Policy think tank, IMANI Africa, has urged the government to enhance the quality of information and data featured on the recently introduced Performance Tracker.
According to the think tank, while acknowledging the positive intent behind the tracker, there is a critical need for more comprehensive and accurate data to optimize its effectiveness.
IMANI Africa mentions the importance of data quality in ensuring that the Performance Tracker fulfills its intended purpose of enhancing transparency and accountability in governance. They emphasize that refining the information available on the tracker will contribute significantly to its utility and impact.
The performance tracker was launched by the Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
Oppong Nkrumah said during the launch that the tracker currently hosts over 13,000 projects nationwide.
During an appearance on The Big Issue on Citi FM and Citi TV, Amprofi Agyemang, a senior research associate at IMANI Africa, characterized the Performance Tracker as lacking specificity.
In conversation with Selorm Adonoo, Agyemang emphasized the necessity for Ghanaians to receive tangible value for money invested in the tracker. He stressed the importance of improving the tracker’s functionality and data quality to ensure that it effectively delivers on its objectives.
“The tracker needs more information, it needs real data and the data must be available to independent bodies to validate for themselves and moving forward, one of the things, they could do is an independent body so that the validation exercise is really worthwhile because you cannot just come and set up a good website and just expect that people will not ask questions and I believe that when people begin to verify these things intensely, we could see a few flaws.
“Because we have spent money doing this, we need to be able to improve it and the only way to improve it is to provide all the needed information because it seems pretty vague to be frank. We need more information to make it more holistic.”
STORY BY; PORTIA AKU SHIKA GAFAH
