Abstract:
Construction of roads remains a major responsibility of the government of Ghana. The Department of Urban Roads is the key stakeholder that is mandated to evaluate and monitor roads projects in order to ensure value for money. However, not much is known regarding factors influencing monitoring and evaluation of government projects at the urban roads department in the Kumasi Metropolis. A better understanding of factors influencing monitoring and evaluation at the urban roads could help inform strategies to strengthen monitoring and evaluation at the urban roads department in the Kumasi Metropolis in order to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation. It is against this background that this study seeks to explore factors influencing performance of monitoring and evaluation of government projects at the urban roads in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. In all, thirty (30) study participants were recruited through simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Structured questionnaires and interview guides were used as the main research instruments. Data were analyzed using mean, percentages, frequencies as an analytical frameworks which is embedded in the Statistical Package for Service Solution version 20 (SPSS v.20). The study showed that training of employees or staffs have positive impacts on monitoring and evaluation. The study found that budgetary allocations made to urban roads largely influences the performance of monitoring and evaluation of projects at the urban roads. The study showed that 65% of the participants perceive stakeholder involvement in monitoring and evaluation of projects at the urban roads to be on a moderate level. The study indicated that politics to a moderate extent influences performance of monitoring and evaluation processes of projects at the urban roads in the Kumasi Metropolis. Based on the findings, it is recommended that as monies are made available, internal control mechanisms must also be instituted to check misappropriation of these funds while political interference in the evaluation processes must also be checked since these occurrences do not auger well for good monitoring and evaluation processes. Finally, there should be broader stakeholder engagements during project evaluations and more so, their views should be captured in these reports.
