This editorial piece is not about Zita Okaikoi.
It is about a concept that her ministry (Information and National Orientation) has dreamed up and is planning to implement as a feedback mechanism in governance.
Coming soon: a face-book on the internet that would allow citizens of Ghana to get off their chest, issues that bother them about how their lives are either changing or getting worse under the current government.
A statement from the Ministry (see story on page 1) said yesterday that it was in the process of activating a ‘Text & Call Centre to make it possible for Ghanaians to reach out to government and alert it on developments within their areas.
This is e-governance at work. Of course, the face-book concept in Ghana is not the first to be operationalised in the world, having been pioneered by American President Barack Obama as a means of receiving feedback from the people of America.
But whether it is original or not is neither here nor there - for now.
If the Ghanaian concept is a copy of Obama’s, why not? Indeed, so be it. Africa boasts of too many concepts, philosophies and inventions which have been copied from this continent by Europe and America over 5,000 or more years, borrowings for which continental Africa needs to be given credit.
However, that is not the objective of this opinion piece; after all, this is a global village.
For now, our concern is how originators of this replicated concept of e-governance in Ghana can get all Ghanaians to access this facility. Like the democratization of speech via the FM station phone-in concept, the face-book and ‘Call & Text’ Ghanaian novelty may be abused in the initial stages.
Some of the messages may not be palatable to the government, but operators of the system at the ministry need a big heart. Out of a bucket of sand may be found a grain of wheat.
That small discovery would have compensated for all the time “wasted” sifting through the chaff.
There is also the possibility of self-censorship. We mean a situation where the civil servants in charge of the ‘Call and Text’ centre may delete messages they consider unpleasant to government.
The experience started and has gone on in the state media industry over a long period of time, and social observers believe that the practice may be partly to blame for waywardness of governments in Ghana who get fed only what they want to hear.
For us at the Times, the most beautiful aspect of the e-governance concept is the opportunity people in the rural areas will have to remind government of unfulfilled promises. The only way this system will fail is when a disconnect between the government and the grassroot, developed by a self-censoring staff of civil servants in the Call and Text Centre.
The Minister may be limited in the number of Ghanaian languages she and her two deputies can speak. In the chat-room, therefore, she may need interpreters – faithful interpreters who will not be afraid to interpret “everything”.
If the Times has a prayer, it is this: ‘May this work. May it not be a nine-day wonder. May more ideas flow where this one has come from.’
Good luck.
It is about a concept that her ministry (Information and National Orientation) has dreamed up and is planning to implement as a feedback mechanism in governance.
Coming soon: a face-book on the internet that would allow citizens of Ghana to get off their chest, issues that bother them about how their lives are either changing or getting worse under the current government.
A statement from the Ministry (see story on page 1) said yesterday that it was in the process of activating a ‘Text & Call Centre to make it possible for Ghanaians to reach out to government and alert it on developments within their areas.
This is e-governance at work. Of course, the face-book concept in Ghana is not the first to be operationalised in the world, having been pioneered by American President Barack Obama as a means of receiving feedback from the people of America.
But whether it is original or not is neither here nor there - for now.
If the Ghanaian concept is a copy of Obama’s, why not? Indeed, so be it. Africa boasts of too many concepts, philosophies and inventions which have been copied from this continent by Europe and America over 5,000 or more years, borrowings for which continental Africa needs to be given credit.
However, that is not the objective of this opinion piece; after all, this is a global village.
For now, our concern is how originators of this replicated concept of e-governance in Ghana can get all Ghanaians to access this facility. Like the democratization of speech via the FM station phone-in concept, the face-book and ‘Call & Text’ Ghanaian novelty may be abused in the initial stages.
Some of the messages may not be palatable to the government, but operators of the system at the ministry need a big heart. Out of a bucket of sand may be found a grain of wheat.
That small discovery would have compensated for all the time “wasted” sifting through the chaff.
There is also the possibility of self-censorship. We mean a situation where the civil servants in charge of the ‘Call and Text’ centre may delete messages they consider unpleasant to government.
The experience started and has gone on in the state media industry over a long period of time, and social observers believe that the practice may be partly to blame for waywardness of governments in Ghana who get fed only what they want to hear.
For us at the Times, the most beautiful aspect of the e-governance concept is the opportunity people in the rural areas will have to remind government of unfulfilled promises. The only way this system will fail is when a disconnect between the government and the grassroot, developed by a self-censoring staff of civil servants in the Call and Text Centre.
The Minister may be limited in the number of Ghanaian languages she and her two deputies can speak. In the chat-room, therefore, she may need interpreters – faithful interpreters who will not be afraid to interpret “everything”.
If the Times has a prayer, it is this: ‘May this work. May it not be a nine-day wonder. May more ideas flow where this one has come from.’
Good luck.
