Vice-President Mahamadu Bawumia has observed that government is currently making good use of technology in solving the problems faced by the country.
He explained that government is building a data-based society, and that many of the things done in the technology and digitalisation space are geared towards that agenda.
Speaking during the inauguration of Academic City University College, the Vice-President said the use of technology in solving the country’s problems would ensure that Ghana is not left behind in terms of development.
“In Ghana, we have chosen to be part of the fourth industrial revolution. We have made a decision not to be left behind and for that matter, as a matter of policy, government is pursuing technology, not for the sake of technology, but we are pursuing technology to solve problems,” he said.
Digital systems
Dr Bawumia cited several digital systems introduced by the Akufo-Addo-led government, including the Ghana Card, saying “there is a problem that we inherited of no unique national identification system for our population. We have implemented the national identification system with the Ghana Card, and we have issued about 16 million Ghanaians with a unique national ID”.
According to him, this initiative has assisted government to fish out ghost workers from the public sector.
“The use of technology through digitalization has also helped government to address ‘no working address system’ by implementing a national digital property address system. So in Ghana, today, every five by five perimeter of land or water has a unique digital address,” he stated.
The Vice-President further indicated that the issue of mobile money interoperability was no longer an issue as a result of digitalization.
He explained that government had implemented the mobile money interoperability system which allows customers of one telco to transfer money to another.
“We have also allowed interoperability between bank accounts and mobile money wallets and this has made Ghana the fastest-growing mobile money market in Africa,” he added.
Improved lives
He said the digitalisation of the operations of pharmacies, ports, births and deaths registry, ticketing processes at stadiums, passports processes had also improved the lives of Ghanaians.
The Vice-President congratulated authorities of Academic City University College for being the first institution in the region to offer a Bachelor’s Programme in Artificial Intelligence and other forward-thinking programmes such as Robotics and Biometric Engineering.
He also commended the university for developing a less expensive ventilator, saying “the project is currently going through appropriate tests and permissions and it will soon be available in our hospitals and clinics to improve health care around the country.”
“It has been only four years since Academic City University College opened its doors and it has already assumed a pivotal position in reshaping higher education in Ghana and the sub-region,” he added.
