Vice President and NPP Flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that his commitment to leveraging digital technologies is intended to address Ghana's economic challenges.
Dr. Bawumia said this while speaking to an audience of CEOs and key private sector players in Accra on November 7, 2024 at the first CEO-Presidential Manifesto Gala where he outlined the significant strides made through his digitalisation drive.
Dr. Bawumia stressed that digitalisation efforts are not pursued for their own sake but to solve pressing economic issues in the country.
“Through my digitalisation drive, I have proven my knowledge of the issues and my readiness to guide Ghana, especially our young people, to take advantage of digital technologies to innovate and transform.
“And when I talk about digitalisation, we digitalise not for the sake of digital, not for the sake of technology. We digitalise to solve economic problems,” he said.
He highlighted the creation of a national ID database and a digital address system as necessary, not luxurious, initiatives.
“If you talk about a national ID database, that is not a luxury, you digitalise and have one. If you don't have an address system, it's not a luxury.
“You digitalise and have that. If only 4% of your population has tax identification numbers, 4% and through digitalisation you can increase it in one year to 85, that is not a luxury. That is very, very important for you to do if you don't have financial inclusion,” he said.
He also pointed out the transformation in financial inclusion, with 70% of the population previously lacking access to bank accounts.
According to him, the introduction of mobile money interoperability has enabled seamless transactions between bank accounts and mobile money accounts, making Ghana the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa.
“We put the mobile companies and the banks on one platform, made it interoperable and therefore today you move money between bank accounts and mobile accounts and different take rules. And Ghana has therefore now become the fastest growing mobile money market on the continent. And today Ghana is the only country on the African continent with 100% access to financial inclusion,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia concluded by reiterating that digitalisation is a tool to solve economic problems, not a luxury, and expressed his readiness to guide Ghana's youth to harness digital technologies for innovation and transformation.
“We are digitalising to solve problems, not for the luxury of digitalisation,” he said.
ID/ ADG
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