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An effective visionary leader is rare and worthy of acclaim, and Ghana’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has more than amply demonstrated he is a man of action and vision – and the world is sitting up and taking notice.

Five years after kicking off his vision of digitalisation, the fruits of his hard work are littered all over Ghana. Yet whilst recognition for Bawumia’s genius amongst Ghanaians has been slow and begrudging – a prophet is hardly recognised in his own home and all that – on an international front, Bawumia’s vision and industry are suitably recognised.

In the latest proof of global acclaim, Ghana’s Veep has been named as one of the 100 most influential leaders in Africa by the New African Magazine in its latest special edition.

The magazine hailed the Ghanaian politician’s digital revolution, which has tremendously transformed Ghana’s economy and brought to the populace digital innovations that were hitherto unheard of.

The New African magazine writes of the Veep: “Bawumia is spearheading Ghana’s digitisation as a core economic strategy to solve socio-economic problems, formalise and build a more inclusive economy, deal with corruption and to provide social services more efficiently.”

At the core of Bawumia’s message is dragging Ghana into the 4th industrial revolution and pursuing economic transformation via digitisation. His innovations – the National Identification system, digital property addressing system and mobile money interoperability – are simultaneously useful to government and populace alike.

On one hand, they rope in more people into the tax net, increasing domestic revenue mobilisation, whilst on the other hand, they make life easier for the populace, allowing them to quickly and efficiently access services they had to suffer to access in the past, such as banking, healthcare and e-commerce.

These innovations are working magnificently and more importantly, setting a blueprint for the rest of the continent to follow.

On a global scale, much of what Bawumia is championing in Ghana is way ahead of its time, not just in Africa. Ghana’s medical drone service is the largest and one of the finest in the world, and the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform (NEPP) is on a scale only two or three countries globally have currently implemented.

All these are signposts for a continent that is too often left behind by the rest of the world to follow. Bawumia’s visionary reforms – as the New African magazine once again pointed out; “are setting a unique precedent on the continent”.

Ghana is now clueing the rest of the continent onto what is needed to be done to keep up with the industrialised world.

Even ascending out of Africa onto the global scale, Bawumia remains a trendsetter. Ghana partnered with a U.S. company, Zipline, for the country’s revolutionary medical drone service, which delivers critical medical supplies – blood, vaccines etc – to remote communities. The service, the largest in the world, has made over 12 million deliveries and counting, with the drones exclusively manned by Ghanaian personnel.

Now here’s the catch – the United States government recently contacted Zipline to start drone deliveries in the States. Ghana is literally leading from the frontline in this case – and it’s all thanks to the foresight of the Vice President.

From within a tiny country such as Ghana, Bawumia is making moves to influence global giants. Ghana’s Vice President has distinguished himself as a global shaper and visionary and he is receiving the recognition befitting this.

It is uniquely Ghanaian to underestimate and even overlook our own accomplishments whilst hyping insignificant ones from foreigners.

Yet in Bawumia, we have a legitimate global achiever and if we are being too myopic to see it, the rest of the world isn’t.