Performance Tracker empowerment tool — Oppong Nkrumah
The government has launched a Performance Tracker, which is an accountability tool in the form of a database showing the performance of the government through various projects executed across the country from 2017 to June 2023.
Advertisement
The tracker, also referred to as Tracker 2.0, is an enhanced version of the 2020 Tracker, which encompasses over 13,000 projects across 261 districts in the 16 regions under the 28 ministries. It has data that can be analysed for the necessary comparison.
The live platform, which is updated from time to time, has a geotag that enables a searcher to trace projects and photos and locate the same at their specific location.
It also has metrics that can be analysed to undertake the necessary comparisons, as well as space for feedback for any inaccuracy to be corrected. At the launch of the programme in Accra last Wednesday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the tracker was an empowerment tool for all Ghanaians, especially civil society, academia, media and development partners on how the Akufo-Addo government had utilised various resources.
Thematic
Mr Oppong Nkrumah explained that, unlike the 2020 tracker, this updated one moved beyond infrastructure and featured 22 thematic areas and cited the example of roads, infrastructure, education, health and 22 major thematic areas that often carry information about what the government had done since it assumed office in 2017.
He said the health category included health infrastructure, health recruitment of doctors and nurses, and how that was impacting the doctor-patient ratio and whether the country was doing better or worse, as well as Agenda 111.
Education
He noted that the education category also included infrastructure, Free SHS, and teacher recruitment, adding that “first, we organise according to thematic areas, and then we also organise according to the 105 categories”.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said those who wanted to ascertain what the various ministries had done from about 2017 to 2023 could do so.
Region
He announced that those who wanted to search for the progress of work under the 16 regions, ministries, departments and agencies would see that they all had their projects accounted for, urging other appointees with more projects for updates to send them for the thorough validation process and update on the tracker.
Roads
He touched on another thematic look and picked road and transport as an example, and with the tracker projected on a wall, he showed metrics on the data from Roads and Transport, which showed how many kilometres of roads or specific projects and bridges.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said they could be found in categories, photos, videos and audio that go along with projects, as well as infographics and articles by independent bodies and organisations that also validate the claims of the government.
“For example, when you look for road construction works and you are looking specifically for roads constructed and rehabilitated from 2017 till 2022, the matrix gave 11,974.96 kilometres of roads that have been constructed and rehabilitated in the Republic of Ghana since then.
“The Matrix will then compare it to the baseline, and use 2016 or 2008, or a particular year, then the algorithm will run and tell you that change is about 158 per cent increase compared to 2009, 2016 accumulated window.”
He added that it also provided the source of the data.
Challenges
The Minister-designate for Information, Fati Abubakar, said the performance tracker was a mechanism to surmount the challenge of project monitoring because it was convenient, credible and accessible regardless of one's location within the country.
She said the data gathered were a comprehensive job done in collaboration with ministries, departments agencies, as well as MMDA to gather accurate data on government projects executed across the country.
The tracker, she explained, would offer Ghanaians a user-friendly platform to access real-time information on government projects throughout the country, adding that “This data is your power. It will be an enabler for accountability”.
