Media and public accountability in local governance in Ghana -A case study of Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how social media and radio are utilized to promote public accountability in local governance within the Upper Denkyira East Municipality, using the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and the Media as a Watchdog theory as guiding lenses. A qualitative research design was adopted, and purposive sampling was used to select thirty (30) participants, including local government officials, journalists, and citizens. Primary data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, and thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings reveal that radio remains the most trusted and widely used medium for citizen engagement in the Municipality. Weekly radio programs on local stations such as Denkyiraman Radio serve as interactive platforms where officials communicate policies, receive feedback, and address public concerns. Despite institutional challenges such as financial constraints, local context, and poor internet infrastructure, citizens continue to leverage social media to raise concerns and compel action from local authorities. These platforms were found to significantly enhance transparency, citizen participation, and informal enforcement of accountability, especially in the absence of robust formal mechanisms. However, the study identifies several barriers to the effective use of media in fostering accountability. These include growing partisanship within the media landscape, political and institutional interference, inadequate access to information despite the passage of the Right to Information Act, and infrastructural limitations such as poor internet access and budget constraints. The study recommended that improvements to internet infrastructure, increased financial investment, strengthened institutional capacity for media engagement, media independence and strict adherence to RTI at the local level would go a long way to enhance public accountability.