ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Improving procurement performance in the public sector with the implementation of E-procurement: a study of selected Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies in the Ashanti region of Ghana

Public procurement is the core activity for government in accomplishing its operations. It is the process whereby government obtain goods, works and services from third parties to undertake its operations which is based on the five „rights‟ that is obtaining goods, works or services at the right price, in the right quantity, right quality, delivered at the right time and place and from the right source. Government procurement systems are fundamentally sound in terms of their basic organisation and procedures. Also, public procurement has over the years been carried out manually which is associated with corrupt practices. Again, there exist some weaknesses in their execution and all these affect their performance. The study sought to determine how procurement performance can be improved with the implementation of e procurement in the public sector. Based on this, the specific objectives were; to identify the weaknesses in the existing practices, its effect on their performance and identify the weaknesses that can be eliminated or minimised with the application of e-procurement process. The methodology adopted for the study was more of quantitative approach and a well-structured close ended questionnaire was administered to respondents in the assemblies. Data received were analysed using frequencies, relative importance index and one sample t test with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0). The key findings of the study indicated that there are weaknesses in the existing procurement process and this weakness affect the way in which they execute their task effectively and efficiently. It also revealed that this weakness can be eliminated or minimised with the application of e procurement tools. Thus, the application of e-procurement leads to improved procurement performance. Hence, it is recommended that experts who are well-informed in e-procurement should be engaged to help solve these challenges or weaknesses identified in the traditional (manual) practices.

Source: KNUST
Improving port efficiency and custom operations in Ghana: the case of Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNET) under Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS)

Ports and customs operations and management in Ghana have been characterized by increasing volume of trade, corruption and technological advancement over the past decade. This situation has undermined the efforts of the management of the ports and customs agencies, especially Customs Excise and Preventive Services leading to escalating ports and customs management challenges. The study attempts, among others, to establish the nature and extent of automation of ports and customs operations in Ghana and to assess the efficacy of the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) system in ports and customs operations. Using the case study method, data was on ports operations and the type of automation for the operations of the ports was gathered. Data was collected from both the primary and secondary sources. With respect to the sampling, institutions whose activities were affected and influenced by the GCNet system were considered. Structured institutional questionnaire was used in collecting the data. The outcome of the research unearthed the scope and extent of the usage of the automation system in ports and customs operations by institutions like as CEPS, GPHA, Ghana Shippers’ Council, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Ghana Commercial Bank, Ecobank Ghana Limited and other institutions, efforts in managing and improving the GCNet system in ports and customs operations, the impact of the GCNet system on ports and customs operations. Other key findings included the positive effects of GCNet system on promoting international trade and making Ghana the trade hub of the sub-region. The research thus recommends ways such as deepening people’s understanding of the GCNet and to expand the level of usage of the system. The study also recommends an extensive public education on the benefits of the GCNet, and training for stakeholders for effective and efficient use of the system to improve ports and customs operations in Ghana. Last but not the least, the study recommends a more extensive collaboration and coordination of all the major stakeholders of the GCNet system to ensure a common understanding and appreciation of the contributions of the GCNet to ports and customs operations in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Improving public passenger transportation in Kumasi by use of High Occupancy Vehicles (HOVs)- case study of Metro Mass Transport (MMT) bus operations on three routes

In Ghana, the "trotro" is the main public transport mode in cities. The privately owned public transport operators include the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, (GPRTU), Progressive Transport Owners Associations (PROTOA), Co-operatives and several others. The public transport services are characterized low journey speeds, long travel times, long turn around times, etc in the urban areas which results in the loss of productivity man hours.

Source: KNUST
Improving Revenue Mobilisation in the District Assemblies in Ghana: The Role of Ghana Audit Service

The main purpose of this study is to examine how to improve revenue mobilisation in district assemblies in Ghana. The research was quantitative, and it used an explanatory approach. The study population comprised staff of district assemblies and the Ghana Audit Service. Data from 79 participants were collected using a convenience sample method. SPSS v26 was used for the analysis of the study's objectives. Descriptive statistics were used to provide a summary of the data. The findings showed that there is a moderate to high rating for the performance of traditional revenue sources for district assemblies in Ghana. From the findings also, the first and most important role of Ghana's audit service in the mobilisation of internally generated funds for the district assemblies is that it gives accurate reporting on IGF profits and expenditures, increasing openness in revenue collection and expenditure. The findings also indicated that the implementation of measures such as charging businesses for erecting advertisement screens and walls, imposing fees for towing broken vehicles, and issuing municipal or district assemblies bonds are crucial in enhancing revenue mobilisation for the district assembly are the factors play a significant role in improving the assembly's revenue mobilisation. Given the significance of accurate reporting on internally generated funds (IGF) earnings and expenditures, it is critical to improve revenue collection monitoring and reporting processes at the district assembly level.

Source: KNUST
Improving Revenue Collection through Tax Audit Practice: The Case of Ghana Revenue Authority

The principal source of a government’s revenue should normally be taxation, in Ghana this is often not the case. The country relies on foreign sources of finance namely foreign loans and aid due to its poor tax administration capacity and collection ability. To reverse this trend there is a serious need for revenue administration reform. As part of the reform an efficient and effective tax audit unit may be needed to enable the government to keep up with the increasing sophistication of business activity and tax evasion schemes. The main objective of the study is to find out whether tax audit practice plays a significant role in tax administration and to analyze the significance of tax audit in strengthening tax administration capacity, also to analyze the role and significance of tax audit in increasing tax revenue and to provide concrete suggestions to the issues relating to tax audit practice in Ghana based on the case study. The study was based on both qualitative and quantitative case study approaches. The Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) (Internal Revenue Service) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) acted as a case in the study. The quantitative study involved primary data collection through a field survey and secondary data collection from the DTRD of the GRA. And the qualitative research method was considered as a means of gaining access to unquantifiable facts. The result of the study showed that Tax Audit is very essential in enhancing revenue generation and has a major part to play in tax administration in Ghana. Even though the employees in the Tax Audit unit have the necessary skills which enable them to perform their duties and responsibilities, it is recommended that there must be adequate short term and refresher training to keep them abreast with current trends of auditing and investigations and also the numerous amendments to the tax laws. In conclusion, an enhanced, expanded and well-resourced Tax Audit unit can help the nation in her quest to be self- sufficient in domestic revenue generation through taxation.

Source: KNUST
Improving Safety Performance of Ghanaian Building Contractors

The Construction industry plays a major role in any economy and its activities are also vital to the achievement of the socio-economic development goals of providing shelter, infrastructure and employment. However, the construction industry is also recognised as an accident prone industry in Ghana. The interest in safety awareness among construction companies has greatly increased in the past decade. The ever-increasing cost of medical treatment and the potential for lawsuits can lead to higher insurance premiums, which in turn tend to have a negative impact on a company's profit. Safety in construction sites is a major concern in Ghana, however little research has been conducted into the subject. The study is aimed at improving safety performance of Ghanaian classD1K1 contractors. Sixty three factors affecting safety performance of large construction firms were identified from international literature and grouped into twelve major categories. A questionnaire survey was conducted on class D1K1 Ghanaian Construction firms in Accra and the collected data was analysedby using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain the importance index and thus rank the safety performance factors.It was concluded that the most important factors affecting the safety performance of Ghanaian class D1K1 contractors in order of hierarchy are Administrative and management commitment towards safety, giving staff and site workers safety education and training, the role of Government and other Engineering societies and finally conduction of regular safety inspections by the site safety officer. The recommendations made were that, all top managers down to the line of supervisors must prioritize the safety of workers the same way they prioritize work quality and productivity and also the Government should enforce laws governing health and safety, employment, and rights of site workers and should also put punitive measures in place to deter Contractors from violating safety regulations

Source: KNUST
Improving safety performance of Ghanaian building Contractors

The Construction industry plays a major role in any economy and its activities are also vital to the achievement of the socio-economic development goals of providing shelter, infrastructure and employment. However, the construction industry is also recognised as an accident prone industry in Ghana. The interest in safety awareness among construction companies has greatly increased in the past decade. The ever-increasing cost of medical treatment and the potential for lawsuits can lead to higher insurance premiums, which in turn tend to have a negative impact on a company's profit. Safety in construction sites is a major concern in Ghana, however little research has been conducted into the subject. The study is aimed at improving safety performance of Ghanaian class D1K1 contractors. Sixty three factors affecting safety performance of large construction firms were identified from international literature and grouped into twelve major categories. A questionnaire survey was conducted on class D1K1 Ghanaian Construction firms in Accra and the collected data was analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain the importance index and thus rank the safety performance factors. It was concluded that the most important factors affecting the safety performance of Ghanaian class D1K1 contractors in order of hierarchy are Administrative and management commitment towards safety, giving staff and site workers safety education and training, the role of Government and other Engineering societies and finally conduction of regular safety inspections by the site safety officer. The recommendations made were that, all top managers down to the line of supervisors must prioritize the safety of workers the same way they prioritize work quality and productivity and also the Government should enforce laws governing health and safety, employment, and rights of site workers and should also put punitive measures in place to deter Contractors from violating safety regulations

Source: KNUST
Improving security levels in Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) using multifactor authentication

A wide variety of systems need reliable personal recognition systems to either authorize or determine the identity of an individual demanding their services. The goal of such systems is to warrant that the rendered services are accessed only by a genuine user and no one else. In the absence of robust personal recognition schemes, these systems are vulnerable to the deceits of an impostor. The ATM has suffered a lot over the years against PIN theft and other associated ATM frauds. In this research is proposed a fingerprint and PIN based authentication arrangement to enhance the security and safety of the ATM and its users. The proposed system demonstrates a three tier design structure. The first tier is the verification module, which concentrates on the enrollment phase, enhancement phase, feature extraction and matching of the fingerprints. The second tier is the database end which acts as a storehouse for storing the fingerprints of all ATM users’ preregistered as templates. The last tier presents a system platform to relate banking transactions such as balance enquiries, mini statement and withdrawal. The system is developed to run on Microsoft windows Xp or higher and all systems with .NET framework employing C# programming language, Microsoft Visio studio 2010 and SQL server 2008. The simulated results showed 96% accuracy, the simulation overlooked the absence of a cash tray. The findings of this research will be meaningful to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB).

Source: KNUST
Improving socio-economic access to services in Krachi district of Ghana a case study of education and health services

One cannot talk about development without appreciating the crucial role of education and health. This fact has long been acknowledged. However, universal access to these facilities, especially in developing countries like Ghana, is yet to be realised. Efforts to increase the use of these services have concentrated on building new facilities, upgrading existing ones in addition to improving physical access. These measures have not brought the intended change; with the majority of the people still not accessible to health and educational facilities. The objectives of this study therefore are i) To analyse the use of health facilities and senior secondary school in Krachi district. ii) To identify socio-economic factors that influence the use of senior secondary school and health facilities; and iii) To make recommendations for improving socio-economic access of people to these facilities. To achieve the above objectives, a socio-economic survey was conducted in the three sub-districts. The results obtained were analysed to determine socio-economic factors that inhibit access to health facilities and senior secondary school in the district. The study revealed a difference between the rural and urban areas in the use of health facilities and secondary school. Urban areas have more access to these facilities than the rural areas. It was further revealed that distance had no impact on the use of Senior Secondary School since people are prepared to send their children to boarding schools or to stay with relatives. Again, it was found out that access to health and educational facilities depend on household size. People with regular income like civil servants had more access to health and educational facilities than farmers whose income fluctuates. High school fees and poor performance at the Junior Secondary School were the most important reasons preventing both the rural- and urban parents from enrolling their children in Senior Secondary School. High hospital charges and expensive drugs were the main reasons preventing urban households from using modern health facilities. In the case of the rural households, the reasons were high hospital charges and distance. These findings, as they directly affect the use of health and educational facilities have very serious repercussions on the development of the district and needs immediate attention. The following recommendations, based on the findings, were made to increase access to health facilities and senior secondary school: i) Improvement in the income levels of households; ii) Improving the quality of service offered; iii) Providing low cost services; and iv) Improving general literacy level of the people. It is hoped that if these recommendations are put in place there will be an increase in the use of health facility and senior secondary school in the district. This will eventually bring about the long awaited development to the people.

Source: KNUST
Improving students’ performance in typewriting using remedial tests and drills at Cape Coast Polytechnic

Proficiency in typewriting is a prerogative of every career secretary. Every business entity that employs a secretary expects proficiency and efficiency at typewriting. In line with the educational reforms of Ghana, which established the polytechnics as tertiary institutions, Higher National Diploma programmes in secretaryship and management studies have been mounted in all the polytechnics. In a bid to produce high-level proficient secretaries at Cape Coast Polytechnic this study sought to diagnose the deficiencies in students obtaining weak grades in typewriting and to implement teaching and learning strategies to combat the situation. A participating group of 12, comprising students from SSS, ‘A’ Level and mature applicants who have been making weak grades and have had no prior knowledge in typewriting upon entry to the polytechnic was used for the study. In an attempt to help improve the affected students’ performance, a pre-test was conducted to first diagnose the weaknesses and problems of the students in typewriting. Thereafter, appropriate measures were put in place to correct and minimize the problems revealed by the pre-test. These interventions involved basically the use of remedial tests and drills and demonstration strategies and methods of teaching. In the analysis, percentages and means were used. Major findings are as follows: Students had very low speed rates as was evidenced in the pre-test. The average speed for the pre-test was 23 wpm as compared to the expected 35 wpm after two semesters of typewriting in their first year. Students’ errors made in the pre-test revealed lack of keyboard mastery, technique problems with shift key, tabulator, space bar, position of body and hands and carriage return key. Students’ pre-test scripts revealed that about 75% of the students had problems with basic knowledge in the arrangement of tables, memorandum, and letter with envelop. Informal discussion with students brought to light that there was inadequate practice outside lecture hours. Interview with staff identified absenteeism, lack of practice and indifferent attitude to the learning of typewriting, as problems hampering student performance. Post -intervention tests showed a 100% passes with Grade B and above. Post intervention test also revealed a reduction in the errors made by the students in the pre-test. Post-intervention results, end of Semester 1 results and end of Semester 2 results showed an improvement in the performance of the students. The implications of the findings and recommendations are also made for further research. The implications looked at those for the students as well as those for the staff. Recommendations made included the giving of regular drills and tests to help instill a sense of involvement in the subject and also the giving of remedial instructions as and when appropriate.

Source: KNUST
Improving sustainable procurement practices in road projects in Accra Metropolis

While sustainable procurement practices within the road sector are common in many developed countries, its awareness and implementation is still comparatively low in most developing countries of which Ghana is not an exception. Recognising the important role that sustainable procurement activities can play to support sustainable development, this project aims to examine ways of improving sustainable procurement practices in the road sector of Ghana. To achieve this, questionnaires were administered to professionals from three (3) agencies of the Ministry of Roads and Highways i.e. Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Department of Urban Roads (DUR) and Department of Feeder Roads (DFR) in the Accra Metropolis of the Greater Accra Region. These professionals included Quantity Surveyors, Civil Engineers, Construction Engineers, Procurement and Administrative officers of these agencies. The questionnaires were carefully designed to extract information from the professionals in meeting the objectives of the research which includes identifying the current sustainable procurement practices in road projects, identifying factors influencing the introduction of sustainable procurement practices in roads projects as well as identifying ways of improving lapses in sustainable procurement practices within the sector. The data collected from these professionals was then analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) Version 21 software. The findings indicated that inadequate funding, logistical limitations, limited knowledge and deficient staff strength are some of the major challenges to the attainment of sustainability within the road sector. Recommendations provided for the advancement of sustainable construction to include training on sustainability issues, the need to emphasise sustainability at all stages throughout the procurement process and a proposed framework for implementing, monitoring and evaluating sustainable construction along the procurement route

Source: KNUST