Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the official government website and revenue generation portal Ghana.gov today June 14, 2021. According to him, the one stop shop will save the economy over GHC3 billion annually.
“For starters, Ghana.gov is a one stop shop to enable citizens easily access government services. Simplified payment for public services [will] ensure prompt payment of services and promote transparency and visibility of the internally generated funds. It is a real weapon in the fight against demons and principalities in the public sector.
“Instead of those who demand public services handing cash over to administrative staff, they will switch to a mobile payment system. Transactions will be recorded instantly, avoiding any bribery and corruption regarding the quota service fee in curtailing the risk of embezzlement”.
In lieu of this, Dr Bawumia insisted that the platform will help ensure revenue collection across governmental institution to blossom.
“It is the belief of government that the single payment platform will have three main benefits for our economy. First Ghana.gov will help grow government’s revenue. It is estimated that about 10 to 15 percent of collections are lost through inefficiencies, theft or other accounting schemes. Going digital means that we can improve our revenue collection by estimated GHC3 billion annually”.
Addressing challenges of manual collection
According to the 2017 Auditor General’s report, inefficiencies in government’s revenue collection resulted in losses of over 2 billion.
As a result, about 254 MMDAs and some 127 public organisations have challenges with revenue collection. This is due to the usage of manual processes in their operations.
Touching on the various components of the platform, the Vice President noted that it comprises of “four main components”. This includes, the web portal, mobile app, USSD interface and notification component. The platform equally has the payment processing and the “complaint submission medium”.
Additionally, Dr Bawumia indicated that the platform will help government achieve its long term goal of a “Ghana beyond Aid”.
“Also, the sheer convenience of enabling all of us to pay for government services with our mobile money, bank accounts, our new GH QR code, fintech apps… the hustle of going through long queues and hopping from office to office just to make a payment for a government service will soon become a thing of the past”.
Digitalizing the economy
On her part, the minister for Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful noted that technology is being used to modernise government services and delivery.
She believes that this is to also drive innovation, entrepreneurship, create jobs and “transform businesses”.
“We are using technology to formalise our economy for growth and sustainable livelihoods”.
The key pillars underpinning digitalisation she revealed, includes broadband infrastructure, “digital financial services, digital entrepreneurships”, among others.
The GHANA.GOV is a digital service and revenue collection platform, created to provide a single point of access to Government of Ghana services for the public sector.
Among other reasons, the platform seeks to manage post-payment workflow, customer notification, feedback and service ratings, thereby, enabling the Government of Ghana fulfil its goal of creating a cash-lite economy.
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