We are using technology to fight corruption – Bawumia

Amid criticism over the government’s apparent lack of interest in the fight against corruption, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has come out to defend its record.

Recent happenings including the resignation of Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu and the implication of the former PPA boss in an investigative piece have led to doubts about the government’s commitment to stamp out corruption.

Critics have tagged the resignation of Martin Amidu which was partly triggered by his works on the Agyapa Royalties deal as a major setback in the fight against graft.

Speaking at a forum on Thursday, November 26, 2020, Dr. Bawumia said that has not wavered in its resolve to fight corruption.

He said that Nana Akufo-Addo has shown leadership in the fight against corruption contrary to the views of critics.

He said by adopting technology in the operations of certain institutions, the government is reducing the risk of corruption.

"We have demonstrated leadership in fight corruption,” Dr. Bawumia said.

“We have started automation of our hospitals and we have seen efficient and improved service deliveries at hospitals that we have implemented this. We want to make sure that we go paperless in the health sector so that you don’t have to move from one hospital to the other carrying files, or one department of a hospital to another, it will all be digital.”

“For example, Cape Coast teaching hospital is 100% paperless, Ho and KATH are 50% paperless, Korle Bu is 86% paperless. Tamale teaching hospital is starting the process of going paperless. We are making progress,” he said.

Bawumia also said that since assuming power in 2017, the government has created employment opportunities for 2 million Ghanaians in the formal sector.

“We have created jobs, especially for the youth. Another major challenge we sought to address was the hopelessness and despair that the lack of employment opportunities under the previous NDC government had plunged our youth into.

"The human cost on the number of able-bodied of educated youth of this country by the economic mismanagement of the NDC government had grown to become a national security threat. Nothing is more dehumanizing and more frustrating for young people than being jobless. We did not run away from the challenge, we took the bull by the horn and in four years, we have created over two million jobs in the formal sector,” the Vice President said in a lecture in Accra, Thursday.

He stressed: “As a result of our industrialized transformation, nearly 19,000 direct jobs have been created by the 76 operating IDIF firms and helping it to restart operation, Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi mines have employed over 4, 000 people. We have revived companies like the Ghana Publishing Company as well as Ghana Post”.