By Godwill Arthur-Mensah
Accra, Dec.15, GNA – Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has underscored the need for the nation to leverage the tools of digitalisation to address its developmental challenges.
He said, over the past seven years, the Government had shown leadership in digitalisation by implementing key initiatives to transform the government machinery for efficiency and productivity.
Speaking at the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) maiden eCedi Hackathon Awards in Accra on Thursday, Dr Bawumia said the country could improve the welfare of Ghanaians if digital solutions were adopted.
“Based on evidence, we are convinced that we can accelerate the development of our country and improve the welfare of many Ghanaians if digital solutions are widely adopted,” the Vice President stated.
The BoG’s eCedi Hackathon Awards is intended to recognise the creative prowess in innovative solutions based on the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) solution tools.
The eCedi Hackathon is a cutting-edge competition that brings together the highest minds in technology and finance to explore the endless possibilities of the CBDC.
It is designed to foster innovation, drive technological advancement and develop solutions that would redefine the Ghanaian financial landscape.
Vice President Bawumia stated that the Government had largely depended on local talents in implementing its digitalisation initiatives.
“I am excited at the prospects of harnessing the power of technology to address country’s developmental problems through cooperative competition by tapping the imaginative capabilities of solution developers, innovators, user experience designers, consumer insights experts and financial service providers,” Dr Bawumia pointed out.
“Since the launch of the e-Cedi hackathon, I have followed subsequent developments with keen interest, and we are all here to witness the climax, during which a select group of participants will be recognised for their creative prowess in the form of innovative solutions based on CBDC solution tools,” he stated.
The Vice President was of the view that the event was more than an awards ceremony, but a celebration of the country’s capacity to co-create innovative solutions that respond to the diverse needs of the Ghanaian society by leveraging the tools of digital technology.
Over the past few years, Dr Bawumia said, the Government had made a lot of investment in a curated set of national infrastructure that laid a solid foundation for the digital transformation of the Ghanaian economy for inclusive economic development.
These included the National Identification and Digital Address Systems, e-government services, National Payments, and Digital Financial Services platforms-the backbone of a robust broadband infrastructure.
Those interventions, Dr Bawumia explained, had brought tremendous improvements to the various sectors of the Ghanaian society.
“Indeed, government has shown leadership in digitalisation by implementing key initiatives to transform the government machinery for efficiency, depending largely on local talents.
“The flagship Ghana.gov platform, a product of collaboration among Ghanaian FinTechs, enables citizens to access diverse government services online, including tax filing, business registration, and passport applications,” the Vice President stated
Dr Bawumia was of the conviction that the digitalisation initiatives had enabled Ghana to witness tremendous benefits including improved processes and easy access to services, improved compliance, efficiency, and transparency.
“Similar improvements have also been recorded in national health insurance renewals, licensing applications, and renewals where digital technologies have been implemented.
“These achievements have strengthened government’s resolve to, as much as possible, use local talents in the national digitalisation drive,” he stated.
The government’s national digitalisation agenda, Dr Bawumia said, sought to foster the adoption of digital technology in every sector and across the country in furtherance of that objective.
The 10 finalists of the eCedi Hackathon Awards cover diverse sectors of the Ghanaian economy and different use cases of the e-Cedi.
Forward Titans was adjudged the overall winner of the eCedi Hackathon and won a prize money of GHS500,000, Nokofio was second and had GHS300,000 and Pay Code came third with a prize of GHS200,000.
Each of the 10 finalists was presented with a certificate.
GNA