Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has dismissed claims that he has neglected the management of the country’s economy and is now focused on digitalization.
Delivering a lecture on Ghana’s digital economy at Ashesi University, the Vice President opined that people who make such claims lack understanding of the link between digitalization and economic management.
Dr. Bawumia explained that the government’s focus on digitalization is aimed at leveraging on technological innovations to propel the economic growth of the country hence, his role in the digitalization agenda is in line with his mandate as the head of the Economic Management Team.
“The goal upon assumption of office was to quickly transform our economy by leveraging on the technological innovations as a means to leapfrog the development process, overcome the legacy problems and improve both economic and public sector governance. This is why digitalization has been a major focus of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government. Unfortunately, many people still do not appreciate the link between digitalization and economic development. I heard some people even asked why I have abandoned economics for digitalization” he stated.
He underscored the importance of digitalization in the management of the economy, stating that “the reality is that in this era of the 4th Industrial revolution, if you don’t digitalize your economy, you will not have much of an economy left, period”.
The Vice President who was speaking on the topic “Transforming an Economy through Digitalization: The Ghana Story” detailed how the country has been able to resolve a number of economic and social challenges including tackling corruption and evasion of taxes through Digitalization.
He noted that the country prior to government’s digitalization agenda, could not properly keep records and public service delivery was characterized with gross inefficiency and corruption, frustrating ordinary Ghanaians who seek social services.
This, he said, makes the country uncompetitive in the era of a digital economy hence, the government’s resolve to digitalize the country’s economy.
