Ghana has had several Vice Presidents and they have contributed their quota in varied dimensions. For instance, we once had one, who received a slap at a cabinet meeting and several others, but from this latest award conferred on the current Vice President, can we assert that, he is the best by far? The call is yours to make!
Dr. Bawumia, who made a name for himself, prior to the NPP’s winning of the 2016 elections, as “The economic transformer” currently manages the nation’s economic management committee, that oversees the nations economy and from the agitations of the fast rising #FixTheCountry campaign, clearly, Bawumia has failed in these massive promises to turn the country around.
One would have also noticed that, since his assumption of office, he has largely moved away from talking about fiscal policy prudence, economy and finances, and several other topics related to the nation’s economy and may well be described interestingly, as the nation’s leading voice on “digitization” lately.
Well, this has won him an award as The Initiators of Change Foundation (ICF) a non-governmental organization focusing on governance, poverty reduction, empowerment and human resource development, with its Board of Trustees include Most Rev Dr Aboagye-Mensah, former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church; Prof (Mrs) Miranda Greenstreet; Prof Alexa Ntim Abankwa; Kwame Amporfo Twumasi; Dr Joyce Aryee; Dr Mrs Nana Yaa Owusu-Prempeh; and Dr Isaac Owusu Mensah. Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is a Life Patron, has awarded Bawumia.
The Initiators of Change Foundation, had presented a “Lifetime in A Portrait Award” to the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, after he was adjudged Africa’s Digital Revolutionary Leader of the Decade.
A citation accompanying the award read that:
“Upon your assumption of office as The Vice President of Ghana, we recognize that you have re-directed Ghana’s manual systems to that of digitization to fast track the national development agenda. You spearheaded the paperless and digitization agenda of Ghana to formalize and transform the country’s economy and further bring about inclusion.”
It continued to state that, “Notable among your initiatives include the Zipline technology otherwise known as drones for quicker healthcare delivery, paperless National Health Insurance registration and renewal, paperless port system, digitization of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Digital Property Addressing System, National ID Cards, ECG power purchase made easy, mobile payments interoperability platform, and many others. These technological introductions have reduced the cost of doing business and have rather increased productivity,” it stated.
“For these and many more, the Initiators of Change Foundation would want to honour you as ‘Africa’s Digital Revolutionary Leader of the Decade’ in recognition and appreciation of the positive impact you have made on society and the development of Ghana,” the statement concluded.
Presenting the award to Dr Bawumia at the Jubilee House on Tuesday 13 July 2021, the Foundation, represented by its Executive Director, Kofi Gyan, and several members of the Board of Trustees including Most Rev Dr Aboagye-Mensah, former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, praised the Vice-President for “the good work he is doing” to help accelerate Ghana’s development.
The award, a pencil art drawing of the Vice-President, is to symbolize the enduring legacy of Dr Bawumia’s works and it is “in recognition and appreciation of the positive impact you have made on society and the development of Ghana,” they added.
“This year, 2021, the Foundation is 10 years, and as part of our 10th anniversary, the Board decided that we should focus on public servants, because public servants are also doing a lot in terms of the development of the country. Your Excellency, after deliberations, considerations and research, your name came up, as ‘Africa’s Digital Revolutionary Leader of the Decade’.”
Vice-President Bawumia thanked the Foundation for the “great honour” done him, and pledged his continued commitment for achieving President Akufo-Addo’s vision to move Ghana to the next stage of her development while reducing the burden on the poor and the vulnerable who are largely excluded from society.
It is worth noting that, this is not the first time he is winning such an award related to digitization, as in 2019, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia had been adjudged the Digital Leader of the Year at the Ninth Ghana Information Technology and Telecom (GITTA) Awards for championing the digital transformation of the Ghanaian economy, at the annual event, organized by the Instinct Wave.
The event has always been intended to recognize the contributions of industry players and individuals for their outstanding performance, creativity and inventing innovative products and services to better the lots of the people and hence, this special award conferred on the Vice President, was in recognition of his untiring efforts to leverage on technology to improve service delivery in the public sector and to facilitate rapid economic growth.
Vice President Bawumia, in an address, lauded industry players for their enormous contribution to the economy that has witnessed improvement in public service delivery and noted that the benefits of a digitized economy could not be overemphasized as it had the potential of moving the country beyond aid.
He used the opportunity to share some of the digitization initiatives and processes he has lead and also announced up coming top projects, such as the introduction of the universal QR code to accept different cashless payments systems, which has since been launched, to speed up the revolution of the banking system in the country, according to the Bank of Ghana.
