Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Finance Minister, has lauded the government’s digitization agenda which according to him is yielding tremendous results, translating into job creation and improving productivity.
“Digitalization is making the delivery of services more efficient, diversifying production and boosting productivity. In the process, it is creating new and better paid jobs for the young people of Ghana. Critical to all this, is access to affordable high-speed internet. Government is doing what is needed to support the telecommunications industry to deliver on this”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
According to the Minister, the deliberate strategy of the Akufo-Addo Government to invest in digital infrastructure and get Ghana fully plugged onto the global ecosystem of digital technologies has been further vindicated by the Covid-19 crisis.
“The pandemic has heightened the need for digital technology in our homes, for school, for work and even leisure. That is why today, Ghana is at the forefront of using digital technology to expand access to finance and financial products for all Ghanaians”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
Government’s digitization agenda
Mr. Ofori-Atta indicated that digitalization has been adopted in the development of the National ID system, digital address system, interoperability of payment systems and the Ghana.Gov Platform. Additionally, he stated that Ghana became the first African country to introduce a Universal QR Code, which enables consumers to make instant payments for goods and services, from different sources including bank accounts, mobile wallets and cards.
The Minister further revealed that the National Identification Authority enrolled 15,584,876 Ghanaians on the National Identity Register (NIR) and issued 11,492,129 Ghana Cards to Ghanaians aged 15 years and above as at June, 2021. Additionally, 81,789 foreigners were also enrolled on the National Identity Register and issued with Non-Citizen Identity Cards as at June, 2021.
To achieve financial inclusion and cashless payments for services, the minister noted that a mobile money payments interoperability system is being implemented to enhance interoperability between bank accounts, e-Zwich accounts, and mobile wallets across all banks and telcos.
Other areas that the government is applying digitization include online filing of taxes, digitized procurement platform for the Public Procurement Authority, the E-case tracking in courts, and linking the Digital Address System and the Birth and Death Registry.
“One of the important dividends from the Ghana Card is the recent integration with the NHIS card and the SSNIT pension card”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
Digitization projects
Looking ahead, Mr. Ofori-Atta stated that as part of efforts to improve digital infrastructure and connectivity, government will complete 2,016 rural telephony sites under Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project and provide additional 1,400 sites for voice and data services.
Also, he noted that government will ensure reliable, affordable, and secured broadband infrastructure to 12,000 rural communities and extend aerial fibre coverage by 3,500km as backhaul to rural communities to improve quality of service and customer experience.
Furthermore, the Minister noted that the government will complete smart workplace programme for all MDAs and MMDAs and provide appropriate and affordable devices for digitalization of 7,000 institutions in rural communities.
Other areas include the provision of connectivity to 260 district assemblies, 16 regional coordinating councils, 100 districts and regional hospitals, 500 other government locations (police stations, post offices, other GIFMIS offices). The government is also expected to upgrade the national data center with additional storage capacity and Government cloud infrastructure as the primary data storage or data recovery site for all MMDAs.
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