Bawumia is handling govt’s digitalization agenda with so much passion, focus – Franklin Cudjoe

President of Imani Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has given thumbs up to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on his public lecture that cataloged the government’s achievements in digitalization.

In his view, Mr Cudjoe said, the Vice President is handling the government’s digitalization agenda with so much passion and focus.

During the lecture at Ashesi University, Dr Bawumia announced that from the first quarter of 2022, the Ghana Card will be globally recognized as an e-passport.

He indicated that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has duly accepted the usage of the cards as e-passport from the second quarter of 2022.

According to him, Wednesday, October 13, 2021 marked a milestone for Ghana as the country was officially received as the 79th member of ICAO.

He said with this move, the country’s major identification document produced by the National Identification Authority (NIA) will be allowed as a source of identification – in this case, an e-passport for international travels.

“This means that by the end of the first quarter next year, the Ghana Card will be recognized globally as an e-passport,” he stressed, adding: “When this happens, holders of the Ghana Card will be allowed to board any flight to Ghana.”

This means that the Ghanacard will be recognized as an e-passport and can be read and verified in all ICAO-compliant borders (in 197 countries and 44,000 airports in the world). When this happens, holders of the Ghana card will be allowed to board any flight to Ghana.

“Furthermore, the good news for diasporan Ghanaians is that when the Ghana Immigration Service is linked to the NIA architecture diasporan Ghanaians who hold the Ghanacard should not have to obtain visas to travel to Ghana. We expect this to be operational by the end of the first quarter of next year. Ghana is one of the few countries in the world where the national ID card is also an e-passport."

Reacting to the Vice President’s lecture, Mr Cudjoe said in a statement that “Bawumia is handling the government’s digitalization agenda with so much passion and focus. And there are great transformations no doubt, but certainly could be better with transparent procurement processes for acquiring some of the digital solutions.

“This is one time when command control gets results. A briĺliant lecture it was at Ashesi great questions from students. I have a feeling Ashesi students are better at selling the government’s digitalization drive than the average NPP party loyalists.

“Or party folks are scared they will be marked for ‘death’ when they praise Bawumia’s digital efforts ahead of what might be a stormy succession race? Well, I am far removed from the madness of politics, so I will listen to Bawumia’s next lecture when he invites me again.”