Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP, has underscored the significant impact of digitisation on Ghana’s development following years of investment in the sector by the current administration.
Delivering a speech at the opening of the 75th Annual New Year School hosted by the University of Ghana, Dr. Bawumia emphasized the importance of modernizing Ghana’s economy through digitisation since assuming office in 2017, pointing out the impressive outcomes.
“When we took office, our goal was to rapidly transform our economy by leveraging technological innovation as a means to accelerate the development process, overcome existing challenges, and enhance both economic and public sector governance. That’s why digitalisation has been a major focus area for our government – to establish a new system through digital transformation,” stated Dr. Bawumia.
Since 2017, Ghana’s digitalisation drive has witnessed successful implementation of a national biometric identification system, a property address system, mobile money interoperability across all telephone networks and financial institutions, digitisation of government services such as the DVLA, passport offices, NHIS services, port operations, and the delivery of essential drugs through drones, among others.
Dr. Bawumia highlighted the positive impacts of these initiatives on governance and their contribution towards simplifying processes for Ghanaians.
He stated, “It is noteworthy that our investments in the digitalisation of the economy are yielding incredible results.”
“Our focus on digitisation revolves around building efficient digital platforms for government operations and promoting financial inclusion,” said Dr. Bawumia, who also serves as the NPP Flagbearer for the upcoming 2024 elections.
The Vice President identified several long-standing issues that Ghana’s emphasis on digitisation aims to address. These include identity exclusion, which is being resolved through the Ghanacard, and the lack of a functional address system in Ghana, which is being tackled through the property address system.
Regarding financial exclusion, the Vice President noted that prior to the introduction of mobile money interoperability, a substantial portion of Ghanaians was unbanked and excluded from the financial ecosystem. However, with mobile money interoperability, millions of Ghanaians have been included, significantly increasing financial inclusion.
Furthermore, Dr. Bawumia highlighted the government’s approach to improving the delivery of public services by minimizing human contact.
This strategy has not only contributed to the fight against corruption but has also resulted in increased government revenue.
As an example, he cited the passport office, which processed 16,232 applications with revenue of GHC 1.1m in 2017. In contrast, after the introduction of digitisation, the same office processed 498,963 online applications in 2021, generating a total revenue of GHC 56.7m.
The annual New Year School, organized by the University of Ghana, brings together stakeholders from various sectors to discuss issues of national and global significance at the start of each year.
Dr. Bawumia’s speech aligned with this year’s theme, “Nurturing Resilience: Adopting Technology and Embracing Humanism for Sustainable Development.”
The Vice President’s remarks showcased the NPP’s commitment to harnessing technology for Ghana’s progress and development.
By Vincent Kubi