Posts and telecommunications facilities

There are no telephone lines currently servicing the population in the district. The district now has access to mobile telephone network with the availability of MTN, Vodafone and AirtelTigo mobile telephone service. Other network service providers are making frantic efforts to expand their service to the district. The postal system consists only of postal agencies, most of which are not functioning and one District Post Office thus giving an access rate of 15.6%. Delivery of mails is occasioned by long delays throughout the district.

Energy

The principal source of energy for cooking is firewood and charcoal, which encourages deforestation. Other sources of energy are petroleum products which include kerosene for lightening and petrol and diesel oil for motor vehicles, con-mills and electricity generators.

Until 1995. There was no public electricity supply in the whole of the district, but with the extension of power supply to the district as part of government’s District Capital Electrification Scheme. Ofoase, the district capital and settlements north of it like Chia, Kotokuom, Brenase and others have electric power, giving about 31 percent of the population access to electricity. The number of communities hooked on the line will be increased so as to increase the number of economic activities in the district.

Building and Construction (Roads)

Quite a number of construction projects are on-going in the areas of road construction. The main objective is to link the numerous farmers to market centers by providing safe and easy road network and open up the district to investors and the entire world. In the Akyemansa District, the mode of transport is largely by road. The total length of roads is 224.6km; made up of 74km of trunk roads and 150 km of feeder roads, made up of 40.6km of gravel and earth surfaces.

Most of the trunk roads are not tarred and without regular maintenance. In addition only 40.6km of feeder roads in the district are of fairy good condition. The need for massive road improvement and re-construction to increase accessibility cannot be over emphasized. The following feeder roads have been approved for reshaping and spot improvement within a short time.

Household Size, Composition and Headship

The welfare of a nation, the community and the people can be better understood in the light of the household groups and their characteristics: living arrangements of the members, migration of household members, household relations, among others. The size, structure and composition of households are influenced by social, economic and demographic factors while the total size of a population and its characteristics are in effect largely a reflection of what pertains at the household level (Shyrock et al. 1976).

Thus, household dynamics and standard of living are better understood within the context of age, sex and socio-economic characteristics of household heads (GSS, 2013a). Statistics indicates that there are 21,361 households in the Akyemansah district with nearly almost 60 percent in the rural areas just a little more than a third in the urban areas. 

The average households per house for the district according to the 2010 census is 1.3 with the rural areas recording a lesser number (1.2) compared with the urban areas (1.4) implying that there are more persons in a house in the urban settings than what pertains in the rural areas. The average household size for the district is 4.5 comparing with 4.4 for the region as a whole with the average household size for the urban area being less than the rural areas with 4.6.

Posts and telecommunications facilities

There are no telephone lines currently servicing the population in the district. The district now has access to mobile telephone network with the availability of MTN, Vodafone and Airtel/Togo mobile telephone service.

Other network service providers are making frantic efforts to expand their service to the district. The postal system consists only of postal agencies, most of which are not functioning and one District Post Office thus giving an access rate of 15.6%. Delivery of mails is occasioned by long delays throughout the district.

Information Communication Technology

Introduction

Information Communication Technology (ICT) can broadly be defined as the tools, facilities, processes, and equipment that provide the environment with the physical infrastructure and the services for the generation, transmission, processing, storing and disseminating of information in all forms including voice, text, data, graphics and video (Asabere & Enguah, 2012). ICT has become an important tool in today’s information and knowledge-based society and has greatly transformed socio-economic processes and enhanced the lives of people all over the world.

In Ghana, the significance of ICT is reflected in the policies and programmes of Government which has provided a conducive environment for the expansion and use of ICT. This has impacted positively on the work of public and private sector agencies, businesses and on the lives of individuals and families.

In the banking sector for example, new services have been developed to facilitate easy banking and attract more clients. Electronic banking products such as the e-zwich, mobile banking services and visa credit cards have improved accessibility to banking and retail services, quick access to customers’ accounts and facilitated easy business transactions.

In the education sector e-Learning provides quality and flexible education through the use of ICT to extend access to education to those who are unable to attend lectures on-campus thereby offering new opportunities for learning and teaching (Asabere & Enguah, 2012). Similarly, the use of mobile phones has expanded rapidly in Ghana and has become the main mode of communication for social and business activities for the majority of Ghanaians.

The positive impact of ICT on the Ghanaian economy is reflected in Government policy aimed at expansion of ICT to bridge the gap in access and use of ICT especially in under-served areas to contribute to the development of the country.

The inclusion of an ICT module in the 2010 Population and Housing Census therefore aims at assessing ownership and use of ICT facilities by collecting data on both individuals/persons aged 12 years and older and households. Persons using internet facility refers to those who have access to internet facility at home, internet café, and mobile phone or by other mobile devices.

Internet access is assumed not only to be via computer but also by mobile phone, game machine and digital televisions. This chapter analyses access to ICT by ownership of mobile phones, use of internet and household ownership of fixed telephone lines and desktop or laptops.

Ownership of Mobile Phones

Persons having mobile phones refer to respondents 12 years and older who owned mobile phones (irrespective of the number of mobile phones owned by each person). Akyemansa District was recorded as one of the districts in the Eastern Region with the least percentage ownership of mobile phones (GSS, 2013b).

Out of a population of 63,600, being the total population 12 years and older in the district only about a third (32.5%) owns mobile phones with males being 38.8 46 percent as against females of with 26.6 percent implying that ownership of mobile phones is more predominant among males than females.

The percent of persons who use internet in the district is just a little over one percent (1.4%) whiles the proportion of males that use the facility is (2.1%) whiles the female proportion is less than one percent (0.7%) for the entire district.

To a large extent ownership of mobile phones has been linked to urbanization and higher levels of education (GSS, 2013a). Therefore, the relatively rural environment of the district may account for the limited ownership of mobile phones in the district. Urbanization of the district therefore may also provide opportunities for service providers to expand access and use of ICT in the district including ownership and use of mobile phones.

Household Ownership of Desktop or Laptop Computer

Households having personal computers/laptops refer to households who own desktops/laptop computers. Ownership of computers in the Eastern Region is reported to be low (GSS, 2013b). Table 5.2 shows that households in Akyemansa District have negligible ownership number of computers. A total of 360 (1.7%) households own desktop/laptop computers in the district. In line with the observed pattern in the district there is a wide variation between male (79.4%) and female (20.6%) headed households that own computers.

There is very limited ownership and use of all forms of ICT facilities in the Akyemansa District. The district has one of the lowest percentages in the Eastern Region with regard to all the ICT indicators. This has serious implications on the lives of the people and the development of the district as a whole. As Government strives to develop all parts of the country and improve the standard of living for the people, ICT provides tools that can be used to accelerate development especially in deprived parts of the country. It is therefore recommended that deliberate interventions be made to expand and deepen access and use of ICT in all sectors, districts and localities in the country.