Ghana’s digitisation drive is helping some local governments plug revenue leakages and improve service delivery, with one municipality increasing internally generated funds fivefold to about GH¢25 million in 2024 after adopting digital payments and property addressing systems.
Dr. Richard Abankwa Agyepong, a specialist in local governance administration and public-sector training, said the gains came largely from reducing human contact in revenue collection, expanding the identification of rateable properties, and making it easier for residents to pay through mobile money.
The remarks were made during a CRG seminar held in the Netherlands on intergovernmental coordination for public e-service delivery in West Africa, with a focus on Ghana.
Agyepong said the municipality’s revenue climbed from about GH¢5 million in 2019 to GH¢25 million in 2024, even through the Covid-19 period, without a major increase in tax rates.
He attributed the growth to the shift to digital systems that limited manual handling of funds, improved tracking of property ownership and occupancy, and made payment more convenient for residents and businesses.
He cited Ghana’s digital property addressing system, which assigns geocodes to properties and captures both owners and occupiers, as a key tool for widening the tax net and ensuring rate demands reach property owners who may live outside the municipality.
The expert who also lectures at the University of Education, Wineba pointed to performance indicators used to assess assemblies, including citizen complaint handling and service delivery timelines. He said local governments can be penalised where citizens report delays, such as building permits taking longer than 30 days, under a framework known as the business performance assessment tool.
Agyepong said Ghana’s local-level digitisation efforts are also being supported through a system that logs assembly activities in real time, limiting post-entry changes and allowing central oversight.
Agyepong described Ghana’s digital public service architecture as anchored on three pillars: a national personal identification system, a digital property addressing system, and a digital payment system.He said the systems are increasingly integrated into public administration, including through the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) which manages public-sector payments such as salaries and contract settlements.
He added that Ghana’s electronic procurement system, introduced in 2019, has also been integrated into the payment process, reducing discretion and limiting the ability of contracting entities to influence payment timelines after a contract is logged.
Agyepong said Ghana’s national ID system has been aligned with regional integration efforts, including through the ECOWAS card initiative, which is intended to allow citizens to access services across the bloc’s 15 member states.
He said the ECOWAS card has become a more practical travel document in parts of the region, citing Togo as an example where it can be used more easily than a passport for cross-border movement.
Despite the gains, Agyepong warned that scaling digital service delivery across Ghana’s 261 local government units will require sustained investment in infrastructure and digital skills.
He cited digital illiteracy among some local government staff, inadequate digital infrastructure, and cybersecurity concerns as key barriers, adding that Ghana must improve interoperability between mobile networks and other digital platforms, arguing that seamless multi-channel service delivery is critical if citizens are to trust e-services.
Agyepong also flagged institutional coordination constraints, describing Ghana’s inter-ministerial coordination structure as largely advisory, relying on political and peer pressure rather than legal sanction powers. According to him, the structure has stronger leverage over local governments through funding incentives tied to performance, but weaker enforcement over central ministries, where coordination can be undermined by siloed decision-making.
Government has however been urged to institutionalise digital literacy in public service training and embed e-service delivery indicators into political and administrative performance frameworks to deepen buy-in and reduce resistance from groups that benefit from manual systems.
Agyepong said the broader lesson from the case study is that “quality coordination fosters inclusive service delivery and improves trust,” arguing that digitisation can be a game-changer for service delivery if Ghana strengthens infrastructure, cybersecurity, and accountability systems nationwide.
