified the inclusion of the institution in any discourse on nation building and development. That the inability of the central government to follow through on its policies and development agenda in the remotest parts of the country has created a leadership and authority vacuum is indisputable. For instance, in rural communities, as a consequence of this, most people living in the rural areas of the country resort to the chief's palace in matters of dispute pertaining to domestic and non-domestic conflict situations, rather than to the law courts or the police station, which either do not exist or do not enjoy the confidence and trust of the people.

Moreover, research on the subject revealed that Ghanaian perception of Chieftaincy is positive. There is no doubt that traditional governance has a lot to offer. Its incorporation into mainstream governance can maximise the utilisation of traditional leadership, which represents a rich human resource, bringing into focus the broader issues and links between governance, culture and development.

The traditional authorities, as custodians of the land and other natural resources, play a critical role in the economic activities of the people, such as farming, mining, construction, etc. Traditional leaders, as guardians of the history and culture of the people, are thus regarded as one of the crucial echelons of leadership through which the Ghanaian development agenda of poverty reduction and wealth creation could be achieved.

A survey in 2001 covering all the regions of Ghana, indicated that there was considerable goodwill towards the institution of Chieftaincy among the majority of Ghanaians. Indeed they claim that the institution needs support from the state.

Of course, any attempt to incorporate traditional governance into mainstream constitutional rule required some preparation and capacity building for the incumbents and the counterparts (executive, judiciary, legislative, civil society and other stakeholders).

6.1.3. The Ghana ICTs for Accelerated Development Policy (ICT4AD)

In line with the worldwide recognition of the developmental opportunities and the challenges emerging from the "information age", Ghana, was exploring ways of facilitating its development process through the deployment and exploitation of ICTs within its economy and society.

The Ghana ICT4AD Policy charted a roadmap for the nation's development in the emerging knowledge-based economy, representing the Vision for Ghana in the Information Society.

The Policy Statement is based on an extensively researched framework document that analysed and crystallised the challenges facing the country and made a case for an ICTs-led socio-economic development agenda for the country.

The Strategic Policy was designed to aid Ghana's development process by contributing to addressing the nation's key developmental challenges, with the aim of transforming the country in a middle income, information-rich, knowledge based and technology-driven economy and society by 2022. To facilitate this process, 14 priority areas constituting the pillars of the policy were identified as targets and, for each of those, objectives and strategies were stated.

To implement the policy several 4-year rolling plans were envisaged, as well as periodic revisions and the establishment of co-ordinating agencies and co-operating mechanisms.

In fact, despite the consistent strategic document highlighting in detail the policy goals and objectives, and the broad strategic lines of interventions, as well as the key drivers and focus areas, the process is still at the beginning and a concrete implementation policy would require a much committed and disruptive intervention to realise the potential of the strategic document.

The document also briefly analyses the current situation, and it is clear that Ghana is characterised by a weak policy, infrastructural and regulatory framework of ICTs, as well as the general challenges/opportunities in developing countries, such as in particular the educational and human capacity level, with regard to the demographic indicators: Ghana has a relatively high population growth rate (2,5%); relatively youthful (60% under 25 years); with an illiteracy rate of about 40% and only 3% of population with tertiary level education; with a high school drop-out rate and about 50% of junior secondary school leavers. In general, close to 40% of Ghanaians currently live below the poverty line of less than 1$ per day, with an unequal geographic distribution, where five out of ten of the country's regions have a much higher percentage of their population living in poverty.

If we look at the economic indicators, moreover, the Ghanaian economy has not experienced a major structural transformation since independence, and the majority of the working population (60%) is still actively involved in agriculture, with only 13% in industry and 28% in services. These sectors are still narrow and underdeveloped. The informal private sector is by far the largest employment sector. Job creation in the economy is extremely low with only 15% of employment in public and private sector organisations, while 68% of the population with jobs are self-employed. There is also a general human resource problem in the lack of technical and managerial skills, especially in the area of ICTs, and academic and R&D capacity is limited. Finally, the national debt is a major impediment to economic development, exceeding the annual average gross national income per capita, that is 340US$, lower than the average for Sub-Saharan African countries.

Therefore, the aspiration to accelerate Ghana's socio-economic development will require a double figure growth rate, thus an extraordinary effort, to transform the economic trend.

However, it is worth noting that the development of this policy was based on an extensive nationwide consultation with stakeholders from the public and private sectors, the academic community as well as civil society, including members of various political parties.

In this context, a specific role has been given to the Chieftaincy Institutions that, albeit at the beginning were not fully involved, and thanks to the growing debate around the role of Chiefs as "agents for local development", have now been integrated, on a national level, in the process of the development of the ICT4AD Policy and its Strategic implementation.

In this regard, the publication in 2003 and dissemination in 2004 (also using CD-Rom) of the ICT4AD Policy was a strong signal of the Government's commitment to ICTs deployment to cover all sectors of the economy and a starting point for implementation.

Following the massive consultation and the effort of co-ordination of strategies and policies at central level, to address the challenges identified in the policy document steps were initiated in 2004 to develop strategies, especially in commerce and trade, education, agriculture, governance, health and gender. In September 2004, all sector Ministries and Regional Consultative Councils validated their ICTs Policies to enable them to focus on priority development areas where ICTs solutions could be applied to allow sectors to carve out a niche in the digital landscape and also create a greater interaction with citizenry. During 2005 it was expected to consolidate the strategy frameworks through stakeholders discussions to facilitate the development of a National ICTs Plan, for the period 2005-2008.

Some of the indicative programmes and action lines identified include the following:

Finally, with specific regard to the theme under discussion, the Ministry of Communications was to introduce Community Information Centres (CICs) in all 230 electoral constituencies across the country. They will provide the communities with direct access to ICTs facilities, thus supporting development in remote and rural areas.

6.1.4. The National Decentralisation Action Plan (NDAP)

Decentralisation, as a policy option, has been on Ghana's political agenda since independence. The Government of Ghana embarked upon the implementation of a comprehensive Decentralisation Policy and local government reform programme in 1988, aiming at establishing efficient, decentralised, government machinery as a means to providing strong support for participatory development. The process of decentralisation in Ghana involved a mixture of political devolution enshrined in the constitution, as well as administrative and technical de-concentration of key service delivery institutions which were in part backed by law and in the main reflecting conventional practices.

However, the smooth implementation of the policy has been constrained by inadequate resources, ineffective collaboration and the lack of well-focussed programmes for the short, medium and long term. While the institutional and legal framework for decentralisation have made modest progress since the establishment of the District Assemblies and the operation of the District Assembly Common Fund in 1992, support to deepen and institutionalise the efforts of the government have been incoherent, in part due to several uncoordinated projects and the divergent approaches used for their implementation.

Analysis of the current situation, in fact, highlights the existence of two competing concepts of decentralisation operating in Ghana. The first is the devolution of major political and administrative responsibilities from Central Government to District Assemblies, comprising partially elected bodies with the mandate for local government and community development. The second, running parallel to devolution intentions is the process of administrative and technical de-concentration practised by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, that plan and deliver specific services to communities. Devolution has far-reaching implications for political, administrative and technical set-up, proposing to restructure institutions and mandates for service delivery. De-concentration, on the other hand, in Ghana has involved the rearrangement simply of the locations of key personnel and where their functions are delivered.

At the centre of the debate there is of course the issue of accountability, both of government and service providers to citizens, in particular the poor and disadvantaged communities.

In this connection, the commitment to decentralisation has received renewed attention since the completion of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy in 2001, (GPRS).

As the implementation of this strategy and its associated programmes commenced, a National Decentralisation Action Plan (NDAP) has been developed under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development leadership. It aimed at re-invigorating national policy and institutions for decentralisation, guiding the strategic targeting of resources to poverty reduction efforts at the local level and promoting greater participation of key private sector, civil society and traditional authorities in the process of governance and development at the local level.

To begin this process, an Action Plan had been developed to reflect realistic goals agreed by key stakeholders and serve as a framework to shape detailed programming in the near future.

To guide the implementation of the Action plan four main programme areas were formulated:

As part of the process of developing the strategic actions and framework for programming, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development established a Decentralisation Secretariat and supported the formation of an Inter-Sectoral Working Group, comprising members from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies to support the implementation of the plan.

An important aspect of the implementation of the programme was the specific role given to civil society organisations, NGOs and the private sector, as well as traditional authorities, to collaborate in the development of partnership and participate in decentralisation efforts. But is it correct to give traditional institutions the same role of civil society organisations?

The domain of Chiefs is unquestionably local governance. In recognition of this, the 1957, 1960, and 1969 Constitutions of the Republic of Ghana provided for the institutional representation of Chiefs in local government structures. As we have seen, the 1992 Constitution did not. However, Art. 242 of the Constitution provides that the Chiefs can serve on District Assemblies only where they are nominated by the President.

This situation resulted in a distinction between the activities of the political heads of the districts in the modern and traditional systems of governance (i.e. District Chief Executives and Chiefs).

Some District Chief Executives in fact, do not consider consultation with Chiefs in the performance of their duties. Neither do some members of District Assemblies consult Chiefs in decision making. In consequence, Chiefs who were closest to their people at the local level were sometimes marginalised in the socio-political decision making process.

The debate was open and very controversial. It was advocated that Chiefs should be institutionally represented in District Assemblies and that the Act 370 of the Chieftaincy Act should be amended, to provide for District Houses of Chiefs. At central government level, it was also proposed to constitute an Upper House of Parliament consisting of Chiefs, following the British model of the House of Lords. On the other side, there were arguments for the exclusion of Chiefs from local institutions, for the reason that the Chiefs have not always conducted themselves well, not administering justice impartially and not being conscientious with regard to the management of resources. Furthermore, inclusion in local government structures was seen as undemocratic, because Chiefs are not popularly elected and, even though outwardly neutral, they invariably aligned themselves with political parties and have exhibited partisan tendencies, thus risking the inclusion of partisanship in local government structures. Considering that Chieftaincy institutions have been affected by endless litigation, this could be transferred into local government management, also there would be the chance that as Chiefs they may look to their own interests and not those of the people. In fact, one of the main reasons against the inclusion of Chiefs was that, where Chiefs conduct themselves well, their contribution to local level development could still be made outside statutory local government structures.

It was evident, in fact, that Chiefs, by their position, are the leaders of their people. They have naturally therefore been part of local governance, for example by mobilising people at the grassroots level for development. Thus, even though Chiefs are not popularly elected, their inclusion in local government structures can be seen as not incompatible with democratic practices, exactly because this would enhance popular participation. In fact, Chiefs, as the local managers of their lands, have ultimate responsibility for the local development. Subjects still look up to Chiefs for direction and leadership, and invariably judge the performance of Chiefs by the development projects that they initiate. In this regard, "Modern Chiefs" also started exploiting marketing solutions to provide information about their achievements ¹.

6.1.4.1. The "Modern Chief" and the potential of ICTs for Traditional Governance

In a communiqué issued in Accra, in January 2003, at an international conference on "Chieftaincy in Africa: Culture, Governance and Development", it was stated that:

In respect of these calls for support, the enhancement of the active role of traditional leaders in governance was however far from being unanimous. There were in fact dissenting voices which pointed to the anachronistic nature of the institutions of traditional authorities, underlining that:

Despite these detractions, the potential of Chieftaincy for effective leadership was not in doubt, even if they seemed to operate in parallel, and in some cases in contradiction to the governance agenda of the central government. The reason is that Ghanaian society is still predominantly traditional in spite of the ongoing transition to modernity. Given that only a mere 30% of the population is in fact really "modernised", the remaining 70% is predominantly traditional, still looking upon Chiefs as performing important religious and civil functions. In addition to this, central government has relied (and still does) on Chiefs as important links between them and people in rural and remote areas, and have utilised their offices in reaching out to the rural communities. Some Chiefs serve on Statutory Boards, others mediate in areas of conflict and disputes on behalf of government and generally act as cultural ambassadors for Ghana.

Moreover, in view of the lack of accessibility for the majority of Ghanaians to the regular judicial courts, the Chief's tribunal is often the only way to discuss disputes and litigations.

It was proposed to re-introduce the Chief's tribunal as part of the judicial system of Ghana, however, Chiefs must be introduced to new techniques in adjudication and conflict resolution, to the finer principles of the rule of law and the equality of everybody before the law and including some education in judicial process so that they can record and sign their decisions.

Given the above, it is clear that there was a clamour for a critical assessment of the aspects of the constitution dealing with traditional leadership. There is now a strong debate about the appropriate roles to be played by traditional leaders in the management of local and national resources, the mobilisation and involvement of communities as partners and stakeholders in development, the search for strategies for containment and resolution of conflict and creation of harmony and peace.

However, the general feeling was that the rather residual functions given to traditional leadership did not afford Chiefs the opportunity to play an effective role in modern governance. There was a need to redefine the roles that a traditional leader could play in order to make him/her an integral part of the modern governance paradigm. Chiefs must consider the opportune time for them to review traditional governance from within, to critique themselves and rid the institution of certain excess and aberrations, repair damages done to the image of the institution and to build its capacity towards integration into mainstream modern governance systems.

In this context, of great importance is the fact that the education background and profile of Chiefs in the modern era have improved considerably, while, at the same time, a regrettable trend in this encouraging development is the emergence of the phenomenon of the "absentee chief", which poses a great challenge to traditional governance.

Taken as a whole, in the diversity of the structures of traditional governance institutions and the different phenomena that characterise their development, there was the need for establishing a framework that would open and facilitate information flow and knowledge sharing. Key components of this framework, that would allow empowerment of Chief institutions, maximising their efficiency, in the light of the recognition as the embodiment of Ghanaian culture, and as a potential catalyst for development, are ICTs.

In fact, the Chief in his duties as the chief executive of his people, needs ICTs to carry out his day-to-day administrative responsibilities. Correspondence, memos to sub-Chiefs, registrars, secretaries and proceedings of meetings, accounts and all the features of modern bureaucracy are relevant to the modern day Chieftaincy. In their responsibility as development partners, Chiefs needed management supporting tools and baseline data on their locality and on the available human and material resources. Even when such information exists with the central "modern" government, it is invariably inaccessible to the Chief, and yet this is basic to the generation of revenue and attraction of investors.

Moreover, possibly even more important, is the fact that, the vast majority of local communities in Ghana are not "connected". In many cases there are not even fixed telephone lines and roads and transportation are very difficult, especially during the rainy season. It is therefore very complicated to travel and communicate, where sending a simple message could take some days to be delivered and at a high cost. The potential of introducing ICTs in this context would be of great advantage both in terms of cost savings and effectiveness.

In addition to this, much of Ghana's land is vested in the hands of Chiefs and traditional councils. The ownership of land and the way it is used have a far-reaching impact on communities, making traditional governance an important arena for economic development. Chiefs are involved with the exchange of land between persons and groups, thus the palace of the Chief must be able to record such transactions, and, of course, it is clear that there is the need and the potential support of the computerisation of archival records to preserve and disseminate information.

6.2. PROJECT ON "ICTS IN SUPPORT OF TRADITIONAL GOVERNANCE IN GHANA"

6.2.1. Background and Justification

In view of the role of Chieftaincy as a traditional institution, with pre-colonial roots, but that continues to occupy politico-social and cultural spaces in Ghana, as well as in many other African countries, and considering that it shares that space with modern state structures and the pan-ethnic institutions that came into existence in the colonial era, it was important to give room, especially after the Constitution of 1992, to different perspectives on the matter.

The need for a systematic study of the interface between Chieftaincy, governance and culture for a full exploitation of the potentials for development in Africa has long been acknowledged. This need has become all the more urgent with the gradual withdrawal of the state from several spheres of national life and the increasing promotion of civil society, community organisations and traditional forms of governance as ways for enhancing local level administration and popular participation in development.

For this reason, already in the nineties, continuing a tradition started many years before, in the University of Ghana, Legon, particularly the Institute of African Studies, there rose the challenge of integrating traditional and modern governance systems, studying and analysing new ways and tools to support traditional governance and culture for local development.

This "pioneeristic" attitude was, in particular that of Prof. Irene K. Odotei who, many years before the advent of the "knowledge society", was already using innovative technologies (such as recording and video) to record customs and disseminate the culture of the traditional systems.

To sustain and support the systematisation of these efforts, and considering the difficulties and sensitivity that are connected to the subject, in the late nineties, the Ford Foundation funded a project on "Chieftaincy, Governance and Development". The project aimed at research and documentation of the institution of Chieftaincy and its role in the general system of governance in the midst of rapid modernisation and globalisation. Its main objectives were the following:

The project started in 2000 with a piece of research on "Perceptions on Chieftaincy in Ghana", and was concluded with an International Conference on "Chieftaincy in Africa: Culture, Governance and Development", held in Accra in January 2003. The conference, organised with the support of other developmental partners in addition to the Ford Foundation, aimed at making the results of the project available to the international community and also to share in the researches that had been undertaken elsewhere in Africa. It brought together an impressive collection of Ghanaian and international intellectuals, academics, researchers, senior civil and public servants, Chiefs, queenmothers and their courtiers.

6.2.2. Strategy and Objectives

With the knowledge gained from the project on "Chieftaincy, Governance and Development", and other projects ², researches and studies, in May 2003, a new project on "Governance, Culture and Development" funded by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) was initiated, to further implement various processes started in connection with the endeavour to modernise Traditional Governance with a more consistent introduction and use of ICTs.

In fact, already in the previous activities undertaken, it was clearly understood how record keeping for Chiefs and their councils is important, as it is their responsibility to implement decisions on behalf of the community. Beyond that, the Chief must document the decisions and reasons underpinning his choices for posterity. Indeed, it is the right of posterity to know the path that the community has taken and the reasons underlying a particular decision.

The value of archival records is now fully appreciated by Chiefs, their subjects and the public. Visits to archives to find information on decided cases that establish legitimacy to the office, statuses, ownership to land or the position of boundaries have become a common feature. Where such records exist, evidence is easily available, even if sometimes and notwithstanding that the records exist litigants have developed the habit of pulling out evidence from the files or planting "evidence" created by themselves to help them win the case.

Having realised the importance of records and the risk of deterioration they are subjected to, both manmade and environmental, the project focussed on enhancing the capacities of institutions of traditional governance to enable them to participate effectively in mainstream national governance.

Critical to this capacity building effort was the introduction of Chiefs and other key players in the Chieftaincy institution to the use of ICTs as tools for modernisation and effective governance. The global objective of the project was therefore to strengthen traditional governance institutions through the introduction of ICTs in their setting and in their operations.

The project also dealt with the critical interfacing of governance-related cultural issues of concern in Africa, namely: democracy; accountability and transparency; collective responsibility for peace, security and stability; indigenous knowledge; intellectual property rights; cultural preservation as well as the mandatory involvement and active participation of civil society in Africa's development process. To realise these policy concerns, however, there was obviously a need for greater creative research, training support and advocacy than is currently offered by a limited portion of the African academic community.

6.2.3. Rationale and Structure

The reasons underpinning the project were the overall constraints in terms of local economic development and the cultural traditions, and especially the nature of the transmission of indigenous knowledge, based on oral tradition, personal observation and experience, which leaves room for argument and disputes leading sometimes to litigation, armed conflict, death and destruction. An example of this is the crisis in the traditional state of Dagbon, in the Northern Region of Ghana, where as a result of factional fighting the King was beheaded, his palace burned and it costs the government a substantial amount of resources to keep the peace.

The ICTs support for traditional governance is thus an effort aimed at building the capacity of indigenous political institutions, to participate in modern governance, have access to information and knowledge as well as to share experiences among themselves and with other stakeholders.

Towards the achievement of these objectives, the activities of the project were decided using plans drawn up as a result of surveys conducted previously for the "Chieftaincy Governance and Development Project". There was a clear connection, in fact, between the research that was conducted in the previous activity, and the attempt to apply and implement solutions that were identified as having a potential positive impact, and using alternative technologies.

Training included, in particular, capacity building seminars for Chiefs, registrars and other staff on basic computer skills. This was an important task, as the registrars and support staff are mainly documentalists, record keepers and information managers in an otherwise oral society.

At the same time, their capacity to "produce" information was intended to make the process of traditional governance more accountable and transparent, and to "open the palace" to the general public.

With regard to the partnership between the traditional institutions and the modern state institutions, the introduction and use of ICTs was definitely seen as an effective tool for better co-operation and communication, in order to more effectively sustain local economic development.

In general, of course, all this aimed at solving disputes and preventing conflicts because in the absence of peace it is not possible to have any development.

On the other side, the need for equipment and a communications facility was a consequence of the pursuance of the global objective, in fact, to mention the obvious: "you cannot learn to drive without driving... and to drive you need a car....".

In all this process, what is worthy of note is that the Centre of Governance, Culture and Development of the University of Ghana, which was in charge of Project Management, in collaboration with the Culture, Education and Technology Network, CETNET, established specifically to take care of the ICTs part of the project, tried to ensure that all possible support was given to the stakeholders involved.

6.2.4. Organisation and Management Arrangements

Given the previous "multidisciplinary" experience of the University of Ghana in executing the Project on "Chieftaincy, Governance and Development", and in particular the Institute of African Studies and the Departments of History, Sociology, Political Sciences and Religion, the Project Management was assigned to the University itself.

In one way, it was considered to be a continuation, with a specific focus on ICTs, of the researches and activities that were started within the framework of studying and researching on traditional governance in the modern era.

The project, in fact, started in May 2003, only a few months after the presentation of the results of the previous project in the International Conference mentioned above. But, differently from other activities, in this case the project was based on a relatively small grant of a hundred and fifty thousand United States Dollars ($US 150,000.00) provided from the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA) and required specific technical expertise and consulting in the area of ICTs. Given its limited budget and duration, one year, the project was intended to be a "pilot" initiative, mainly devoted to identifying the training needs and experiments on the applicability of some technical solutions, as well as defining the content of training and building capacity.

GDC, University of Ghana's Project "ICTs & Traditional Governance" – Budget:

Description	Cost (in US$)
Training	40,000
Research and Consulting	40,000
ICTs Infrastructures and Equipment	60,000
Administrative costs	10,000
TOTAL	150,00

The team of researchers from the University of Ghana, identified to manage the programme was composed of the following experts:

The team, led by Prof. Odotei, a researcher in culture and traditional governance in Ghana and a renowned historian, made an incredible effort in developing solutions and disseminating information about the activities of the project, often being "in-the-field", notwithstanding the sometimes prohibitive conditions for travelling and communicating.

To facilitate the exchange of data and communication among the people involved in the project, and to disseminate information about its activities, a sort of "Virtual Network" and a web site were established, under www.Chieftaincy.org

An evaluation of the project was also conducted and it reported the positive expression of the opinions of the administrators of the Houses of Chiefs on the project.

In this connection, the uniqueness of the project was especially in the management of activities, since it brought together two major developmental partners, academia through the University of Ghana and the traditional leadership institutions, in an endeavour to improve the quality of management and preserve the national cultural heritage through the use of ICTs.

This partnership has heightened the mutual benefit that the two institutions can draw from each other in their contribution to good governance and development and, at the same time, it also enhanced the image of the University of Ghana as an institution that reached out to share its knowledge and expertise and resources with another institution that needed to be modernised for good governance. For example, the Vice-Chancellor of the University proudly mentioned the project as an outreach programme among the achievements of the University in his annual Congregation speech. So also the president of the National House of Chiefs praised the project and OSIWA as valued partners in the development efforts of traditional governance.

What should also be underlined is the foresight of OSIWA and its dynamic leadership in supporting this project which can definitely be considered a beginning towards the full modernisation of the governance structure in Ghana and, in general, in Africa.

6.2.5. Activities and Results

1. Computer-Assisted Training Programme

A computer-assisted training programme was introduced to promote effective records management in the key Chieftaincy and traditional governance institutions, leading to the computerisation and automation of records from the Houses of Chiefs. Training and workshops on records management to sharpen knowledge of this subject, particularly through the use of computers in each of the regions of the country, were embraced by the Houses of Chiefs.

The project adopted a two-pronged approach: Preventive and Curative. Three major training workshops and two interactive seminars were held to teach staff about the importance of the records and to ensure diligent care of them, and to develop ICTs skills.

After assessing and identifying the needs of different target groups, the content of the training focussed mainly on an introduction to computers, Internet, records management, preservation and intellectual property rights.

They were aimed at sensitising Chiefs on the potential of ICTs and on intellectual property rights. It was also a means of involving them to ensure success and sustainability for the project.

There is no doubt that the workshops had a positive impact on participants. Indeed, "a sizeable percentage admitted freely that they had never touched a computer before this training programme". Moreover, by the completion of the workshops, each of the participants had acquired an official email address within the domain: yourname@ Chieftaincy.org

This was intended to be a means for improving communication and exchange of documentation through the establishment of a "Traditional Governance and Information System (TGIS)".

2. Digitisation of records and establishment of a central database

An important aspect of the project was the digitisation of the Records of the Houses of Chiefs, to be available for the public domain and to enable citizens' to access information and records more easily. These included records and data of critical importance to the history and development of the local communities and the country overall, such as information on indigenous knowledge, political philosophy, traditional laws, constitution and the customs and values of the people. Given the fact that they were generally in a deplorable state, and considering that today's ICTs made it possible to store and preserve records in ingenious ways, affording institutions and organisations a memory bank from which information is accessed and used, as and when required, it was decided not to preclude the institution of Traditional Councils from this great opportunity of knowledge packaging, storage and dissemination.

The process of digitisation initiated also entailed further capacity-building activities for the record keepers and support staff of these institutions.

The digitisation of records increased access to research resources for the people, the Chiefs, the academic community and other researchers, as well as prolonging the life of the original records. This is because important historical records were perishing and were in danger of being lost, due to inadequate storage facilities. The records which were in this poor state prevented easy access to relevant information that could help resolve for instance, the rampant land disputes which were plaguing and threatening the stability of the country and which could escalate into intra-ethnic or inter-ethnic conflicts.

Computers were therefore installed in the National House of Chiefs and the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs as well as in Traditional Councils so that automation and digitisation of records could begin. Given the very large amount of data and records, the project focussed in particular on the digitisation of the judgement books of the judicial committees and proceedings of the standing committees and the full houses. In fact, the management, preservation and dissemination of these data are of fundamental importance in boosting the efforts of Traditional Councils to reduce conflicts associated with traditional governance and culture.

For this purpose, due to the fact that the House of Chiefs undertakes judicial responsibilities, their records needed to be kept in databases for future reference in the interests of transparency and accountability via the Internet.

Under this activity a central database was created to initiate the smooth integration of systems across the regions to enable the various institutions to share the wealth of information available between themselves and the world at large besides ensuring the preservation of important historical data.

These are essential in the development of databases which would contribute to brokerage services for the traditional institutions to be treated by a multi-disciplinary team, and in order to generate discussions and produce publications on the primary material collected. This was intended to be an important resource in conflict situations and claims to land.

In this regard, as a result of these activities, the University of Ghana also provided information brokerage services to the general public as well as to serve the needs of Chiefs and the Houses of Chiefs. This was based on the fact that not all the Chiefs and Council Members would have access to computers and to the information stored in them so there was a need for the provision of such services as they dispense their duties in traditional justice cases.

3. Infrastructural support: the Traditional Governance and Information System (TGIS) (ICTs Equipment, Web Site and Wide Area Network System - WAN)

The most technological part of the research project focussed on investigating the possibilities of using alternative technologies for establishing a communications system among the traditional governance institutions, using new and affordable technologies, namely the Internet and Satellite communication, especially due to the poor accessibility in the remote areas of the country.

For this purpose, the possibility of creating a WAN (Wide Area Network) using a VSAT connection to offer interoperability among the various institutions across the WAN to the central database (server based at the University of Ghana) was investigated.

At the same time, a project website (www.Chieftaincy.org) was created to enhance networking and promote dialogue among traditional governance institutions in the country, as well as to stimulate academic research on governance, culture and development in the country, the rest of Africa and the world.

In terms of ICTs equipment support, the project acquired a customised server, equipped with a SCSI Ultra-Wide platform, a RAID system and utilising state-of-the-art Intel XEON processors to serve the impending network needs. The system unit is bundled with a redundant UPS and runs on the Microsoft Windows NT platform.

Customised Server running LINUX and a Presentation of ICT Equipment in a Regional House

All official permits covering Administrator and 15-Client licences have been acquired alongside the very stable UNIX platform, LINUX Redhat operating system to serve concurrently.

Six DELL Pc's platform, Pentium IV with standard packages inclusive of UPS and Printers, were purchased to serve the Chieftaincy Secretariat, the Central, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regional Houses of Chiefs.

The project also provided Flatbed, Pen Scanners and other equipment to the National House of Chiefs and the various regional offices. This was a key aspect of the project since it was essential that practical knowledge be applied in daily activities, in order to reach the targeted goal of making the beneficiaries computer literate, while enhancing the productivity base of these institutions of traditional governance. Finally three sets of VSAT equipment equipped with 2.4m dish, LNB, Bandwidth, Ku-Band, Direct Satellite technology were also purchased.

The idea behind the infrastructural support was that of pushing through a "revolution" of the traditional governance system in Ghana, placing information that millions of ordinary Ghanaians depended upon in the public domain. Furthermore, the use of a VSAT afforded those institutions without access to telephone lines to also tap into the system.

Regarding the installation of the ICTs infrastructure and equipment to establish the Traditional Governance and Information System (TGIS), a preliminary research activity of three months was carried out in order to design the Wide Area Network. It was followed by an intensive digitisation process across the regions to facilitate the smooth implementation of the central database, and on 25th. November 2003, a pilot scheme for preliminary connectivity utilising dial-up-Internet-connectivity was initiated within the National House of Chiefs, the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs including the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, the Presidential Commission on Chieftaincy and the Chieftaincy Secretariat.

The National House of Chiefs was the first to be connected to the Internet. The equipment that was earlier provided to the House by the Chieftaincy Governance and Development Project funded by the Ford Foundation was in a deplorable state. After troubleshooting procedures had been performed, the system was therefore upgraded with the requisite software. The setting up of the network to Chieftaincy.org, via dial-up Internet involved replacement of some suitable electronic parts and supported by the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and compatible with the V.92 technology which is ideal for long-distance dial-up connections.

A presentation was made to the National House of Chiefs in the presence of 50 prominent traditional rulers from all the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs. It highlighted the project's commitment to the capacity-building of stakeholders and the preservation of materials bordering on indigenous knowledge and also on the Traditional Governance and Information System (TGIS) which included the project's unique e-mail system for traditional institutions and Chiefs.

Following the first installation, the project team visited all the ten Regional House of Chiefs to provide ICTs equipment, support the installation or repair materials, and configure local systems to connect to the Chieftaincy.org/TGIS via dial-up connection. They also solved technical problems or identified alternative solutions for connectivity. But of course, there were difficulties in connection due to the different resources available, technical problems and the capacity of the people in the various regions.

Shots of the road layout to some of the regions reached by the Project's staff

After the first attempt to implement the Network using the dial-up connectivity, it was realised that the national communications setup was not efficient enough to accommodate the Internet connectivity that would ultimately lead to the creation of a WAN (Wide Area Network).

This was due to the fact that the telephone network within some of the regions was in a deplorable state and in some cases cables had suffered from wear and tear. Also, most of the regions had systematically connected one telephone line and extended it to cover up to five or more line extensions which in turn led to disruption of the dial–up connectivity. Some of the regional capitals closer to Accra were able to connect and utilise the service while in many other cases the connect time was too long and the strength of connection just too weak.

Another problem that was common to all the regions was the issue of financing huge telephone bills due to many hours of use of the Internet. This made the people responsible quite apprehensive.

Efforts were made to find solutions to these problems and concerns and for this reason, the possibility of using a VSAT solution was explored.

The proposed Wide Area Network (WAN) spanning all the 10 Regional Houses, the National House, Chieftaincy secretariat and the project office was intended to offer total data sharing amongst these institutions, serving as a communications backbone that was independent of the national grid and provided interoperability.

In order to achieve this flexible communications network and provide optimum performance amongst these institutions, whilst minimising the demand on the national communications grid, a VSAT–Broadband solution was chosen. This choice was based upon the advantages that it has over the national communications infrastructure and its practicality in worldwide application in the resonance of networking.

But, unfortunately, and especially at the time of the installation, VSAT technology, despite its numerous advantages and reliability, was not cheap. The project managed to locate a foreign IT company with representatives in Ghana, offering VSAT solutions at a relatively affordable price. However, it was possible to purchase only two VSAT pieces of equipment which have been installed in the Project Office (at the University of Ghana); and at the Chieftaincy Secretariat. The speed of connectivity through the basic bandwidth more than out-performed the dial-up connection previously used, but the objective of putting in place the Traditional Governance and Information System (TGIS) among all the traditional institutions was yet to be realised, since the other sites had not yet received their VSAT.

6.3. CONCLUSIONS

6.3.1. Impact on good governance and community development

According to the assessment of the project and the opinions expressed by the interviewees, the project was successful, especially in terms of raising awareness of the need to systematise the role and functions of traditional institutions vis-à-vis the modern governance system.

Of particular importance, in fact, was the dissemination and institutional building efforts provided that culminated in an enhancement of the awareness and capacity of the Chieftaincy institutions and their staff with regard to the potential and use of ICTs to manage their daily activities and, in particular, to preserve records and data. As a consequence of this, there is in fact, a growing demand for the active involvement of traditional leaders in Central government operations, due to the recognition of the importance of their role in supporting good governance at the local level. A clear example of this is the integration of the Chieftaincy institutions as partners within the "National Governance Programme of the Government". In particular, to state the importance of their opinion, and to promote and better manage the "partnership for development" in Ghana, the 7th. National Governance Workshop, held in Kumasi in October 2004, focussed on "Traditional Authority and Good Governance: implications for Democratic Consolidation". The workshop was organised by the government in collaboration with the National House of Chiefs under the sponsorship of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the technical input came from Prof. Irene K. Odotei, Project Manager of the "Governance, Culture and Development Project".

This shows how the project, and in general the activities undertaken by the University of Ghana, in particular the Institute of African Studies, were the "initiators" of a process that, although far from being completed, could lead to effective and sustainable development in the country.

In this process the role of ICTs is becoming ever more central. The importance of records of the Chieftaincy institutions is evident for a nation which could have avoided a considerable number of conflicts, associated with traditional governance disputes, if records had been kept properly for posterity. The digitisation and public availability of data will help to create a "memory heritage" from which information can be extracted and used as and when needed. Moreover, it will help to devise and standardise customary tradition and law.

In this sense, many projects, in collaboration with developmental partners, such as UNDP, UNECA, the World Bank, and others, have been initiated to assess the situation and the capacity at local level in order to support the government in better delivering services to the poor at local level, especially in connection with the revitalised process of decentralisation.

As indicated in a recent study of the World Bank Institute, in fact, there is a great confusion about the roles of key actors at local level. This confusion is made worse by the friction between the modern system of governance that the governments superimposed on the traditional institutions, where the weakness comes not from the absence of well defined roles, but from the limitations of the regulatory framework ³. Therefore, there is an urgent need to make changes in current institutional arrangements so that community members and their traditional leaders can play a more active role in determining their communities' destiny, with the longer term goal of improving governance and local service delivery.

6.3.2. Challenges for integrating ICTs in traditional governance

First of all, the positive opinions and enthusiasm expressed by the participants on the need and the content of the training courses should be underlined. However, due to financial constraints and following the recommendation of the Chiefs, the project concentrated on the administrative staff of the National House of Chiefs, Chieftaincy Secretariat, the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs and selected Traditional Councils as an initial step. Despite the grant received from OSIWA, which enabled the project to initiate the process, funds are still required to accomplish the task of organising capacity–building workshops and seminars for Chiefs and their support staff in all the ten Regional Houses of Chiefs.

In this sense, it is also important to underline that the project aimed at establishing a sustainable process, where institutional and capacity-building was not only a sporadic activity done "on project", but was in a positive way "institutionalised" within the context of the academic research. For this reason, and also to solve some of the bureaucratic constraints that occurred due to the fact that the project was managed by the central administration of the University, and sometimes delaying the activities of the project, which should have been managed in a flexible way, it was decided to establish a "Centre on Governance, Culture and Development", as a not for profit organisation. This NGO was intended to serve as a scientific and consulting resource centre, to study and provide brokerage and research services on the issue of traditional governance at large.

At the same time, there was the need for specialist skills in ICTs and networking, and those skills were still limited and weak in the academic arena in Ghana. This led to the decision to establish another focussed not-for profit organisation, namely the "Culture, Education and Technology Network-CETNET". It was intended to provide specific services on ICTs and to serve as a complementary player in the modernisation of traditional governance in Ghana and in the continent of Africa.

With regard, more specifically, to ICTs, Ghana has embarked on an ambitious programme in response to the wave of technological transformations that are pervading the world, but due to the still weak infrastructure and the limited resources, it was necessary to focus on alternative affordable solutions and joint efforts to fully grasp the potential of ICTs for local development.

In this respect, the project intended to explore how to best make Internet facilities accessible to the Chieftaincy institutions to avoid them lagging behind in the development process, and so they could contribute to it. The choice made by the project team to utilise VSAT technology was definitely an important and challenging decision. Moreover, the acquisition of VSAT was initially hampered by bureaucratic "bottlenecks" within the National Communications Authority of Ghana (NCA) which regulates the communications infrastructure. It was important for the project team to consult the NCA due to new regulations requiring that importation into the country of VSAT equipment must satisfy its guidelines and those of the National Frequency Board. After consultations with some leading IT companies in the country, the project team became to the conclusion that it would be most beneficial and cost effective to acquire a dedicated VSAT instead of soliciting the services of these companies.

Due to financial constraints in the purchase of bandwidth and equipment, however, the project outlined a plan of setting up the WAN in phases. It carefully selected the various groups of users, and fitted them into different phases of the project according to current capacity, location and self-sustainability. Unfortunately, it must be said that, at the time of the mission, neither of the two VSAT systems are currently working due to technical difficulties and the high financial cost of operation.

6.3.3. Lessons Learned

One of the objectives achieved by the project was that of raising awareness on the importance of traditional culture and the economic value of information, and the possibilities of using ICTs to support the process of knowledge management, thus improving governance and generating local economic development.

In particular, a specific content of the training dealt with Intellectual Property Rights Protection.

This is important because, in addition to supporting administrative procedure and management of traditional governance systems, the enhanced opportunity for research, publications, codification, and dissemination of information using ICTs and multimedia, (such as production of documentaries for instance) also affords a unique opportunity to re-examine the rich cultural heritage of Ghana from a modern perspective, using ICTs.

It is evident that traditional leaders must acquaint themselves with modern practices of public sector administration and management while building on the traditions and values that command the trust and respect of members of their communities.

This effort is definitely taking place in the context of the government's desire to decentralise power and responsibilities to the communities, and to do so without taking undue risks. For this reason, it is generally believed that "pilot" experiences should provide the proper arena for testing new institutional or organisational arrangements on a reduced scale before lessons can be learned for nationwide application.

The Governance Culture and Development Project, funded by OSIWA has indeed taken a phenomenal step in the modernisation of Traditional Governance Institutions through the use of ICTs. As previously mentioned, other projects and initiatives have begun following this process, and moreover, the interest for the potential of harnessing good governance through reinforcing traditional authority institutions is not limited anymore to few areas and countries. Undoubtedly initiated in Ghana, it is now being recognised in many other African countries, from Cameroon to South Africa, etc.

It is the case that the Kings from different countries are becoming the ambassadors of this renewal of local traditional culture, being invited to meetings in the headquarters of the United Nations or the World Bank, and participating in, for instance, the "Fourth African Development Forum on: Governance for Progressing Africa ⁴.

With specific regard to the ICTs component of the project, it is clear that the project, especially due to its limited financial budget, was not intended to fully realise the ICTs infrastructure of the Chieftaincy institutions in Ghana. Nevertheless, in addition to equipping some key authorities, the research and exploration of the project highlighted the advantages of VSAT technology. This potential is now increased due to the substantial lowering of prices which has come about as a result of increased experimentation and usage. The reliability is also improving and thus it is possible to say that the technological choice may suggest future positive trends that, if pursued, could lead to the completion of the WAN (Wide Area Network) and this, when completed, should lead to the Traditional Governance Information System (TGIS) in Ghana.

Clearly then, ICTs would provide the critical tools for launching traditional governance into the information age and all the advantages that it offers for development and good governance.

6.3.4. The way forward: towards an e-Traditional governance Network

Considering the fact that the identity of the people of Ghana is rooted in their cultural heritage, as expressed by all the people interviewed and by the Project Management, traditional governance would find a niche in the general governance structure of the people of Africa. Therefore, this project is not only a project, but a unique attempt to build the capacity of traditional institutions to usher them into the global system of mainstream governance to achieve this objective it is a question of cultural revolution, building on partnerships with NGOs and other institutions who have expertise and similar objectives.

With regard to the specific project initiated under the grant of OSIWA, out of 165 Traditional Councils, the project managed to train one official each from 25 traditional councils. There are therefore still 140 to be trained. Furthermore, two members each have been trained from the 10 Regional Houses of Chiefs, The National House of Chiefs and 3 Institutions related to traditional governance. In effect, only 56-persons so far have been adequately trained.

But, based on the experience gained and the appeal from beneficiaries of the workshops, the University of Ghana, in particular the "Centre of Governance, Culture and Development", in collaboration with the "Culture, Education and Technology Network – CETNET" aims at ensuring that at least one person in all the 165 Traditional Councils would be e-literate in the coming year. Of course this is also a matter of funding, but at the same time it is an issue of correct utilisation of pilot experiences and scale-up of practices.

In this regard, considering that the proliferation of telecommunications centres and cyber cafes, that providing computer and Internet facilities have resulted in the provision of public access to those who do not have access to private ownership due to infrastructural and financial constraints, there is an even more urgent need to acquire basic ICTs skills in order to be part of the long path to follow before Ghana can become a true information and knowledge society.

Therefore, the challenge for Ghana is to find a way to rely on the institutional arrangements for leadership and collective action with which communities feel most comfortable, while adopting universally accepted concepts of good governance. In this "research", the task of the different institutions is to be able to tailor ICTs to support the delicate balance between the past and the future.

Within this framework it is necessary, as part of the overall efforts of integrating tradition and posterity, to blend indigenous and modern forms of governance and to document (in both text and video) salient and positive elements of traditional culture. These will be used as inputs for codifying acknowledged positive patterns of values, ideas, principles and behaviour into written standard rules and practices for constitutional and legislative reforms. They will also serve to prepare policy guidelines for regulating roles, responsibilities, rights and obligations.

In all this, a particular emphasis should be given to the establishment of a network of community e-Traditional Centres where public communications facilities are provided, information is processed and knowledge is produced and made available to the community.

This e-Traditional Network should be done through linking the various initiatives, ongoing or planned, such as the Community Information Centres (CICs); the Community Knowledge Centres (CKCs); or the Village Information and Communication Infrastructure (VICI) and using the traditional leaders and Chieftaincy institutions as promoter and catalyst for innovation and local community development.

Notes

¹ World Bank Institute, Delivering Services to the Poor: an assessment of the capacity to deliver Education, Health and Water Services to Local Communities in Ghana, working paper draft for discussion, February 2005.

² For instance the "History and Development Project", funded by NUFU-Norwegian Cooperation.

³ See for example. "Odwira 2000: 25 years of Sustained Development", Informative brochure, by the Oyeeman Wereko Ampem II, Akuapem Gyasehene and Ohene of Amanokrom

⁴ Addis Ababa, 11th.-15th. October, 2004, organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

References

African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), Proceedings and Final report of the CAFRAD, Regional Workshop on e-governance, organized in partnership with ACBF, NEPAD, UNDESA and hosted by the Government of Ghana, Office of the Head of Civil Service, Accra, Ghana, 22-25th. November 2004;

Baku, Kofi, (edited by) "Chieftaincy in Africa: Culture, Governance and Development", Summary of International Conference Proceedings, January 6-10th., 2003, Accra, Ghana;

Odotei K, Irene, Prof., "ICTs in support of Traditional Governance: Chieftaincy and Governance in Ghana", in "Africa Networking: Development Information, ICTs and Governance", United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2004;

Odotei K, Irene, Prof., "Technical Report preparatory to the 7th National Governance Workshop on "Traditional Authority and Good Governance: implications for democratic consolidation", Kumasi, Ghana, 27-29th. October 2004;

Oyeeman Wereko Ampem II, Akuapem Gyasehene and Ohene of Amanokrom, "Odwira 2000: 25 years of Sustained Development", Report and brochures, Amanokrom, 2000;

Republic of Ghana, Office of the President of the Republic, National Governance Programme, "Traditional Authority and Good Governance: implications for democratic consolidation", Report of the 7th. National Governance Workshop, Kumasi, Ghana, 27-29th. October 2004;

Republic of Ghana, "The Ghana ICTs for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy, 2003;

Republic of Ghana, "An integrated ICTs-led Socio-economic Development Policy and Plan Development Framework for Ghana", 2002;

Republic of Ghana, "Coordinated Programme for Economic and Social Development of Ghana (2003-2012)", 2002;

Republic of Ghana, Ministry of Communications "Community Information Centres (CIC's) in the Age of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs): Ghana's Blueprint for Action", 2004;

Republic of Ghana, Ministry of Communications "Introducing the new Community Information Centres (CIC) in Ghana", 2005;

Republic of Ghana, Ministry of Communications "Draft Paper on ICTs Actions and Development", 2004;

Republic of Ghana, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Decentralisation Secretariat "National Decentralisation Action Plan (NDAP): Towards a Sector-wide approach for decentralisation implementation in Ghana (2003-2005)", September 2004;

University of Ghana, Legon, Institute of African Studies, Working Papers of the Project on "Chieftaincy, Governance and Culture", not published, 2000-2003;

University of Ghana, Legon, Centre on Governance, Culture and Development, Working Papers of the Project on "Governance Culture and Development", not published, 2003-2004;

University of Ghana, Legon, Centre on Governance, Culture and Development, Final Report of the OSIWA funded Project on "Governance Culture and Development", 2004;

University of Ghana, Legon, Ford Foundation, "Perceptions on Chieftaincy in Ghana", Research Report, 2000;

World Bank Institute, "Local Governance Capacity Development", Concept Note, 2004;

World Bank Institute, Delivering Services to the Poor: an assessment of the capacity to deliver Education, Health and Water Services to Local Communities in Ghana, working paper, 2005.

6.1. CONTEXT AND POLICY

6.1.1. Modern versus Traditional authority: implications on Governance