Ghana’s Digital Property Address System: Hype Over Truth

I have had conversations with friends on a number of occasions that went like this:

Friend: I really like Bawumia for the digital transformation he has brought to Ghana especially the digital address system.

Me: You do know that it is not widely used because as an addressing system, it is practically useless. People use the digital address only when filling out forms requiring some form of an address. In some cases, they just stand anywhere and generate the address.

Friend: No, it is used and it works. It really helped me get around when I was in Ghana. My friends gave me their digital addresses and I was able to go to their homes easily.

Me: Let me correct myself, it may be good for navigating using the GhanaPost GPS app. If you input the digital address into that app, you may be able to navigate to the location. Without that app, you can’t navigate to a location even if you knew the general area; it does not even work in Google Maps and other similar apps.

Friend: That is not true, I used it with Google Maps.

Me: Are you sure? Did you actually input the digital address?

Friend: He sent me his location and I opened it in Google.

Me: Okay, I see. What was sent was therefore not the digital address but the GPS coordinates of the location. Thank the US military for developing the Global Positioning System starting in 1973 and Google software engineers for Google Maps’ ability to use that for navigation. Bawumia takes credit for that but he had nothing to do with it.

Friend: But I also used it for Uber and Bolt and the drivers were able to find my house.

Me: Same thing. When you request the ride, the app sends the GPS coordinates of the pickup location to the driver. Once the driver has that, he can easily get to your location without your digital address.

Friend: Really? I will have to look into it.

Me: Just type in a digital address in Google Maps and see what comes up.

A lack of standardized addresses has long been one of the nation’s developmental challenges, complicating service delivery, business operations, and even day-to-day navigation. While relatively small parts of the country have always had property addresses, there has never been a single universal format. Several governments tried but failed to fix the problem not so much because it is insurmountable, but due to a lack of commitment. Consequently, when Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia announced in 2017 the launch of the Ghana Digital Property Address System, it was greeted with excitement. Finally, no longer would Ghanaians have to depend on landmarks to locate places. This system relied on the GhanaPost GPS app to generate an alphanumeric code (GP digital address) – identifying the region and district and a unique four-digit address - for the location based on its GPS coordinates.

The initial excitement quickly gave way to concerns about the cost of the system and its practical utility. Many people noted that the system was similar to existing systems such as “what3words” and Google’s Plus Code which are already integrated into Google Maps - the world’s most popular mapping and navigation app. Rightfully, people questioned the rationale for the government to spend public funds to develop a new system which only worked with the GhanaPost GPS app. Additionally, despite statements from the government and the developers that the digital addresses were going to be unique, as people began to generate GP digital addresses for their homes as directed by the government, it became apparent that it was possible to have multiple addresses for the same property depending on where one stood when generating the address. Also, while the GP digital address respected regional and district boundaries, it did not take into account what was physically at the location leading to instances where buildings on the same street had numbering that did not follow a logical pattern (e.g., sequential numbers or having even numbers on one side of a street and odd numbers on the other).

Given these flaws, it was obvious that for this new system to gain widespread adoption, additional financial resources would have to be committed to integrate it with commonly used tools like Google Maps and that, the GP digital address would have to be paired with a house number and a street name or identifier. Unfortunately, Bawumia was quick to dismiss these concerns, insisting that Ghana’s digital address system was more efficient and robust than the addressing systems that exist in the USA and the UK and referred to the skeptics as people who “do not even think and believe that we [Ghana] can actually do things that are better than the more advanced countries.”

Over time, however, the government implicitly acknowledged the system’s shortcomings. In April 2021, about four years after the introduction of the system, Bawumia announced that 7.5 million self-reported digital property addresses had been recorded in the national digital address database. He further promised that each property would receive a unique digital address plate featuring a house number, street name, QR code, and GP digital address — effectively recognizing the need to combine traditional identifiers with the digital system.

Similarly, in October 2021, Bawumia announced that “we’ve engaged Google since last year, and we have now obtained their agreement because they had to go through the technical processes to evaluate our digital address system. So by the end of the year [2021], Google has agreed for us to integrate our digital address system into Google Maps so that people can use them in Ghana.” Presumably, this was intended to address concerns about the system’s lack of compatibility with popular navigation tools.

It has been more than three years since these promises were made and sadly, the government has failed miserably on both. While a few properties have been provided with house numbers and street names, these are the exceptions and not the norm. On the integration front, the situation is equally disappointing. Let us try a little test to see the current status. Open up Google Maps, type “GA-000-288” into the search bar and press “Enter”. You should get a message similar to “Google Maps can't find GA-000-288.” In case you are wondering, that is the digital address of Jubilee House; the seat of government. Now type “Jubilee House, Ghana” and the location should appear instantly. Now try “blue house Ghana”. You should see a drop-down list of locations; select any and Google Maps would have no problem finding it. So, when it comes to finding locations in Ghana with at least Google Maps, landmarks like “Blue House” are still superior to the GP digital address.

As the above simple experiment shows, it does not take a genius to figure out the GP digital address does not work in Google Maps. Despite these clear shortcomings, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), continues to praise the system as a ground-breaking success that has made it possible for us to navigate our streets using Google Maps. In the campaign document, Bawumia Outlines 100+ Achievements of the NPP Government, they boldly claim that they have “implemented the Digital Property Address System and Ghanaians no longer need to use landmarks like the blue house or koko seller to provide directions.” Bawumia’s shameless promotion of the inherent capabilities of Google Maps as a product of his digital transformation agenda in general and the Digital Address System in particular, reflects not only his skill in political self-promotion but also highlights a concerning detachment from reality. That the NPP as a party, in turn, believes and promotes this false narrative can be attributed to the fact that the NPP which used to be a party of ideas, now functions more like a political cult with Bawumia at its centre; no one questions his ideas and claims no matter how outlandish they may be. How else can one explain NPP members supporting, wholeheartedly, the introduction of the E-Levy - branding people who opposed it as enemies of the state who did not want the country to develop - but then standing up and cheering, when Bawumia stated his intention to abolish the e-levy should he become president next year?

While sycophancy is to be expected within the NPP, what can neither be excused nor accepted is the complacency of journalists and ordinary Ghanaians. Rather than holding the governing party accountable, many accept these false claims at face value. As a nation, we should be truthful to ourselves and accept that the GP digital address as currently implemented is not a practical or viable addressing system. As such, we need to shift our focus from political posturing to developing a comprehensive addressing system that integrates with existing mapping tools and includes traditional elements such as house numbers and street names. The sooner we address these shortcomings, the better equipped the nation will be to support businesses, improve service delivery, and make everyday life easier for Ghanaians.

Dr. Yaw Asiedu, Ottawa, Canada