President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been listed among the top 20 influential people who are using digital technology for the advancement of governance.
There are powerful 100 individuals listed by Apolitical Group Ltd based in London, United Kingdom, as having excelled using digital technology in entrepreneurship, journalism, government and business, the first of its kind; and President Akufo-Addo’s name features prominently.
President Akufo-Addo’s name is listed among influential personalities such as Tim Berners-Lee, President of the Open Data Institute and Founder of the World Wide Web, Pia Andrews, Service Integration Lead in New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs; Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Electronics and IT and Minister for Law and Justice in India and Park Won-soon, Mayor, Seoul, Korea.
On Apolitical Ltd’s website, the firm recognized the President as having been “a strong advocate for the digitisation of Ghana and has launched a number of initiatives including a new national digital ID scheme, an electronic payment platform and a digital property addressing system all of which are considered as some of the most innovative in the region.”
It further said “under his leadership, Ghana has significantly improved its digital services and gained a reputation as one of the most advanced digital societies in Africa.”
Explaining the rationale behind the research which is the first of its kind, Apolitical Ltd said “it’s the first of its kind to show the international spread of the field, and includes individuals from every continent. We’re excited to present our 2018 list of the world’s 100 most influential people in digital government.”
“Digital technologies are transforming nearly every aspect of our lives, including, increasingly, our governments. In every country and at every level of government, public servants and ministers are having to work out how to reform and re-imagine government for the digital era. Bringing transformative digital technologies to one of our largest, most complex sectors is a difficult work and the people leading this transformation are often as visionary, imaginative and determined as the tech entrepreneurs the media loves to celebrate.”
It further said “Digital government is, of course, no longer brand-new. A first generation of reformers has been followed by a new one, who are building on their predecessors’ learnings. Because of this, we have concentrated on celebrating those currently working in or on digital government, rather than some of the pioneers who cut the first path through the analog undergrowth.”
“We drew on nominations from over 100 expert contributors to make the list, including digital government experts, academics and public servants. While the list includes well-known leaders, whose every blog post finds a global readership, we have also attempted to highlight the unsung heroes who are quietly and tenaciously updating the machinery of government. The first selection was generated by peer and expert nominations and the final selection has been reviewed by independent experts around the world.”
The firm said “if you work in policymaking, we’d like to invite you to join our free global network for public servants. You can read about what’s working – and not – in digital government (and a range of other policy areas) around the world. You can also connect with colleagues and experts in your field from more than 120 countries. If you think someone’s missing from our top 100, please nominate them now for next year’s list by emailing eve.powell@apolitical.co.”
By William Yaw Owusu