Abilolo Mocks Veep Bawumia’s Phantom Digitization Mantra!

Accounting his failure to harness the goodwill of Ghanaians and the President’s reposed confidence in him in the all important position; Head of Ghana’s Economic Management Team, to make good name for himself, it comes as no surprise to find the Vice President Bawumia attempt to garner some clout for himself as a champion for Public Sector Digitization. In fact, his style has been, once he manages to win the support of the CEO of an agency in his ever dwindling efforts to become flagbearer of the NPP, next would be to have him and his campaign team, claim glory of that agency’s introduction of some digital platform to help their work.

Digitization as a rapid development tool, has been embraced globally to either augment analogue systems or replace them entirely as it converts analogous systems into digital. The vehicle of this change thus, becomes digitalization which focuses more on the technologies adopted to change analogue systems for efficiency, and in most business parlance, increase revenue. Hence, whereas digitization focuses on the bigger picture of conversion, digitalization takes interest in the intricate technologies and devices, that devise such conversions.

Now in a typical pragmatic sense, you would find almost all developed countries and even developing countries like Ghana, at various stages of digitization, but even more important is the fact that, before digitization, is an industrial regime. So for instance, until the establishment of factories or businesses by countries to perform certain analogue yet all important goods production and or, service delivery, digitization would be meaningless and irrelevant. What would you be digitizing and in the case of Ghana, how does that ensure opportunities for all vulnerable people? ENIGMA!

However, what these latter day phantom digitization saints like the Vice President and most of his followers refuse to acknowledge is the fact that, countries that herald PROPER digitization andArtificial Intelligence- AI, do so, driven by a well established Industrial regime! I think it is important for all seeking to lead our motherland to realise in our resolve to learn from developed countries, what works in our own needs and phase of development to better coin the necessary programs and structures to help.

Remember, Chief Alan the heir apparent to the NPP flagbearership, presents a better and more pragmatic plan for the Ghanaian situation with industries first, then technology would come in his Great Transformational Plan, GTP of Ghana, from 2025-2030. No wonder the man Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen has won a more credible reputation as a practical economist. His Great Transformational Plan for Ghana establishes a more practical process for Ghana to develop in the following Principles; 1.A Strong Macroeconomic Environment,

2.A New Agricultural Revolution for Ghana,

3.Industrial Transformation,
4.Accelerated Infrastructure Development,

5.Digital Mainstreaming,
6. Energy Security and Diversification,

7.Decarbonization and Climate Resilience.

For a Developing Country like Ghana, it is important to note, people seeking to lead, cannot skip Industries and begin to talk about Digitization in the manner the Vice President and his assigns engage in. No wonder they’re planting digitization platforms with no national framework, agenda or even a centralised server for all public sector data. That’s why his modus now is causing financial loss to the State. For instance, why would NCA and the Ministry of information in a parallel effort, embark on an expensive biometric SIM re-registration when the nation has spent so much in building the NIA data? Who is the Vice President deceiving with the empty slogans on digitization?

Results from the Ghana Statistical Service published in its Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES), revealed for the 3rd quarter of 2022 alone, some 1.76 million Ghanaians in the working age, were unemployed. This suggests we’re at a point in our nation building, where Industries and efforts aimed at harnessing Technical skills must lead our policy discourse to alleviate us from the tentacles of unemployment and not the “suatra” artificial intelligence regime people want to make popular for some cheap political score and huge kickbacks from procurement.

Further, it is worth noting that beyond the cosmetic effects, the key reason for digitization is efficiency, which is a quota of production and productivity driven activities. Which efficiency thus, naturally would be attained, riding on an effective institution of an Industrial revolution. You can’t begin to talk about efficiency (in digitization) in an economy where Youth unemployment is such a huge weight to carry. That’s not how America and all these nations were built. As a matter of fact, advanced countries like America wouldn’t be talking digitization without a well established industrial path like the Boston Revolution. In the end, digitization only came as a catalyst to their industrial development.

Let me end by raising some key questions all should begin to probe at the hearing of “digitization!” Dear Bawumia, and Your people, where are the industries and the people whose jobs you want to complement with an intensive digitisation regime? How do you intend solving unemployment with digitization when it is supposed to do away eventually, with analogue systems? Is it a case you have no message for us Ghanaians feeding into the conspiracy that you are only doing the bidding of some Akyem Mafias? Well, I think you people should consider the Ghanaian and their needs if you’re development minded. No hasty introduction of platforms that further widen the gap between you who are well accomplished and the ordinary youth yet to even understand the essence of technology.

NB: These are not sentiments to run down PROPER digitization. These are sentiments on a Proton Principle; First things First! You need a house built before considering interior designs. Let’s be serious with our ambitions if really, we care about our development needs as a people.All politics is local and development must be coined to help a people, considering their peculiarities. Not just some phantom slogans to be seen as working.

To the writing of many such articles, there can be no end, hence by these few paragraphs, #Be_Admonished! #Letme_behonestwithU!

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