Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s plan to allow Ghanaians to purchase smartphones on credit and pay monthly installments of GHC1 or GHC2 has been misunderstood, according to Kofi Tonto, a political aide to the NPP’s 2024 presidential candidate.
The proposal has faced criticism on social media, with many questioning its practicality. Tonto clarified on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (23 July) that Bawumia did not actually promise that Ghanaians would be able to buy smartphones for GHC1 or GHC2.
As it stands, about 18 million of the Ghanaian adult population have a Ghana Card, so you can now roll out a national credit scoring system. So, Dr Bawumia was marrying the two that if you are going to improve the digital divide and then ensure that almost every Ghanaian have access to a smartphone and ensure we have 100% internet penetration, then what will serve as a conduit to achieve that is the credit system.
Then he cited an example of a conversation with the telcos where phones can be purchased on credit and be paid every month. He cited GHC 1 or GHC 2 as an example and even added that you could pay in instalments.
So that is the crust of everything that he was saying, but as usual our opponents are always looking for information to latch on to denigrate and malign everything meaningful. So, what they have latched on is that Dr Bawumai said he was going to give Ghanaians a phone for GHC 1 or GHC2, they lost the meaning of what he was saying.
