Browsing by Author "Appiah, D."

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Assessment of Adherence to Formal Rules in Resource Distribution in Ghana: The Case of the Ghana School Feeding Programme in the Birim South District
(University of Ghana, 2016-07) Adu-Okoree, B.S.E.; Appiah, D.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, Business School, Department of Public Administration and Health Service Management
Ghana adopted the School Feeding Programme in 2005. The programme was designed to impact on agriculture, rural poverty and education by using domestically produced food items to provide at least one hot nutritious meal to school children in poor communities. The Birim South District Assembly started the programme in 2006/2007 academic year with four schools but as at the time of the study this number has increased to twenty three. The main objectives were: to assess the extent to which the stakeholders of the programme adhered to the selection criteria for both schools and caterers; and to assess the monitoring procedures in place to ensure quality service delivery. The study was conducted in twenty one of the twenty three beneficiary schools. Using one-on-one interview, the views of the key stakeholders were obtained and analyzed using the interpretivist approach. The study found that the implementation of the programme had not adhered to the policy guidelines in the selection of both the beneficiary schools and caterers. Key stakeholders in the programme had been sidelined. There were no strong procedures to ensure quality service delivery by the caterers. The exclusion of the community had cost the community commitment which could have ensured sustainability of the programme. The study therefore recommends the setting up of implementation committees at both district and school levels to include all stakeholders of the programme and mandate the head teachers to monitor the activities of the caterers.
Building the Administrative Capacity of District Assemblies in Ghana; Examining the Role of Staff Postings
(University of Ghana, 2015-07) Seim, P.; Appiah, D.
The study examined the role of staff postings as a tool for strengthening the administrative capacity of the District Assemblies in Ghana. The theory adopted for the interpretation of the findings was the theory of institutional integrity where the effectiveness of an institution is measured by its level of integrity or corruption. The methodological approaches used for the study were both qualitative and quantitative. Hence in-depth interviews and survey questionnaires were administered to solicit information from officials within the Local Government Service. The study found out that the establishment of the Local Government Service has helped to improve the administrative capacity of the District Assemblies in Ghana. Also, contrary to the widespread notion and various allegations that politics play a key role in the posting of Local Government Officials and that Officers do not accept postings to less resourced areas, it is largely not so in practice. The study found out that politics does not play any significant role in postings at the grassroots level but perhaps it is felt at the top management level and has not eaten deep to the lower management level. Furthermore, most Officials in the Local Government Service asserted that they will accept postings to less resourced areas. The study concluded by affirming that there is a high level of institutional integrity in terms of staff posting and the level of institutional corruption is very minimal. Therefore, the level of confidence that the employees have in the system is quite high. However, lack of a comprehensive database of employees and non-payment of the benefits that comes with staff posting is still a challenge in the Local Government Service.
Competitive clientelism and the politics of core public sector reform in Ghana
(2017) Appiah, D.; Abdulai, A.G.
Although Ghana has implemented several donor-sponsored public sector reforms (PSRs) in an attempt to improve core areas of state functionality, the impact of such reforms remains generally disappointing. In this paper, we show that the nature of the political settlement in Ghana, described as one of ‘competitive clientelism’, is central to understanding the country’s limited success in improving the effectiveness of public institutions. Faced with a credible threat of losing power to excluded factions in competitive elections, reform initiatives tend to be driven largely by the logic of the maintenance of ruling governments, rather than by their potential to enhance the effectiveness of state institutions. This has often resulted in decisions that undermine reform efforts, ranging from needless and costly institutional duplications to the politicisation of the bureaucracy through patronage-based appointments, and the wholesale removal of public servants perceived to be associated with previous regimes. In this political environment, policy discontinuities across ruling coalitions are a norm, undermining the impact of reform initiatives that require a longer-time horizon to bear fruit.
Data-driven multi-index overlay gold prospectivity mapping using geophysical and remote sensing datasets
(Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2022) Forson, E.D.; Wemegah, D.D.; Hagan, G.B; Appiah, D.; Addo-Wuver, F.; Adjovu, I.; Otchere, F.O.; Mateso, S.; Menyeh, A.; Amponsah, T.
The comparative relevance of each geospatial component of mineralization differs from one geological terrane to the other because various sought-after mineral deposit-types synonymously differ in different geological terranes. Hence, the possibility of employing a conceptual model to obtain a relationship or a quantitative function between various geospatial features (evidential layers) with respect to the mineral being sought is laudable, though these features may not necessarily have a generically related effect with the mineral being sought. As a consequence, there is the need to employ a technique that has the capacity to recognize the efficient and inefficient geospatial indicators of the mineral deposit-type being sought. In view of this, this study employed the logistic function, concentration-area fractal model and the prediction-area (P-A) plot to transform and discretize the continuous value of each evidential layer as well as generating intersection points of prediction rate indicators that are essential in obtaining the normalized densities, which were subsequently employed in generating the objective weight for each evidential layer in a data-driven way. The P-A and the normalized density techniques employed were vital in recognizing the indicator and non-indicator criteria. The results obtained acknowledged the potassium concentration layer as a non-indicator of gold mineralization within the study area and subsequently recognized the hydroxyl bearing mineral concentration layer as the most plausible indicator criteria among the six evidential layers (lineament density, iron concentration, hydroxyl concentration, gravity anomaly, magnetic anomaly and potassium concentration) employed in this study. These five indicator criteria were integrated to generate a mineral prospectivity map (MPM) over the study area based on the data-driven multiindex overlay approach adopted. The prediction rate for each of the 6 evidential layers (5 of which were the indicator criteria) as well as the MPM produced indicates that, the generation of objective weights in a datadriven manner via normalized density enhances the predicting ability of the MPM produced in comparison with the individual evidential layers.
The Impact of Social Media on Ghanaian Youth: A Case Study of the Nima and Maamobi Communities in Accra, Ghana
(The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, 2016-06) Markwei, E.D.; Appiah, D.
Social media has been widely adopted in the twenty-first century, with high enthusiasm among youth around the world. Research on new media practices in Ghana has been described as wide open, with very few studies focusing on youth social media use. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the extent of social media use and the purposes, access, and challenges of its use by the young people of Nima and Maamobi, two suburbs of Accra, Ghana. One hundred fifty youth ages 11–19 and five adult Internet café attendants participated in the study. The findings revealed patterns of young people’s social media use consistent with similar studies of youth in other countries, with high use among the youth in these two economically and educationally disadvantaged communities. The study revealed the need for young people to have a greater awareness of the risks of social media use. The conclusions include recommendations for nationwide education of youth in Ghana about responsible use of social media, with policy and educational interventions led by multiple stakeholders, including school and public libraries and government agencies, to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of social media use among Ghanaian youth.
Public Private Partnership for Improved Service Delivery in Ghana: A Case Study of the Dvla and Vito S-Class Services Partnership.
(University of Ghana, 2015-07) Adjetey, S.; Appiah, D.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, Business School, Department of Public Administration and Health Service Management
In order to ensure continuous and optimum output of the public sector, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become an acceptable mechanism that seeks to provide the needed support and boost to the public sector. The study sought to understand the origins, processes, and outcome of a public-private partnership (PPP) established between the Driver and Licensing Vehicle Authority (a public agency) and VITO S-Class Services (a private business entity) to undertake the testing and inspection of vehicles to determine roadworthy vehicles in Ghana. The study adopted the qualitative research design approach and relied on interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and analysis of official documents as well as secondary materials to achieve the research objective. The rational choice institutional theory is used in the interpretation of the findings of the study. The findings showed that the DVLA-VITO partnership takes the form of contracting-out although traces of franchising and strategic partnering can also be found in the partnership. It is not always easy to clearly classify the nature of public-private partnerships. The study also found positive outcomes from the partnership including improvement in services rendered to clients, reduction in the workload of the DVLA leading to a reduction in corrupt activities undertaken by middlemen (called ‗Goro boys‘), the generation of revenue by the private agency for the DVLA, and the generation of profit by VITO S-Class Services from the partnership. The key challenges that affect the smooth implementation of the partnership include late reimbursement of profit to the private entity, delays in contract negotiation, inter-organizational cultural differences, and the absence of a comprehensive legal framework to regulate the negotiation and implementation of PPPs
Understanding How Democracy Limits Public Sector Reforms in Ghana
(2016-10-14) Appiah, D.; Abdulai, A-G.
Ghana – Africa’s so-called model for democratic good governance – has implemented several donor-sponsored public sector reforms (PSR) in an attempt to improve core areas of state functionality, but the impact of such reforms remains generally disappointing. In this paper, we show that the nature of democratic competitive elections in Ghana is central to understanding the country’s limited success in improving the effectiveness of public institutions. Faced with a credible threat of losing power to excluded factions in competitive elections, reform initiatives tend to be driven largely by the logic of pursuing short-term projects that could deliver votes to maintain the ruling coalition rather than pursuing long term PSR to enhance the developmental effectiveness of state institutions. This has often resulted in decisions that undermine reform efforts, ranging from needless and costly institutional duplication to the wholesale removal of champions of PSR associated with previous regimes. Reform discontinuities across ruling coalitions is a norm, undermining the impact of reform initiatives that require a longer-time horizon to bear fruit.
University Of Ghana Research Report, 2014/2015
(Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2014) Gyapong, J.; Adjei, A. A.; de-Graft Aikins, A.; Anoku, J.; Yeboah, A.; Biney-Nyamekye, B.S.; Appiah, D.
University Of Ghana Research Report, 2015/2016
(Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2015) Dodoo, F.; Adjei, A.A.; Adjei, G.O.; Oduro, A.; Anoku, J.; Opai-Tetteh, D.; Appiah, D.