The electronic payment system increases tourism revenues.

Revenues from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture have increased fourfold due to the implementation of a pilot electronic payment system.

The payment system was introduced a few months ago in the Ministry to digitise the collection and administration of fees on tourist sites and national monuments.

The decision aims to reduce systematic corruption and the diversion of the State’s financial resources into private hands

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia told participants at the digital roadmap conference in Accra that the Ministry’s revenues have quadrupled since the introduction of the system.

The two-day conference, which attracted stakeholders from the sector, including the business community, was held under the theme « Moving Ghana Beyond Aid – Developing the Local Digital Economy ».

It aims to assess the country’s use of ICT, identify gaps and provide the appropriate framework to exploit the benefits of the digital economy.

Vice-President Bawumia said that the success of the Ministry of Tourism had shown that revenue mobilization would increase if the payment systems of all ministries, departments and agencies were digitized.

Mr. Bawumia said all MDAs would be connected to digital payment platforms by August 1 of this year to increase revenue mobilization and ensure the quality of public services.
He added that the government has set up digital platforms for all MDAs and added that by June next year, all government payments will be made electronically so that users can use their mobile phone portfolios to pay for all public services, including tax payments.

« President Akufo-Addo wants to build a new Ghana. A Ghana beyond aid. This vision is firmly rooted in the use of technology as a development tool. Technology is the engine of the economy. That’s why, as an economist, I’m very interested in technology, » he said.

Very quickly, he said that the health sector would move to paperless to digitize all the medical records of the various hospitals.

« We want to make sure that the health sector works paperless so that you don’t have to move from one hospital to another, or from one department to another from one hospital to another, everything will be digital, » he said.