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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has taken a swipe at critics of government’s impassioned drive to digitise the country’s economy.
He stressed that a digitised economy is a massive economy, which, to him, is so obvious for any Sixth Former to understand.
“Ladies and gentleman, the digitised economy is a massive economy,” he stated at the 76th graduation ceremony of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, on Saturday, November 13.
“That should be obvious to anybody who has done Sixth Form Economics and they should understand,” he added.
“But if you don’t understand that it is a massive economy, then you shouldn’t blame me. You should blame your Sixth Form Economics teacher.”
The Vice President’s comments come after his opponents threw a barrage of criticisms at him for reducing economic management to digitalisation.
It followed his address to students at the Ashesi University on Tuesday, November 2 on ‘Transforming An Economy Through Digitalisation: The Ghana Story’.
Some of his critics said he appears to have taken up the role of the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation. Others like his major opponent John Dramani Mahama thought the economy is still in serious crisis under the current government.
The former Vice President said at a public lecture on Wednesday, November 10 that the solution to the country’s problems has been reduced to PR, sloganeering, divisive rhetoric, populism, plain political deception and suchlike.
“Beyond these spirited linguistic acrobatics, the plain truth, which we all see and feel, is that the Ghanaian economy is in deep crisis,” the former President stated at the end of his 16-region Thank You tour.
“At the micro level, we feel the heavy impact of a troubled economy when we go to the market and find prices of basic items rising with alarming rapidity.”
But Dr Bawumia believes the measures put in place by the current government by way of the digital infrastructure have already even begun paying dividends.
“Through digitalisation, we have been able to tackle corruption at the Passport Office,” the Vice President cited.
“It used to be very endemic [but] today you can sit at home , apply for your passport and it can actually be delivered for you at home.”
Databases that don’t lie
Zeroing in on corruption, Vice-President Bawumia said many pronouncements have been made in the past signalling the desire to fight the blight, but these have largely failed. Hence the Akufo-Addo government’s decision to digitise the process of gaining access to government services and thereby reduce the human interface, which lends itself to corruption.
“One of the major moral cankers facing our society is that of corruption. It is one of the things that every political party talks about but very little has been done about it in the past,” the vice-president said.
“We have killed people in the past and it has not worked. We have passed many laws and they have not been enforced. We have appealed to people’s sense of morality and it has not worked.
“When we came into office, one of the approaches we took to address the issue of corruption is to put in place systems that eliminate corruption through digitalisation.
“Through digitalisation we have been able to tackle corruption at the Passport Office, ports, GRA (the TIN is now the Ghana Card number), SSNIT, NHIS, you can purchase electricity credits using your mobile phone. Every public sector worker will be uniquely identified by their Ghana Card number – no more double salaries.
“The motor insurance database, containing the data of all the insurance companies, has ensured that now we don’t have fake insurance certificates. You can dial a short code and check the insurance status of a car before you board.
“The data of the Births and Deaths Registry is being digitised to take out fake birth certificates. And now, with the Ghana.gov platform, you can access all government services and make the necessary payments without any major human interventions, drastically reducing corruption.”
Promote transparency and social values
As the vice-president explained: “We are building a new system to underpin the economy. A system that makes for greater transparency, promotes accountability and efficiency in every aspect of public interactions. It is a system that minimises incentives to pay bribes and opportunities for corruption in the delivery of public services.”
Touching on the theme for the celebration at Trinity Theological Seminary, “Faith-Based Education, Morality and Nation-Building”, Dr Bawumia indicated that concerted individual and national efforts will be required to rekindle Ghana’s core societal values.
“We need to work consciously on the nation’s value systems to enhance the moral temper of the country to help accelerate national development. Our values are very important, and we should hold on to them.
“As data indicates, a majority of Ghanaians are religious. Therefore, religion does not only have a profound influence on our moral values and life, but also on the development of our country.”
In total, 217 graduates received recognition for their hard work, ranging from certificates in ministry (16), Bachelor’s degrees in theology (55), MAs in ministry (91), Master of Divinity (41), Master of Theology (11) and DPhils in theology (three).
Watch the video below for more details:
Source: 3news.com
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