Assessment of vehicle fleet management in a public university in Ghana; The case of College of Technology Education, Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to examine the effectiveness of fleet management in the University of Education, Winneba (Kumasi-Campus). This assessment was done in a bid to analyze how the University is able to derive value for money in the operations of the Transport Department of the institution. The study adopted the quantitative research methodology to assess the problem. That notwithstanding, using the purposive sampling technique a total of 161 respondents were used for the study which comprised 60 and 101 senior and junior members of the University respectively. Administering questionnaires as the main instrument of data collection, the results show that a significant number of the respondents agreed that the procurement of new vehicles for the University should be under the auspices of the Transport Section. Additionally, the respondents accepted that the Transport Section should be in charge of vehicle repairs and maintenance as well as authorize the fuelling of official vehicles of the University. Also, the study revealed that for effective vehicle management official vehicles should be insured and that there should be strict regulation on access to the keys of official vehicles. The Transport Section of the University is challenged by frequent vehicular breakdowns, accidents as well as poor vehicular scheduling. It was thus recommended that the University should compel all staff to comply with the fleet management policies of the University and penalties be appended to staff who go against the policies. Regular training programmes must be organized for staff to ensure they are kept up-to-date with new trends in transport issues.