The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed shock at President John Dramani Mahama and his cohort who share a view that digitalization and the economy has no correlation.
At the launch of GoRide, a new digital platform for Ghanaian taxi drivers, in Accra on Wednesday, October 31, Dr. Bawumia was utterly stunned at how any person with the understanding of global trends would downplay the role of digitalization in a modern economy.
In a veiled message which many people believe was aimed at former President Mahama who has been an ardent critic of Bawumia’s digitalization programmes.
Dr.Mahamadu Bawumia Former President John Mahama
Dr. Bawumia detailed how modern economies are currently controlled by digital tools and how nations would be left behind if they fail to be a part of this 4th industrial revolution.
“Sometimes, people don’t quite get what we are doing. They say, oh, Vice President is launching an app; sort of an app, and they say what has that got to do with the economy…When you look at a company like Uber which is an app for ride hailing, what is the value of uber ? I checked yesterday the most recent value for Uber, that is $163 billion. That’s the value of uber.”
“What is Ghana’s total GDP; the total value of our economy? It is $75 billion. The total value of Ghana’s economy is $75 billion. Uber, one company is $163 billion which is twice the whole of Ghana’s economy. From one app they built a value of $163 billion. In this 4th industrial revolution, you must understand the link between digitalization and the economy”, Dr. Bawumia stressed.
He added; “You ask about Microsoft which builds app. The value of Microsoft as at yesterday was $3 trillion dollars. One company, $3 trillion dollars. That is 40 times the value of Ghana’s economy. Because you are in the 4th industrial revolution. If you don’t join it, you’re going to be left behind. This is where the world is going.
“Apple is worth $3.5 trillion dollars; 46 times Ghana’s total economy, one company. Because they are building apps that we are all using. Even Airbnb is worth $85 billion dollars more than Ghana’s economy from one app.”
Dr. Bawumia stressed he championing digital structures such as the digital national identity system, national addressing system, interoperable payment systems among others are all part of readying Ghana to take advantage of the ongoing global digital revolution which is principally effective through the use of local apps.
“So as you enter the fourth industrial revolution, you’re whether going to be developers of these apps or the users of these apps and we have to make that choice…If you want to empower your local economy and be a full participant in the 4th industrial revolution, you have to be developing many of these apps. So, today, I’m very proud to be able to have played the part in getting us to this point.”
“This is the thinking behind Ghana Card, behind mobile money interoperability, digital address, Ghana.gov, E-health and all of that we are doing. That we are going to have to make sure that Ghana is not left behind in the digital revolution that we are seeing. And we need to see more local empowerment in this space.”Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
