David Zekpah has called on the ruling NPP Government and its communicators to acknowledge the role the previous NDC Government led by His Exellency President John Dramani Mahama, has played in the nation’s digitalisation.
In one of his articles titled “BAWUMIA’S PRESIDENCY: A VISION SWAMPED IN INTEGRITY CRISIS & NAÏVE MERITOCRACY“, Mr. David Zekpah said all governments will lay claim to what is good, but it is also expedient in our public discourse to give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
Mr David Zekpah observed that political communicators of ex-President Mahama’s 2013-2016 government claim a share of the digitization gains the country has made.
In the recent past, the Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has touted the significant contributions of the erstwhile John Mahama administration in developing the Ghana Card system.
According to him, the NDC government started the implementation process of the Ghana Card as far back as 2016, arguing that the NPP government only continued with the system developed by the Mahama government.
He claimed that the Mahama administration in 2016 collected biometric and demographic data on about 16 million Ghanaians and processed about 4.7 million cards.
According to Mr. Zekpah, these claims are undeniable in the face of the evidence of Fiber Optic Network installations, Accra Digital Center, Data Centers, and other foundational infrastructure at the Finance Ministry, NIA, GPHA, GRA, etc. towards an e-governance environment.
Touching on Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia’s vision regarding digitalization, Mr. Zekpah noted that though the Vice President’s new ideas grossly depart from what he together with his boss are currently prosecuting, there is an emerging conversation on whether these ideas (e.g. making millionaires out of alluvial miners) have any practical relevance. That is for the public of Ghana to scrutinise. He added.
“However, it is also undeniable that Dr. Bawumia deserves credit for being the visible poster boy of digitization in the current government. Through his relentless emphasis, government initiatives like the Ghana Card, Asaase GPS, and Digital Address system were born. Government also made significant digital progress at the Passport Office, Ghana Health Service, Ports, etc.” He indicated.
Meanwhile, reacting to Dr Bawumia’s address to the nation, Sammy Gyamfi claimed that the Mahama administration distributed about 900,000 cards before leaving office in 2016.
“Dr. Bawumia deliberately ignored the significant contributions of the NDC/Mahama administration in developing the Ghana Card system to what it is today.
“It is important to note, that by 2016, the NDC/Mahama administration had Passed the law that makes the Ghana Card the sole document for identification purposes for any transaction (L.I 2111). Collected biometric and demographic data on about 16 million Ghanaians. Processed about 4.7 million cards. Distributed about 900,000 cards.
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