Ghana post Restructuring Exercise. Politics or Development Plan?

Ghanaweb on June 19, 2017 reported that Ghana Post begins restructuring exercise. The company’s transformation is expected to create more job opportunities.

The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful mentioned that, jobs would be created, post systems would be automated, and services would be done electronically, staff training and partnerships. These are very vital points in the e-commerce industry.

Personally I think the restructuring exercise should have contained more than it presents, restructuring a system is a lot to take in. What I asked myself after reading this news was that, how well have they worked with customers and to what magnitude of research have they carried on to better understand and serve the challenging needs of the youth who are doing so much with mail recently?

The restructuring exercise is a very beautiful package that is projected to transform the company but would have been more development oriented if the management could look at other options. E-commerce has taking a very different shape and system of which most of the opportunities it presents still remain untapped by the financial institutions in Ghana. How is it like for the Ghana Post to introduce a system that would offer distinct services to the people?

I think what the management forgets is that, the Ghana Post just like any other public office has a very unpredictable future. Patriotism doesn’t help us that much and striking out on our own is an everyday challenge for the Ghanaian.

From my point of view there are four propositions that the management could consider in order to set the stage for the Ghanaian youth to tap opportunities abroad. In the end, the organizational goal of creating more job opportunities would be achieved.

The first one is revenue through selling off real estates.

Revenue could be generated by selling off some of the valuable buildings and properties and move to less expensive buildings. Most of the post offices are located in the central business district of every major city, of which investors and private businesses (especially banks) are willing to pay huge sums of Cedis for these valuable real estates. The government could further source for subtle space at big shopping malls and other large ventures to open smaller post offices. This would in a long run generate revenue through expansion in customer base by subletting excess capacity at underutilized post offices to towns and communities in the country.

Also, they are other initiatives which could assist the postal services in revenue generation and running its department. The Ghana Post can increase and expand joint business ventures with shopping and shipping companies like Madizon, Ebay, Amazon, AliExpress and more in expanding delivery. This could be a huge initiative and create more jobs. This initiative could as a matter of fact assist in developing alternatives to the frequent price rise of postal stamps.

The third point is increase advertisement
The Ghana Post can realize revenue from advertisement. Postal services could also serve as an advertisement avenue for big and small businesses in the country. Advertising spaces could be sold on the side of mailboxes, inside and outside of the post office buildings, delivery vans and other channels. Post stamps and other activities can also be sponsored for a fee by licensed organizations.

Finally, digital coins by blockchain technology can be used as a major tool in improving the services of the Ghana Post. Digital coins such as Bitcoin, AsiaDigicoin, Crypto Currency and others can make the Ghana Post a relevant contributor in the global commerce. Digital coin is electronic money that can be used worldwide without any conversion charges. It is completely decentralized electronic money which is produced through process called cryptography. (AsiaDigicoin)

International Money Transfer can be facilitated in the country if the Ghana post adopts blockchain technology. The postal service could sign up for a blockchain-based financial platform and this platform could offer them an opportunity by digitizing and streamlining the services to make them faster and cheaper for both the postal service and its customers.

Blockchain like any other technology has got challenges, and among them are;

security issues with blockchain would be questioned since there is no single third party or entity maintaining the ledger and verifying transactions performed with blockchain, but the public ledger used by blockchain is similar to that of the financial institutions in Ghana and the world at large.

Another problem with blockchain is that, there is technological barrier in the usage of blockchain. The technicality of blockchain demands that one should have above average computer knowledge. This may be a challenge to most Ghanaians but I strongly believed that with public education and webinars the barrier can be bridge.

Digital coins have legal issues some countries but most governments and central banks are painfully accepting this new technology into their systems and I hope the Bank of Ghana does too.

"Well, bitcoin and other digital currencies are not openly legalized but Ghana government understands the importance of a crypto currency revolution to the economy. In fact, financial experts and institutions have started learning and adopting Bitcoin and we are following it up with other cryptos such as Dash, etc".

-Abdul Salam Mahamadu
In all, I think Operating cost could be reduced and even revenue could be realized if these opportunities are fully utilized. Although the Ghanaian economy seem to be growing and we all appreciate the great things happening to our country, but the national economy could be boosted if the mail system should strengthen the bond of friendship and encourage disseminated information.

Continental and national challenges are the things we cannot do without; the location of our country Ghana and Africa in general, geographically has a lot of limitations. But I strongly believed that Ghana as a country is not red-listed from participating in any of the opportunities stated above.

Written by -MUTARU ABDULAI
CEO of Madizononlline.com
Founder of ‘The Globalmadi Foundation’