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“Our focus on digitization is building efficient digital platforms for government business, and deepening financial inclusion” Dr Mahamadu Bawumia said.
After the NPP Government invested in the digital sector for seven years, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President and Flagbearer of the Party, has emphasized the significant impact of digitization on the development of the nation.
Speaking at the University of Ghana’s 75th Annual New Year School opening, Dr. Bawumia said that, since taking office in 2017, concentrating on digitizing the Ghanaian economy had been crucial, and the results, he noted, have been telling.
Dr. Bawumia was speaking on the theme: Nurturing Resilience: Adopting Technology and Embracing Humanism for Sustainable Development.”
“The goal, upon assumption of office, was to quickly transform our economy by leveraging on technological innovation as a means to leapfrog the development process, overcome legacy problems and improve both economic and public sector governance. This is why digitalisation has been a major area of focus for our government; to build a new system through digital transformation.”
The successful implementation of a national biometric identification system, a property address system, mobile money interoperability between all telephone networks and financial institutions, digitization of government services at the DVLA, passport offices, NHIS services, port operations, and the delivery of essential drugs via drones are just a few examples of the many achievements made possible by Ghana’s drive towards digitalization since 2017.
Dr. Bawumia pointed out that these interventions are improving governance and making life simpler for Ghanaians.
“It is worthy to mention that our investments in digitalizing the economy are yielding amazing results,” Dr. Bawumia said.
In addition to serving as the NPP’s flagbearer in the 2024 elections, Dr. Bawumia enumerated several generational issues that Ghana’s emphasis on digitization is assisting in resolving, such as identity exclusion, which he claimed is being addressed by the Ghanacard.
He also mentioned the issue of Ghana’s lack of a functional address system, which he claimed the recently implemented property address system is assisting in resolving.
The Vice President spoke about the widespread financial exclusion that existed before mobile money interoperability. She pointed out that millions of Ghanaians who had been left out of the financial system and unbanked are now included because of mobile money interoperability.
Additionally, Dr. Bawumia said that the strategy of “minimizing human contact as much as possible” for bettering public service delivery aids in the battle against corruption and boosts government revenue.
The Vice President supported this assertion by citing the passport office’s processing of 16,232 applications in 2017 that brought in GHC 1.1 million in revenue, and the passport office’s processing of 498,963 online applications in 2021 that brought in GHC 56.7 million after digitalization.
Every year at the start of a new year, the University of Ghana hosts its annual New Year School, which brings together stakeholders from different sectors to talk about issues related to both national and international development.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
