The next phase of the Ghanaian government’s digitalization will be the adoption of blockchain technology, according to the country’s vice president. He stated that his government aims to become one of the few governments in the world powered by blockchain, and the first in Africa.
A blockchain-powered government
Ghana’s Vice President, Mahamadu Bawumia, has stated that the adoption of blockchain technology will be the next phase in his government’s digitalization journey. Bawumia argued that the adoption of this technology will not only ensure that government data and documents are tamper-proof, but also make his government a “blockchain-powered government.”
According to a report by Ghanaweb, the Vice President sees blockchain as an ideal digital tool for combating corruption in the public sector. Bawumia, who spoke at the recently held 14th Commonwealth Regional Conference, expressed hope that government agencies will be fully digitalized by the end of the year to ensure smooth implementation of the next phase.
Bawumia expressed his belief that the government will be able to rival countries like Estonia by integrating its databases. He said:
For Ghana, our next phase of the digitalization journey is to complete the integration of our databases through the X-Road Integration Infrastructure, as is being done in other countries such as Estonia. We will then apply blockchain technology across government for the rapid and immutable identification of changes to digital data and intelligent devices.
In addition to making records or records immutable, Bawumia, Ghana’s vice president and the ruling New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate in the December polls, said the blockchain will be useful in stopping or blocking corruption.
Bawumia also revealed that his government’s goal is to become one of the few blockchain-powered governments in the world and the first in Africa.
