President Nana Akufo-Addo has stated that the government is taking “things to a higher level” this year with the digitalisation of government services and programmes, announcing a plan to launch a performance tracker that will allow citizens to check and satisfy themselves about the status and location of government projects.
“This Government, after all, is the Digitalisation Government, and the man who has led the entire digitalisation process these past seven (7) years, my indefatigable Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr. Digitalisation, the NPP’s excellent presidential candidate for the 2024 election, is coming up with what will allow everyone and anyone to check on every project being undertaken by the government without having to listen to the President’s Message on the State of the Nation,” he said.
Addressing MPs in Parliament yesterday, the President described the digital device as a performance tracker.
“You can check and satisfy yourself about the status of the projects and their location, and you could stop by and make a physical inspection if you were so minded.
“Mr. Speaker, if you want to check on roads, classroom blocks or CHIP compounds or Agenda 111 hospitals, or bridges, or science laboratories, or water projects, or sanitation projects, or landing sites and harbours, and other infrastructural projects, or whatever this Government used your tax money to execute, the key to your query is right there on your phone,” he emphasised.
He explained that the performance tracker will be formally launched in March, “and I am offering it as the device which would help bring accountability into your hands.”
“With the performance tracker, we can be sure that never again will pictures of an artist’s impression be offered as projects that have been executed.
“I am able to recommend the Performance Tracker in the sure knowledge that the Akufo-Addo Government has done more in education in terms of student enrolment, teacher training and employment, provision of infrastructure, than any government; we have similarly done more in health, agriculture, security, roads, railways, tourism, digitalisation than any other Government,” he intimated.
According to him, thanks to the Performance Tracker, the President no longer has to go through lists, saying, “I have the confidence to say that every performance indicator used shows we have done more in these seven (7) years than in any of the eight (8) years under the NDC.”
On coming into office seven years ago, he said his government took the decision, as they promised, to modernise and formalise the economy through digitalisation.
“In this regard, we have embarked on one of the most far-reaching digitalisation exercises in Africa.
“Up from the figure of 900,000 which we inherited when we came into office in 2017, we have, thus far, enrolled 17.6 million on the Ghana Card, and, therefore, provided a unique biometric identity to the majority of Ghanaians,” he asserted.
The President said the government had also implemented a digital property address system with unique addresses for all properties in Ghana.
He disclosed that through the implementation of mobile money interoperability, the government had also provided access to financial services for adult Ghanaians through mobile money accounts that are interoperable with bank accounts.
“Ghana is now ranked number one in Africa in terms of access to financial inclusion.
“We have digitalised the provision of public services at the ports, DVLA, NHIS, GRA, Births and Deaths, Registrar of Companies, ECG, Ghana Water, amongst others. Ghana is ranked number one in West Africa and number seven in Africa in e-Governance.
“We have also implemented the use of drones in the delivery of medicines, blood and vaccines, and Ghana currently runs the world’s largest medical drone delivery service,” the President indicated.
According to him, the government has networked all teaching, regional, and district hospitals, and patient records may now be accessible without the use of a folder.
He stated that Ghana is making significant progress in digitisation, which is enhancing transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the public sector while also accelerating economic growth.
“We are definitely going to be part of the digital revolution that is sweeping the world,” he posited.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House