Dr Mahmudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2024 presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has unveiled his key focus areas for his upcoming presidential campaign.
At the forefront of his priorities is a strong emphasis on digitisation and the use of technology to promote inclusive economic growth.
Dr. Bawumia emphasised that his commitment to driving digitisation would serve as a cornerstone for achieving success in his campaign. He highlighted the transformative potential of technology in bolstering economic opportunities for all segments of society, emphasising its role in fostering greater inclusion and accessibility.
Speaking to New African Magazine, Dr. Bawumia highlighted that his campaign will prioritise three main areas: digitalisation, healthcare improvement, and agricultural productivity.
Dr. Bawumia expressed his vision to make Ghana the digital hub of Africa by leveraging technology and data to enhance various sectors.
He emphasised the potential for digital solutions to greatly benefit agriculture, healthcare, and education in the country.
Citing examples such as drones delivering medicines and vaccines, a centralised hospital records system, and Africa’s first national scale e-pharmacy, the Vice President stressed the importance of utilising artificial intelligence and data to develop tailored healthcare solutions and improve agricultural output.
Furthermore, Dr. Bawumia stressed the significance of focusing on food security and the maximisation of natural resources. He introduced a new policy known as “gold for oil”, wherein the gold reserves are used as payment for oil rather than relying on scarce dollars. This policy aims to reduce the financial strain on the country and ensure the efficient utilisation of its natural resources. Additionally, he highlighted the importance of an energy transition towards renewable sources and the need to involve the private sector in infrastructure development.
“There are different areas. Digitalisation and leveraging technology for inclusive economic growth would be one area. We want to make Ghana the digital hub of Africa. The world right now is looking at systems data, artificial intelligence and all of that. We can use that to improve agricultural productivity, to improve healthcare and to improve education. These are for me the three big areas,” he said.
He added, “For all the concerns about artificial intelligence and data, it is very important that we get the best out of that for Africa. We need to go into predictive agriculture. Today in Ghana we have drones delivering medicines and vaccines. We are networking all the hospitals so that records are centralised. We have launched Africa’s first national scale e-pharmacy, so that when you have a prescription you can go online and find the nearest pharmacy to you. If you have artificial intelligence getting all this data, you can have solutions to diseases which, given our own DNA in Africa, may be quite different from other places. We need to get healthcare outcomes which are suitable for us, so we need to develop our own research.”
He also highlighted food security as another area of focus, saying, “I want to introduce what I call a golden age of the maximisation of the benefits of our natural resources: gold, lithium, and domestic beneficiation. I introduced a new policy recently – gold for oil – in which we are leveraging the gold to pay for oil and not looking for scarce dollars that we don’t have. And there’s the energy transition, with a focus on renewables.”
While acknowledging that the government cannot solely handle all areas of development, Dr. Bawumia expressed his commitment to working with the private sector and implementing policies that enhance food security, maximise resource benefits, and foster an energy transition.
Through his campaign, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia aims to address these key focus areas and position Ghana as a leader in digitalisation, healthcare, agriculture, and maximising the benefits of its natural resources.
By Vincent Kubi