Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia‘s push for a digital economy is poised to make Ghana a leader in the new world economic order as it places her ahead of most African countries and even many other countries outside the continent.
Despite numerous bad faith critiques, digitalisation has proven its utility and is certain to put Ghana on a pedestal that other countries would soon be scrambling to catch up with.
The 4th industrial revolution is underway and Ghana is well prepared to join the train due to the tireless efforts of the Veep.
In a recent speech, Dr Mahamudua Bawumia painstakingly explained why Ghana needs to digitalise its economy and why he has led the charge in the country.
According to Bawumia, countries that digitalise would become leaders in the new world order whilst those who fail to do so will be left behind.
Bawumia made the call during a speech he delivered at the launch of the MTN Global Connect Customer Success Centre in Accra last week.
According to the Veep: “If you do not ensure that you digitalise, you would not be prepared to compete”.
According to the Vice-President, there would be a realignment of global supply chains and more countries and continents would be more self-reliant in that respect.
He said the upcoming fourth industrial revolution would be built on systems and data and Ghana is well positioned to fully participate in it and not be left behind.
In a separate address at the 2nd Standard Chartered Bank Digital Banking, Innovation and Fintech Festival, Dr Bawumia additionally said that majority of the economic challenges facing the country now can be solved by digitalisation.
“…You cannot address the current economic crisis without addressing the fiscal and debt sustainability, without addressing the production side, without addressing the foreign exchange regime and what allows us to lose a lot of foreign exchange. But more importantly, if we are going to address this, this economy must be digitalized. And that is something we started since 2017 in earnest because no economy can really participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution without the digitalization of the economy.” he said.
A Digital Leader
Ghana has become a digital leader on the continent since the NPP government came into power and Dr Bawumia pushed for the digital agenda.
Vindication for the Veep came when a report on financial inclusion in Africa named Ghana as the only country to have a 100% score.
The ‘State of Inclusive Instant Payment in Africa’ Report put together by AfricaNenda and launched at the Mobile World Congress Africa 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, found Ghana far ahead of her peers in regard to financial inclusion.
The 2022 ‘State of Inclusive Payment in Africa’ report focused on inclusive instant payment systems in 12 African countries.
Ghana, remarkably, was the only country that scored 100% on access to financial inclusion.
Ghana’s feat is due to the successful implementation of the mobile money interoperability (MMI) platform, a bedrock of Dr Bawumia’s digitalisation agenda and a policy he has been working on since 2007.
The mobile money interoperability MMI platform integrates all payments platforms across banks, fintechs and telcos, giving access to every Ghanaian to make and receive instant payments.
It is hosted on the Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems (GhIPSS), which again, was the brainchild of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia during his time at the Bank of Ghana.
Also recently, Kenya’s finest daily, the Standard, praised Ghana’s digital revolution and called on Kenya and the rest of the continent to follow in Ghana’s footsteps, writing that Ghana’s indefatigable Veep is leading a “digitization footprint that Kenya and Africa can emulate “
Dr Bawumia has tirelessly pushed for the agenda since coming into office, identifying its utility towards moving Ghana into the new world order.
Its benefits have been massive, including but not limited to providing all citizens with a national id card, the digital property address system, a medical drone service, the Ghana.gov platform and many others.
Source: theGhanaianVoice.Com
