The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed shock at those with the view that digitalisation has no relationship with the economy.

At the launch of GoRide, the new digital platform for Ghanaian taxi drivers, in Accra on Wednesday, Dr. Bawumia was astonished that anyone with an understanding of global trends would play down the role of digitalisation in a modern economy.

In a veiled message, many believe was aimed at former President John Dramani Mahama, who has criticised Bawumia's focus on digitalisation and not the economy, Bawumia presented in detail how modern economies are now controlled by digital tools, and how nations would be left behind if they did not take steps to be part of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

"Sometimes people don't quite get what we are doing. They say, 'Oh, the Vice President is launching an app; sort of an app,' and they say, 'What has that got to do with the economy?'," Dr. Bawumia said.

"When you look at a company like Uber, which is an app for ride-hailing, what is the value of Uber? I checked yesterday the most recent value for Uber, that is $163b. That's the value of Uber."

"What is Ghana's total GDP, the total value of our economy? It is $75b. The total value of Ghana's economy is $75b. Uber, one company, is $163b, which is twice the whole of Ghana's economy. From one app, they built a value of $163b. In this 4th industrial revolution, you must understand the link between digitalisation and the economy," Dr. Bawumia stressed.

"You ask about Microsoft, which builds apps. The value of Microsoft as of yesterday was $3 trillion dollars. One company, $3 trillion dollars. That is 40 times the value of Ghana's economy. Because you are in the 4th Industrial Revolution. If you don't join it, you're going to be left behind. This is where the world is going.

"Apple is worth $3.5 trillion dollars; 46 times Ghana's total economy; one company. Because they are building apps that we are all using. Even Airbnb is worth $85 billion dollars, more than Ghana's economy, from one app."

Dr. Bawumia stressed that putting in place digital structures, as he has been championing with a digital national identity system, national addressing system, and interoperable payment systems, among others, are all part of getting Ghana ready to be part of the ongoing global digital revolution, which has now culminated in the building of local apps.

"So as you enter the 4th Industrial Revolution, you're either going to be developers of these apps or the users of these apps. And we have to make that choice."

"If you want to empower your local economy and be a full participant in the 4th Industrial Revolution, you have to be developing many of these apps. So today I'm very proud to be able to have played a part in getting us to this point."

"This is the thinking behind Ghanacard, behind mobile money interoperability, digital address, Ghana.gov, e-health and all of that we are doing, that we are going to have to make sure that Ghana is not left behind in the digital revolution that we are seeing. And we need to see more local empowerment in this space."



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