Digital Transformation Enablers taking Ghana to next level – Bawumia

The building blocks for the Akufo-Addo administration’s vision to transform the Ghanaian economy and prepare her for the Fourth Industrial Revolution are taking shape and will soon make all aspects of life better, Vice President Bawumia has stated.

These building blocks, anchored on technology, are designed to improve public administration and the delivery of public services, formalize the economy, improve revenue mobilization, deepen and broaden financial inclusiveness in the growth processes, and curb bribery and corruption.

Speaking at the first Graduation and fourth Matriculation ceremony of the Madina Institute of Technology (MIST) on Thursday, July 29, 2021, Vice President Bawumia said Ghana’s rapid adoption of digital technologies since 2017 has been driven broadly by two considerations: the imperatives of change in the global economy, and the need to tackle our development challenges.

“We have since 2017 worked hard to leverage technology for development. We have developed what I call Digital Transformation Enablers. These include the famous Ghana Card, the Digital Address System, the Mobile Money Interoperability, the Universal QR Code and the Ghana.Gov platform.

“It is these enablers that are enabling several applications and making digital transformation as drivers of growth possible.”

Citing the bottlenecks associated with accessing public services, Dr Bawumia indicated that the ongoing infusion of technology would soon put paid to the many human interfaces that lend themselves to corruption.

“Public institutions and bureaucracies have for far too long stuck to cumbersome structures, systems and procedures. We have sluggish centralized bureaucracies, rigid rules-based, hierarchical chains of command and highly interpersonal in its delivery of public services. No matter how educated you are, how much trigonometry and algebra you have learnt, they will want you to accept that getting passport or applying for business license is so complex you need “middlemen” and ‘goro boys’. These lead to the emergence of incentives conducive to bribery and corruption.

“In fact, of the many reforms to strengthen and improve the efficiency of public administration and eliminate the incentives for corruption, I strongly believe that digitization can accomplish in short order what many years of public sector reforms have failed to achieve.

“Ghana is on an irreversible march for change. We consider digitization in all areas of public administration as an important goal to be accomplished,” he declared.

Dr Bawumia emphasized that the linchpin for the success of the transformation agenda is human capital development, which is also receiving top priority from Government.

“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is focused on the vision of developing human capital for the transformation of the country. Our young people especially, are central to this agenda, and it is this vision that informed the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme since 2017.

“The interest of the youth in science, technology and innovation therefore, must be encouraged and nurtured. These are the building blocks for the new Ghana; a data-driven, knowledge-based digital economy.

Vice President Bawumia commended authorities of the M.I.S.T. for staying true to their vision of science and technology education, saying the ongoing efforts to secure accreditation to roll out programmes in Computer Science, Information Technology, Data Science and Innovation and Technology Management are most welcome.

“This is a step in the right direction as we aim to develop additional capacity in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Connectivity. It is not by accident that Google and Twitter are all finding their way to Ghana.” He added.

M.I.S.T.

Established as a non-profit organization in 2013 by the Madina Foundation for Science and Technology (MFST), M.I.S.T. was granted institutional accreditation by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission in June, 2016 and has institutional and programme (Engineering) affiliation with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi and the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale.

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, performed the tape cutting ceremony to officially start the Institute in September, 2017 as a University College, and was Guest of Honour at the first Graduation, of 64 students.