Ghana cannot miss out on the fourth industrial revolution – Bawumia

Presidential Candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 elections, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has hit back at claims he has abandoned matters of the economy, saying that the digitalization agenda will improve the Ghanaian economy.

According to the Vice President, economic transformation cannot be achieved unless the country takes advantage of the digital infrastructure accompanying the new age to solve societal problems.

Dr. Bawumia who was speaking at a media engagement at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra insisted digitilization and the economy were not exclusive of each other. He argued that there was a clear relationship between the two.

“I wrote a book on monetary policy and financial reform and I made a point in the book, this was in 2010, this was 14 years ago before I became vice president, made the point that Africa needs to go digital because the global economy is going digital.

“And if countries stay behind, they’ll miss out on the fourth Industrial Revolution as we missed out on the other revolutions. And there’s a good reason, because digitalization allows us to formalize our economy. Informal economies are very difficult to manage,” the Vice-President underscored.

He noted that the key to the fourth digital revolution is digital identity which he says he has been championing during his time as vice-president.

The incumbent vice-president has been criticized for staying away from commenting on the economy, an activity he relished when he was running for office with now-President Akufo-Addo in 2016.

The NPP Presidential Candidate said he did not get why critics would oppose what he described as “a foundation to really grow jobs”.

“This is where the world is going. And I am just at the forefront in terms of policy of moving this in this country,” he said to journalists. “And that is why some people don’t understand.”