During the 14th Regional Conference and Annual General Meeting of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, held in Accra, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia provided valuable advice to anti-corruption agencies in Africa.
He emphasized the importance of investing in digital forensics and tools to effectively track, trace, and disrupt corruption networks. Additionally, he urged these agencies to acquire customized security operations centers to combat the corruption value chain and electronic fraud, considering the increasing sophistication of cybercrime operators worldwide.
Dr. Bawumia’s insights were shared within the context of the conference’s theme, “Strengthening Institutions and Promoting Transparency: A Means of Fighting Corruption in Commonwealth Africa,” which brought together representatives from 20 Commonwealth African countries to discuss strategies for making corruption less appealing and fostering wealth creation.
Furthermore, Dr. Bawumia expressed his belief that Ghana could enhance its anti-corruption efforts by introducing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), also known as the credit, through the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
The Central Bank Digital Currency will be our ultimate weapon in our fight against corruption because the eCedi will make it easy to track the movements of money and identify suspicious activities.
It would also enable the Central Bank to ensure high-level transparency and reduce the risk of fraud, tax avoidance, and money laundering. He highlighted some of the digital initiatives the government had implemented since 2017, which were yielding immense benefits to the nation.
Dr Bawumia said, for instance, the ghana.gov portal, which was a one-stop platform for paying for public services electronically enabled the government to collect GHC201 billion since 2020.
With the digitalization of passport applications at the Passport Office, applications jumped from 347,000 to 752,000 while revenues increased from GHC12 million to GHC94 million between 2018 and 2023.
The integration of the public sector databases through the use of the Ghana Card, for instance, enabled the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to expunge 29,000 ‘ghost’ pensioners from the public sector payroll, which is saving the nation GHC480 million annually.
