Ghana’s Vice President says Government transactions will be done electronically from June 2020

According to him, the introduction of the cashless payment system was to reduce corruption, minimise human interaction and ensure efficiency in all government services and that has been successful hence at least by June 2020, the government will no longer receive cash for any services, all transactions will only go cashless and electronic.

“Today, because of mobile money interoperability, Ghanaians are able to pay their taxes through mobile money account,” he said, adding that, “that is the goal that government is setting because technology now allows us to do so.”

Dr Bawumia was speaking at the third Africa Rising Conference organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA), in collaboration with the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), in Accra.

He cited a cashless pilot project undertaken by his government and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and he noted that the revenue received has increased four-fold.

“This was just one ministry, it means that the cash was coming but going somewhere else,” he said, adding that, “So we are going to plug that loophole by going completely cashless across the board and the work is quite advanced.”

The Vice-President said the government would leverage all the old post offices across the districts to serve as Internet resource centres to provide the service.

He added that “Since coming into office, the government has been guided by the understanding and conviction that technology is critical to transforming the Ghanaian economy and society as a whole. With technology, so many things which we thought were not possible become possible, and we have to take advantage of it.”