Transition to e-government in Developing countries: The Case of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) e-Service Smart City Initiatives in Ghana

Most developing countries, especially in Africa are fighting corruption as a major barrier to development, and e-government is seen as a new way of addressing it. Besides generally being recognized as cost-efficient, e-government is thought to reduce corruption through increased transparency, better accountability and, the disappearance of the “middle-man” in the acquisition of public services by the citizenry. This paper discusses the extent to which this has been achieved in Ghana by analyzing the implementation of e-government service of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) of Ghana using the “stages of growth” mode from a sociotechnical perspective. The outcome of the analysis suggests that the e-government service implementation by DVLA is still at its basic and rudimentary stage (Catalogue stage) and continuous presence of the “middle-man,” high level of corruption, lack of transparency, accountability and trust in the acquisition of services
provided by the Authority. The DVLA can still benefit from e-government if it commits to full implementation.