Vice-President Bawumia declared Digital Leader of the Year
The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was declared the Digital Leader of the Year at the ninth Ghana Information Technology and Telecommunications Awards (GITTA) held in Accra last Friday.
About 50 institutions and individuals were also rewarded for their contributions to the growth in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the telecommunications sector in the country.
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The event was organised by Instinct Wave, an events planning, publication and consulting firm, on the theme: “Celebrating innovation and excellence in the ICT sector”.
Awardees
MTN won several awards, including mobile money team, mobile operator, mobile money provider, telecom brand and customer experience of the year.
In addition, Mr Selorm Adadevoh of MTN was adjudged the Telecom CEO of the Year.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) also won the organisation with the best government website and best use of ICT in the public sector, while its CEO, Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia, was adjudged the Public Sector IT Man of the Year.
Other award winners were Standard Chartered Bank, GCNet, Vokacom, Airtel Tigo, Zenith Bank and the Ghana Police Service.
Dr Augustine Blay of the Office of the Vice-President was also honoured for his outstanding contribution to the public sector.
Launch of QR code
Dr Bawumia said the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) would, in the next five months, launch a universal QR code in Ghana.
The QR code, he explained, involved the use of phones to receive and make payments for transactions, a development which, he said, would revolutionalise the banking system.
He also gave an assurance that the government was working assiduously to provide free WIFI services in senior high schools and universities in the country.
He acknowledged that there were still many challenges in the ICT and the telecommunications sectors but expressed the hope that with effective collaboration with stakeholders, those challenges would be resolved.
The Vice-President further assured participants in the technology sector of the government’s commitment to a broad digitisation agenda and urged them to partner the government as it pushed for a digitally aware population.
He commended the award winners for their hard work over the years.
Digitisation
Giving a testimony of the benefits of technology when properly leveraged, Dr Bawumia mentioned some of the projects undertaken by the government within the last two years to include paperless clearing of goods at the ports, which he said had contributed immensely to revenue mobilisation; a digital address system, which made giving directions easy and also enhanced E-commerce business, and a digital licensing system at the DVLA.
The rest, he said, were mobile payment interoperability that linked bank accounts to mobile wallets; E-procurement; E-justice and an online business registration system.
“You can appreciate government’s commitment to the digitisation and formalisation programme as a crucial plank of the Ghana Beyond Aid vision and also towards improvement of the country’s public administration reform.
“With digitisation, we are introducing new and more efficient ways of doing business with institutions for the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian,” Dr Bawumia added.
Measures
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Vincent Sowah Odotei, said pragmatic programmes, initiatives and right investments in critical ICT infrastructure would make the country a knowledge-based economy and stressed that availability of and access to the Internet were also vital for economic growth, social and financial inclusion and environmental protection.
He, however, said the government alone could not establish and sustain a digital economy without the necessary support from the private sector and industry players.
The minister advised operators in the ICT and telecommunications sectors to make the customer the focus of their products, pointing out that the purpose of the awards was not for companies to outdo one another but to strive to be the best in serving the interest of their patrons for accelerated development.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, called for the evolution of systems and regulations in the sector to meet the growing demands of the ICT and telecommunications industry.