Gov’t to Integrate All Payment Systems Next Year ― Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated government’s plans to integrate all of government’s payment systems by 2019.

Delivering a Keynote address at this year’s Ghana Economic Forum (GEF), the Vice-President said the move is part of government’s drive to formalise the economy through digitisation and enhanced financial inclusion.

“Going forward, we intend to integrate all the payment channels to create a platform for the receipt of all government payments electronically and we expect to launch by next year,” he stated.

According to Dr. Bawumia, there must be a common platform where everybody who wants a government service can easily access and make necessary payments.

Aside the payment of toll booth fees, the Vice President said, “We are going to insist on mobile payment interoperability for all government services…we want a none cash payment system.”

This, he said would allow for more accountability, probity and transparency in the public sector.

Ghanaian Apps

To make the integration of payments systems an indigenous achievement, government has begun sittings with Ghanaian based software developers to create an effective application for the yet-to-happen integration.

“I am very convinced they can do excellently well in terms of the IT and payment systems, they can do what anybody else in the world can do.

“In Liberia, you can file your taxes online with a mobile app but the people who designed this for Liberia are Ghanaians. We could also have a mobile app where we could also file our taxes very easily…with mobile interoperability, it can be possible,” Dr. Bawumia said.

Digitisation

On other digitisation drive, the Vice President said the country was doing extremely well.

“In the area of mobile interoperability, Ghana now is the leading country in Africa. We have overtaken Kenya,” he said while attracting a resounding applaud from the GEF participants.

The adoption of the digital addressing systems, DVLA biometric license and the National Identification Cards amongst others have all been successful, the Dr. Bawumia noted.

Despite all efforts by critics to dent the National ID Card, the Vice President stressed, “It is here to stay.”

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]