According to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana will soon be the first government in Africa to use blockchain technology to fight corruption.
Blockchain technology can track every transaction in the governance area by recognising and detecting any alterations in digital data.
He felt that would encourage openness and make it possible for the government to combat corruption head-on.
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At the 14th Regional Conference and Annual General Meeting of Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa, held in Accra on Thursday, Vice President Bawumia made this announcement.
“Strengthening Institutions and Promoting Transparency: A Means of Fighting Corruption in Commonwealth Africa” is the focus of the conference, which runs for one week.
Twenty Commonwealth African nations were present to discuss strategies for reducing corruption on the continent and fostering economic growth.
Dr. Bawumia outlined a few of the government’s digital projects that have been in place since 2017 and are greatly benefiting the country.
He mentioned, for example, the ghana.gov portal, which is a one-stop shop for electronic payments for public services and has allowed the government to earn GH¢201 billion since 2020.
According to him, the Passport Office witnessed a rise in applications from 347,000 to 752,000 between 2018 and 2023, with revenues rising from GH¢12 million to GH¢94 million as a result of the digitalization of passport acquisition operations.
Furthermore, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department was able to remove 29,000 “ghost” pensioners from the public sector payroll and save the country GH¢480 million yearly thanks to the integration of the public sector databases made possible by the usage of GhanaCard.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the country was able to save GH¢356 million by using the GhanaCard, a unique identity card that allowed the government to identify 44,707 ghost identities on the National Service Scheme payroll.
He entreated Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa to invest in digital forensics and tools to assist them to track, trace and distract the corruption value chain.
The anti-graft institutions in Africa must also acquire Customised Security Operation Centres to enable them to fight corruption networks.
The Vice President said Ghana could fight corruption more efficiently if the Central Bank finally introduced the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), otherwise known as the e-Cedi.
“Because it would make it simple to trace money transactions and spot questionable activity, the e-Cedi will be our most powerful tool in the battle against corruption, the speaker declared.
Additionally, it will allow the Bank of Ghana to guarantee the highest standards of transparency and lower the danger of money laundering, tax evasion, and fraud.
