GhanaPost app: Government paid $2.5m for 'free' Google service – IT Researcher

A Ghanaian researcher based in the United States of America, Kingsley Komla Elikem, has said government did not need to award a $2.5million contract to VOKACOM to develop the Ghana Post GPS app to be used for Ghana’s digital addressing system because that technology already existed on Google.

The app is meant to provide an effective means of assigning addresses to every location and place in the country.

Mr Elikem, critiquing the Ghana Post GPS app, said the technology already exists and, therefore, government and VOKACOM had not done anything new.

Speaking on Monday, 23 October, 2017 on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM, he said: “When the Vice President said we should be expecting something like a digital addressing system that was unprecedented and never seen before, never heard about before, and the USA and UK will have been far behind and we will have been far ahead, it got many of us excited but when it came out, it was necessary to take a look at it and find out how far the Vice President’s words went.

“The President, during the launch, said the Vice President and his team worked so hard, so I could imagine a lot of man hours was put into this amount of work, but by the time I started to look at it, I realised they had done nothing. They did not step out of the office; it was just one person sitting in the office. The guy who did the coding is in Seattle and so he just sat down and did some coding. Nobody is disputing the fact that the server is in United States and so that was all that it was about. Nothing was done, no work was done. Currently, everything they have done is already existing… one of the things they did is you’ll generate a number based on longitudes and latitudes but it is already existing…”

He added: “We didn’t need Ghana Post GPS. Ghana could have generated the numbers for free on Google. They could have added more to the existing apps available, and there was no reason to have given VOKACOM the same job to do.”

Meanwhile, some Information Technology (IT) experts who have reviewed the application available on various mobile operating systems have also given poor ratings of the app.

Below are steps on how to use the Ghana Post GPS

• You can use AsaaseGPS on your computer, phone, or tablet to search, explore, and find your way around Ghana.

• On your computer, open www.asaasegps.com, on your phone or tablet, use the AsaaseGPS app.

• Visit your App store to download the AsaaseGPS App for free from Google Play Store and Apple store for Android and IOS users respectively.

• Once the app is installed, follow the instructions to register, verify and confirm your login details.

• No payment is required to download or use the AsaaseGPS app.

How to verify your address

• Click on the menu button

• A menu will appear with a ‘Verify Your Address’ button

• Click on the button to verify your address

• A pop-up message will ask that you close or continue with the request.

How to generate your address

• Ensure your phones location button is turned on.

• Open the AsaaseGPS app and click on the button

• Your unique address will appear next to the Digital address, for example, Digital Address: GA-543-0125

• The first two alphabets represent the region and district. The 3-digit that comes after the first two alphabets is the postcode the last 4 digits represent the unique property address.

How to contact emergency services using the app

• Click on the emergency button

• Select the service you require i.e. Police Service, Fire Fighter Services or Ambulance Service.

• Type in additional information and click on the ‘Send Location’ button.