Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has rejected claims by former President Mahama that the the recently launched National Digital Address system is a 419 scam.
According to him, the $2.3 million spent on the National Digital Property Addressing System (NDPS) is money well spent.
“We have spent $2.3 million on a NDPAS and I dare say it is money well spent for the benefit of all Ghanaians. It is not money finding itself into the pockets of a few cronies. We did not spend it on Akonfem, bus branding, over-priced mansions and contracts, ghost roads, etc. We have spent it on something productive,” he said
At the NDC’s Unity Walk in Cape Cost Sunday, President Mahama said the project was a scam.
“….Otherwise, how can you launch a whopping GPS system that is freely available on our mobile phones and say it is the best national addressing system?… It’s such a pity. Why would you embarrass the president so much?” Mahama told NDC supporters.
However the vice president in a statement said, “ A digital address system complete with postcodes is pretty unique. A digital address system complete with postcodes that reference surveyed data is totally unheard of in the world! As far as I am aware, there is simply no digital address system available in the world today that uses Ghana specific Lands Commission survey data complete with postcodes. The digital address system that we have implemented is leapfrogging Ghana into the 21st century!
“The GhanaPostGPS App is a tool that helps everyone easily know what their address is. It relies on the open APIs of the NDPAS to retrieve addresses for properties across the country. The app uses maps provided by Google, Openstreet, ESRI and Bing to aid in easy identification and navigation.
It is expected that many app developers will integrate their apps into the NDPAS and utilize the address system to push ecommerce and service delivery. One can see organizations such as Ghana Water, ECG, Banks, etc. developing apps using the NDPAS for their own purposes,” he added.
Many have indicated that there are other digital address systems in the world; of course but those do not detract from the fact that what we have in Ghana is something pretty special. None of the digital address systems in the world focus on local relevance in the same way that the GhanaPostGPS platform does.
According to him, the GhanaPostGPS platform relies on Surveyed data to provide addresses. “That means when you request your address, the platform makes reference to your district and region before determining your address, unlike other platforms that just use mathematics to calculate and assign an address,” the veep explained.