Vice-President Dr. Bawumia mobbed by Ghanaian residents in London
Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday
had an auspicious opportunity to dangle the new face of Ghana when he delivered
a keynote address during the Financial Times Africa Summit in London.
He lavishly showcased the digitization project of the Akufo-Addo’s
government novelty which he said had transformed the age-old methods of doing
the assortment of government business from registering businesses to the
keeping a database of registered land and reliable records of residential
addresses.
He told his attentive audience that the Akufo-Addo government was focused
on how to build a robust micro-foundation of good economic governance alongside
“ensuring the right policy mix, that is, the right mix of fiscal, monetary and
external policies.”
Without these fundamental pillars, he said “we will not be
successful,” adding “we will continue to spin in the rut of the weak policy
environments.”
Technology
He said government had always leveraged on technology wherever
possible to “innovate public administration, increase access to and delivery of
public services and eliminate the opportunities for bribery and corruption.”
New Mantra
Dr. Bawumia said that digital innovations towards the improvement of
public administrative systems are the new mantra of the government.
The digitization of systems since 2017, according to him, has been
done with the sole aim of improving administrative systems and increasing transparency.
He added that the introduction of the National ID Cards, which he
described as a game changer, would form the basis of an integrated database
with Passports, Tax Identification Numbers and Drivers’ Licences.
With a touch of humour, he said as regards the secure systems ‘No
one can hide!’
Digital Addressing
On the recent Digital Property Addressing introduced, the Vice-President said it had
provided every location with an address leveraging on GPS.
“The process of tagging all 4 million houses with digital addresses
is ongoing and should be completed by the first quarter of next year. A
biometric national identity and a digital address uniquely establish personal and
immovable property identity,” he said.
The registration of businesses, acquisition of passports and even
the renewal of National Health Insurance Scheme membership have all been
impacted positively by the digitization process and the reduction of the human
factor.
Medical Drones
He said Ghana had joined Rwanda in using drones for important
medical deliveries to remote parts of the country, a game changer which is
saving lives.
African Challenges
African economies have remained stagnant over the years because of
the absence of the kind of innovations being introduced into Ghana, the Vice-President
observed.
“Not surprising, our economies fundamentally remain unchanged, untransformed, difficult to tax, difficult to target the delivery of public services to those who need them most,” he said.
By A.R. Gomda
