Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
We are being driven at a dizzying speed on our digitisation journey. At this speed it would certainly not be long before we reach the Promised Land of total digitisation thanks to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Last week the country recorded two digitisation developments; while one was tangible, the other was not. The father of Ghana’s digitisation drive, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia launched three initiatives as they relate to augmenting domestic revenue mobilisation. The Electronic Tax Certificate is one great leap which would take away completely the inconvenience and contribute immensely towards our revenue drive.
With the ease of acquiring such a certificate, a departure from the inconvenience laden order of previous times, things would never be the same again.
The launch of three initiatives of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to promote tax payment and increase domestic revenue mobilisaion drive is a game-changer whose dividends to the economy can only be imagined.
The acknowledgement of the digitisation feats being made could not have escaped the notice of the visiting Vice President of the US, Kamala Harris, who heaped commendation upon the originator of it all. Such a commendation for us is a development which we should not lose knowledge of.
The Electronic Tax Compliance Certificate, Tax Compliance Short Code and the Online Tax Returns Filing are significant strides in our tax management and constitute major milestones in our digitisation as they relate to domestic revenue mobilisation.
Taking place after seeming intractable search for a solution to the conundrum of increasing domestic revenue mobilisation, we can conveniently say eureka.
It is our position that having launched these invaluable digital initiatives, the relevant authorities should take up the issue of education and awareness creation to complement the digitised modules.
It would not make sense if after launching the initiatives many would not be able to apply them. The excitement surrounding the launch should be accompanied by the spreading of the word in relation to the subject, its navigations et al.
Monitoring of the applications should also be considered to ensure that nobody is left behind the cruising digitisation drive.
We are excited to note that the Ghana Hajj Board too has joined the digitisation drive by launching the Hajj App, which thankfully pilgrim agents and individuals are using to make payments. This follows the encouragement by the Vice President to the Board to consider crafting a digitised platform to ease the challenges of making payments.
That has been done and managers of the Hajj, agents and individual prospective pilgrims are relishing the convenience associated with it.
Mobile money interoperability and many other digital interventions are making life much easier and leaking holes through which monies were lost to state agencies and corporate bodies. Eureka we have arrived.