The Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) wing of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed dissatisfaction with the public lecture delivered by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at the Ashesi University on Tuesday November 2.
TEIN noted that the Vice President is now shifting the goalposts by, in their view, moving away from the politics of economics to be focusing on digitalisation.
A statement signed by the National Deputy TEIN Coordinator, Mr Ekow Djan said “While in opposition we were made to believe he was the Economist who had the solutions to all our challenges. Today, he’s no more interested in Economics rather, Information Technology (IT).
“Dr. Bawumia never mentioned “Digitalization/Digitization” while a Running Mate in opposition— he was always on Exchange rate, Borrowing, Revenue generation. What has become of the dollar to cedi rate? Is he not aware his administration has borrowed more than any administration? Our Dept to GDP ratio is close to 80%.
“And he still has the effrontery to speak in this country? Well, the Ghanaian voter is discerning. Our Economy is nothing to write home about.
“Probably that’s the more reason why he’s abandoned Economics and conferred onto himself “Honorary Minister for Communication and Digitization”.
“We could only wish him well in his new office. Upon all the unfulfilled promises, Vice President Bawumia has once again chosen to promise unborn babies to issue them Ghana Cards. Governance is a serious business— [Former] President Mahama will always be vindicated.”
The Vice President during the lecture said there was a link between economy and digitalisation for which he keeps touting the efforts by the government to build a digital economy.
He said among other things that “There is a lot to say about these but today, I want to focus my remarks on how we are transforming Ghana’s economy through digitization because it is important that we highlight the critical nature of digitizing the economy and how it underpins the reforms that the citizenry expect of government.
” We can only build a vibrant modern nation if we have strong systems and institutions that work. Otherwise we will be stuck in a vicious cycle of rhetoric and underdevelopment.
“Under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, we have focused on pursuing digitization as part of our economic strategy because the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and we must be part of the modern world. There is a growing body of empirical evidence that illustrates the capacity of digital technology to create jobs, significantly boost productivity, increase income and support wealth creation.
“The World Bank in a 2020 report observed that well-functioning digital economies are expected to achieve faster growth, offer more innovative services and create more jobs. The World Economic Forum’s Global Information Report estimates that “an increase of 10% in a country’s digitization score fuels a 0.75% growth in GDP per capita”.
“It is therefore clear that going forward, countries that fail to digitalize their economies are likely to be uncompetitive in the emerging global digital revolution.”
He added “On coming into office, we moved quickly with the issuance of biometric national ID cards (The Ghanacard) to the population. The Ghanacard project was initiated by President Kufuor but abandoned for 8 years.
“The card has world class features. It captures 10 fingerprints as well as the iris of individuals. It is also consistent with the ECOWAS standards and bears the ECOWAS logo. It is compatible with any reader which is compliant with EMV contactless communication protocol.
“So far, 15.5 million people have been enrolled on the Ghanacard by the NIA and most of the population will be enrolled by 2022. NIA will open an additional 291 offices tomorrow across all districts and regions to complete the exercise.
“The issuance of the Ghanacard has provided Ghana with a database that will be the anchor for all transactions in the future, providing unique identity to all individuals.”
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