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THE SOUTHERN COUNTRIES AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
3 Ghana
The six Southern Countries profi led in this section are Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, South
Africa, Namibia and Swaziland. In those countries there were local government cooperation
coordinated by North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme
in 2010. First, a brief history of the country and its system of government is given.
Next, the country’s geographical and other democratic information are given. This is
followed by a brief description of the economy. The ICT landscape is described in the
context of developments in the sector with regards to such issues as the national ICT
policy, extent of market liberalization and deregulation, the ICT infrastructure and the
diffusion of ICT tools such as mobile phones, broadcast media, personal computers
and the internet.
3.1 Background and Government
The Republic of Ghana is located in Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea,
between Cote d’Ivoire and Togo. Formed from the merger of the British colony of the
Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory, Ghana in 1957 became the fi rst sub-Saharan
country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. Currently, Ghana practices
constitutional democracy which has become a model for other African countries. Before
then, the country endured a long series of coups before Flt.Lt. Jerry Rawlings took
power in 1981 and banned political parties. After approving a new constitution and
restoring multiparty politics in 1992, Rawlings won presidential elections in 1992 and
1996, but was constitutionally prevented from running for a third term in 2000. John
Kufuor succeeded him and was reelected in 2004. John Atta Mills took over as head of
state in early 2009 30 .
The Republic of Ghana is divided into ten administrative units comprising 10 regions:
Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern, Upper East,
Upper West, Volta, and Western. Each of the regions is headed by a Regional Minister
appointed by the President 31 . The local government units in Ghana are called District
assemblies. There are 138 district administrative set ups and assemblies. The districts
are administered by assemblies of directly elected and appointed members. District
Chief Executives (DCE’s) who head the assemblies are appointed by the incumbent
President and approved by the District Assembly. Local government in Ghana has traditionally
been subject to the central government because responsibilities between the
two were not well-defi ned. The Local Government Law of 1988 and the Local
30 http://www.indesmundi_com/ghana/background.html
31 http://www.indexmundi.com/ghana/administrative_divisions.html
Strenghtening e-Governance in the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme 29