Dr. Bawumia at the launch of the launch of the e-gates.
Last year, former Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, launched an innovative Digital Border Control System and e-gates for Ghana, which allowed passengers at the Kotoka International Airport to digitally and rapidly go through immigration procedures on arrival, without engaging officers.
At the launch of the system, Dr. Bawumia made a profound statement Ghana had taken a “monumental leap forward” to join “a few countries in the world who have embraced technology for rapid border control,” adding that Ghana had “even gone ahead of many developed countries” by integrating both biometric and facial systems for its digital border control system and e-gates.
Predictably, both the launch of the contemporary, digital airport service here in Ghana and Bawumia’s own positive comments were met with scepticism and attacks by his political opponents. They mocked him and called him names! When a minor hitch at the launch slowed the start of one of the e-gates the then Vice President was operating, his pessimistic opponents used that to mock him and downplay the initiative. However, the gates opened without further hitches, and subsequently, videos of excited travellers emerged, commending what they called “world class” as they seamlessly used the e-gates.
One year on, events around the world have proven that Ghana, just as Bawumia said, indeed took a monumental step ahead of many developed countries in contemporary border control, with the launch of its digitally-processed e-gates at the Kotoka International Airport.
The European Union (EU) has announced that beginning this October, all of its member states are to start the implementation of electronic border control system and e-gates, to digitally process passports across airports, in a new project dubbed the EU Entry/Exit System (EES).
The EES, according to the EU, will start on a pilot on October 12 across Europe, and it is expected to be fully developed by April 2026, to replace passport stamps with digital biometric records, just as Ghana’s digital border control system, which Bawumia launched.
Just as Ghana’s Border Control System aims to eventually digitalised Ghana’s border records, the EES also seeks to ensure that all movements across Schengen borders will be stored in a central database, to make it easier to monitor the 90/180-day stay rule, identify overstays, and reduce errors tied to manual stamps.
Interestingly, just as Ghana’s digital border control system, as indicated by the former Vice President, the EES also seeks to replace long queues at airports with digital, self and automatic processing of travelers details, including their passport information, entry and exit points, facial image, fingerprints, and length of stay.
This adoption of digital border control by the EU for its territories, without doubt, has vindicated Dr. Bawumia and further projected him as a visionary, who thinks way ahead for this country. Like many other innovations he has championed and implemented for Ghana when he served as Vice President, many did not understand and appreciate what he was trying to do for Ghana with the e-gates.
Sadly, such a positive initiative for the progress of the country, which the European Union has now prioritised one year after Ghana launched, was taken for granted here and mocked by political opponents.
The fact that Ghana launched its e-gates, one year ahead of the EU’s call to its member states without it to implement same, means that as a country, we have to appreciate the vision we have demonstrated and even work harder to make it work not only at the Kotoka International Airport, but extend it to all our entry points, as envisaged by Dr. Bawumia when he launched system and the e-gates.
Thanks to Dr Bawumia, our visionary and distinguished former Vice President, Ghana took that giant step ahead of many European countries and the world. We should not allow the rest of the world to overtake us. And we should not allow partisanship and pettiness to derail this innovation at our airport because it is the brainchild of Dr Bawumia.
Whether Ghana’s digital border control system and e-gates continue or not, is improved or not by the present government, one thing is certain: Dr. Bawumia demonstrated remarkable vision and passion to think well ahead for the country when he had a chance to serve!
As a Ghanaian, who has had the privilege of using such innovation in a few countries abroad, and back home in Ghana, and now seeing that Europe is about to fully roll it out, I am absolutely proud of my country, Ghana, for being ahead of many great nations, through the vision of Dr. Bawumia and his relentless efforts.
Thank you DMB!