The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has conveyed his astonishment regarding the perspective held by President John Dramani Mahama and his associates, who assert that there is no connection between digitalization and the economy.
During the launch of GoRide, a new digital platform designed for Ghanaian taxi drivers, in Accra on Wednesday, October 31, Dr. Bawumia expressed his disbelief that anyone with a grasp of global trends could underestimate the significance of digitalization in a contemporary economy.
n a subtle remark widely interpreted as directed towards former President Mahama, a vocal critic of Bawumia’s digital initiatives, Dr. Bawumia elaborated on how modern economies are increasingly governed by digital technologies and warned that nations risk falling behind if they do not engage with this fourth 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, which 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.
You ask about Microsoft which builds apps. The value of Microsoft as of 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 emphasized that his advocacy for digital frameworks, including the digital national identity system, the national addressing system, and interoperable payment systems, is integral to preparing Ghana to capitalize on the current global digital revolution, which is primarily facilitated by the utilization of local applications.
So as you enter the fourth industrial revolution, you’re 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 a part in getting us to this point.
This is the thinking behind Ghana Card, mobile money interoperability, digital address, Ghana.gov, E-health, and all of that we are doing. 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.
