In a startling revelation during the Annual AGM of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa, the Vice President, accused officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) of sabotaging the government’s efforts to digitalize revenue collection, saying it took the intervention of the national security to arrest the officials.
According to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, some staff members of the ECG’s IT unit, introduced ransomware into the system, demanding a ransom to allow the digitalization initiative to function smoothly.
The Akufo-Addo government, has been fervently pursuing an agenda of digital transformation, with Dr Bawumia leading the charge.
However, the Vice President, has disclosed the challenges encountered along the way, particularly within key state institutions like the ECG.
Dr Bawumia, emphasized that the sabotage by ECG staff, hindered the progress of the government’s paperless system, which aimed to streamline revenue collection processes.
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The revelation tells the depth of corruption and resistance to change within certain sectors of Ghana’s bureaucracy.
The Veep’s revelation underscores the severity of the issue and the lengths to which some individuals were willing to go to undermine government initiatives.
It took the intervention of national security forces to apprehend the ECG officials involved in the sabotage attempt.
The Vice President’s disclosure at the anti-corruption summit, underscores the government’s commitment to rooting out corruption and ensuring accountability in public institutions.
However, it also highlights the challenges ahead in implementing digital transformation initiatives in Ghana, particularly in sectors where resistance to change and corruption persist.
According to him, the ransomware collapsed the system, adding that it took the intervention of national security to discover the staff behind the sabotage.
“They just kept it at GH¢450 million every month. So, I said we need to send in a team to digitalise the new collection of the Electricity Company of Ghana, so we sent in a team, and we began the process of digitalise.
“Can you believe that workers within the system sabotaged, they put in ransomware into the whole system. And the system essentially collapsed. We had to send in national security to eventually find that it was some of the staff at the IT department, who were culpable.”
“And we found the computer which the ransomware was injected in the system. It took us awhile to restore the system. They asked for a ransom to actually allow for this to work. Can you imagine? That we should pay, they submitted a bill that we should pay for the system to work.
“Anyway, they were arrested. And we restored the system and we digitised the system and we said that no more cash payments for electricity in Ghana. You only pay by your mobile money, electronic bank transfers. So that is now the case. Can you believe that from GHC450 million a month, collections have now gone to over a billion cedis a month.”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, also announced plans by the government to expedite the roll-out of the E-cedi, emphasising its potential to mitigate money laundering and various corruption practices.
The E-Cedi, a digital counterpart of the local currency, was conceived by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) in 2021.
Despite the successful completion of a pilot test, the launch of the E-Cedi has been postponed due to what the BOG has termed economic dislocation.
He also stressed the importance of harnessing digital technologies to combat corruption.
“We are also using digital technology to track money and suspicious activity and we are working very closely with the central bank and they are piloting to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) which we call the E-Cedi.
“And with the successful piloting of the E-Cedi, which is essentially a digital version of our currency with appropriate privacy protections. With that successful pilot, it will be the ultimate weapon in our fight against corruption.”
“The CBDC will be the ultimate weapon because the E-Cedi will make it easy to track the movement of money and identify suspicious activity. It will provide us with high-level transparency, reduce the risk of fraud, and reduce the level of tax avoidance and money laundering,” he stated
Bawumia, also outlined the government’s strides in safeguarding public funds through the launch of the National Identification System.
