Bawumia's e-gate: 'World Bank has paid twice for same project' - Bright Simons explains

IMANI Africa Vice President, Bright Simons, has disclosed that a recent announcement by the Vice President, Mahamudu Bawumia, to rollout an e-gate project at Ghana's main airport would constitute brazen abuse of donor funds.

According to him, the project has twice been funded through World Bank money with the project recorded as "complete & successful."

Bawumia made the announcement while speaking at a meeting with clergy in Cape Coast at the start of his regional tour, Dr. Bawumia detailed the upcoming technological advancements aimed at streamlining immigration processes.

“In fact, before the end of this year, if you arrive in Ghana at Kotoka Airport, you don’t even need to go to an immigration officer. We are putting together the e-gates.

"You put your Ghana Card, it will open for you, and you’ll pass and enter. The e-gates will come into work in Ghana before the end of this year. In Ghana, before the end of this year,” Dr. Bawumia stressed.

In a post on X (June 3) addressing the development, Simons wrote: "If this new e-gate project uses a single pesewa of Ghanaian money, then it will be the most brazen abuse of @WorldBank money ever in the history of the world. The truth is that the World Bank has paid TWICE for this same project. And recorded the project as complete & successful."

He posted a link to an article he wrote in April 2024 under the heading: 'Is the World Bank saving or harming Ghana?' to back his claims.

A portion under e-immigration read as follows: "Of the different e-Transform modules, the e-Immigration system presents the most bewildering account. It was envisaged to deliver automated immigration clearance at the airport (using biometrically-enabled e-gates), digital visa processing, and the phasing out of paper-based procedures across all borders (including land and sea).

"In short, a big deal. The e-gates submodule alone was budgeted at nearly $20 million. Central to all this was a Secure Border Management System (SBMS) meant to replace a US-donated platform on the grounds of enhanced data security.

"6 years after SBMS was expected to launch, the web version of the US-donated system continues to be the primary immigration clearance solution in use at Ghana’s sole international airport.

"Despite claims to the contrary in the official World Bank records about the project, the fact on the ground is that no SBMS was rolled out. The $16.3 million e-gates that the official records claim were already functional and just needed to be transferred from terminal 2 to terminal 3 of the international airport, at the cost of an extra $2.9 million, have not been deployed to automate immigration clearance five years on.

"The multi-million-dollar electronic visa management system launched, according to World Bank records, in February 2019, failed to deploy to most of Ghana’s diplomatic missions abroad. The individual missions have had to engage service providers to build and manage separate systems at their own cost," he added.

SARA