View this post on Instagram
The Akufo-Addo government’s infusion of digitalization in the provision of government services as part of the fight against corruption is beginning to yield major results, with even more interventions planned to fight it even harder, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has stated.
The Vice President, who was speaking at the 2022 edition of the Annual Conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors (Ghana) in Accra on Thursday 5th May, 2022 emphasized that Government is “very, very committed” to the fight against corruption, and will continue to infuse digitalization into the operations of state institutions to ensure more transparency.
“Building strong institutions means putting in place the right systems and practices that ensure transparency and brings about efficiency. With this, although corruption may remain a chronic disease, transparency will be its vaccine to reduce the rate of spread. As the saying goes, our biggest disease is corruption and the vaccine is transparency. Corrupt people hate transparency,” he indicated.
Dr Bawumia explained that in its quest to deal ruthlessly with the menace of bribery and corruption, Government has since 2017 ensured the deployment of technology and digitalization with the twin aim of ensuring easier, affordable access, and as an anti-corruption strategy.
“I would like to draw your attention to where we are as a country in our digitalisation process. We have made tremendous progress in building the digital infrastructure that serves as the bedrock for our digitalised economy as part of the paradigm shift in our economic transformation.
“We approached the building of this digital infrastructure on the key pillars of standardising individual identification using the Ghana Card; solving the address and property systems using GhanaPostGPS; solving under-banking and bringing financial inclusion to most people through a robust mobile money and bank interoperability and digital payment platform; and integration of Government Databases and digitising public service delivery using the Ghana.gov platform.”
Citing the massive improvements in the revenues and performance of Government institutions which have embraced digitization, Dr Bawumia said “even more transparency” is going to be infused in order to “shine a light into the dark recesses of corruption.”
“Already, we are seeing the impacts of these initiatives including efficient public service delivery by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies on the Ghana.gov portal, combatting corruption by removing the middle-man and “ghost names” in many transactions, bringing more Ghanaians into the formal sector, and driving domestic revenue mobilization, among others.
“If you take the Passport Office for instance, in 2017 there were about 16,000 applications for passports generating about Ghs1m. But with the advent of digitization, there were over 498,000 online applications in 2021, generating over Ghs56m. Similar things are happening at the DVLA, the ports, and other institutions.
“Recently, due to the introduction of e-tickets, we recorded the highest gate proceeds from a football match in Ghana. We will continue to shine the light of transparency in all aspects of national life.”
The Vice President charged Internal Auditors to play their part in the fight against corruption, given their key role in the governance structure in institutions both public and private.
“As internal auditors in a digitalised economy, your ability to provide independent assurance that public sector institutions’ risk management, governance and internal control processes are operating effectively depends first and foremost on your embracing and adoption of digital technology. It is critical for those responsible for governance to embrace digitalisation for survival and growth.
“In tune with the mission of the Institute of Internal Auditors, the internal audit function must be well-positioned to help organisations accomplish their objectives by providing insight and foresight. This, must be achieved by adopting the systematic disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance.”
The President of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Mrs Harriet Karikari, urged institutions to invest in the continued training of their internal audit staff to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in anticipating, identifying and providing remedies for any challenges.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
The NPP is always demonstrating what they intend to do to improve a situation or transform the colonial economic system, whereas the NDC is always attempting to bring the NPP down with lies and baseless propaganda in the hope that Ghanaians will believe their lies. What annoys me most in all that is the assumption of the low level of intelligence of Ghanaians, lacking the intellect to read between the lines. This belies the fact doing the rounds that Bawumia and Alan's ticket for the 2024 elections could set a 16-year term-record for the NPP. While the Mahama NDC campaign continues to pay or hire journalists to report on false and sensational stories in order to score cheap political points.
IF NDC WILL REPEAL IT LET THEM HAVE IT IN THEIR MANIFESTO FOR EVERYONE TO SEE AND KNOW SO IF THEY DOESN'T THEN THEY HAVE LIE TO THE WHOLE NATION . THEY SAID THAT WHEN PRESIDENT KUFOUR INTRODUCE TALK TAX BUT WHEN THEY CAME THEY NEVER CANCEL IT AND THEY CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED, GHANAIANS WIOULD NEVER BELIEVED NDC USELESSSS LOOOOOOSERS LOOOOOTERS DOESN'T WANT GHANA'S DEVELOPMENTS IN ANYWAY. EVEN BORROW TO BUILD TOILETS HOW DO THINK A WHITE PEOPLE WILL LOOK AT US AND RESPECT YOU. THEY WILL NOT TAKE US SERIOUSLY, SICK NDC. ***barred word*** MAHAMA COMING WHERE SUPREME COURT CASE THROWN OOOOOU T YO PEOPLE ABLAKWA, HURUNA, TAMACLOE ARE REAL LOOOOOOOOOO SER MAHAMA COMING WHERE PURE USE LEESSSS LOOOOOOO SERTHIS MAN JOHN THIE F MAHAMA IS COMMUNICATION MAJOR TRAINED IN USEL ESSSSSS RUSSIA DOESN'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ECONOMICS AND LAW BUT WANT TO BE A LEADER AND ME SSSSS OUR ECONOMY AS HE DID DURING HIS TERM IN OFFICE SIGNED ALL KINDS OF TAKE OR PAY AGREEMENTS WITH POWER PRODUCERS AND ENI THE GAS SUPLLIER AT A HIGH COST THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. GHANA AND GHANAIANS DON'T NEED SUCH A USE LESS LOOOOOOOOOOOOO SERS WHO CANNOT GET IT AS A LOOOOOOOOO SERS NO MATTER WHICH WAY YOU SPEAK TO THIS MAN IN PLAIN ENGLISH STILL DOESN'T GET IT DEAD GOA TTTT, CREATED THE GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT AND BUT STILL DOESN'T GET IT, COMPLETE DEAD GOA TTTTT... REPLY HESE USELESSSSS LOOOOOSER JOH NDRAMANI ***barred word*** MAHAMA. GHANA CANNOT GO ON THE OLD WAY IF WE WANT TO BE GLOBALLY RESPECTED, NOT TAKE US AS A JOKE PEOPLE. A NATION THAT BORROWS TO BUILD TOILETS EVEN MY SON WAS LAUGHING AT ME SO WHAT DO YOU THINK WHITE PEOPLE WILL RESPECT YOU AS A HUMAN BEING. IT A SHAME BUT NDC USELESSSSS LEADER LOOOOOSER DOEN'T KNOW BETTER.