Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
When he spoke about the bounties of digitisation and that in the fourth industrial revolution countries which do not join this new technology will lose out, he was mocked by his political opponents.
They questioned why Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the most impactful Vice President Ghana has ever had, how come he was veering from economics to digitisation. They had exposed their ignorance about the place of digitisation in economics. He used the opportunity to school them loudly and clearly about how the two are intertwined.
They rejected the Ghana Card, calling out their members not to patronise it. Even in Parliament where the facility was taken to so Members of Parliament (MPs) could patronise it, they turned their back on it, citing at the time alleged procurement anomalies. Indeed, they even went to court to stall it, with John Mahama leading the charge against it.
Can we remember as a people how then opposition John Mahama recalled how, according to him, he was traveling to Abuja in Nigeria with a team and one of them whose passport had expired tried using a Ghana Card but was not allowed by immigration officers, just so he could ridicule the Ghana Card.
He added also that the E-Gate failed to open when the originator of the concept, Dr. Bawumia, stopped in front of the E-Gate and it refused to open. He mocked Dr. Bawumia at the time thus: “when the digital fundamentals are weak, the E-Gate would refuse to open for the Digital Man.”
Fast forward, President John Mahama is all praise for digitisation.
We are pleased that President John Mahama has today seen the light of digitisation and has even acknowledged the good work of the former government in that direction.
The Ghana Card they rejected is the one the President said would play a role in the collection of road tolls.
Our quickness to condemn concepts which do not originate from us is a conduct which we must discard if we must move forward as a people.
The role of the Ghana Card in the economy, something which Dr. Bawumia laid before Ghanaians in its embryonic state, is now being felt in all facets of the economy.
The digitisation march is on and nobody can stop it in its stride.
They should bow their heads in shame who obstructed the Ghana Card, an important segment of the digitised architecture.
It is heartwarming to note that a Ghanaian company, Margins Group, is at the forefront of managing data relating to the Ghana Card at a time some Ghanaians out of selfish political undertones kicked against them.
Today, Margins stands out as a centre of excellence as far as digitised identification is concerned, not only in Ghana but within the African continent.
As it is said in the Akan language, “Dr. Bawumia come for your stone”. Your digitisation dream was not Utopian, it is a reality which is impacting all aspects of the economy.