"Welcome to Ghana's Digital Services and Payments Platform" displays the site. Payment of taxes for businesses; administrative documents; certificates and licenses... Since June 8, Ghanaians can meet their various financial obligations to the government through a single digital platform, Ghana.gov. Launched by the government, the portal brings together all the financial services of the Ghanaian public administration, now accessible with a single click.
Ghana.gov provides a single point of access to all government ministries, departments and agencies and ensures that anyone who needs to make payments can do so through this portal without having to go through several people and departments.
Digitalization of the economy and the fight against corruption
This initiative is part of the policy of digitalization of the economy, which is at the heart of President Nana Akufo-Addo's development strategy. Moreover, the digital payment of fees reflects Ghana's desire to ensure greater transparency in the collection of taxes and revenues, particularly in the fight against corruption, and consequently to increase government revenues.
Indeed, according to data from the Organization Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the United Nations Development Programme, Ghana loses nearly $3 billion a year due to corruption, "one of the worst scourges hindering Ghana's development," Nana Akufo-Addo himself conceded in a speech to the nation in January 2018. According to a Transparency International report published in December 2019, the country is relegated to second place among the continent's most corrupt countries, just behind South Africa.
Initiated in 2018, the digitalization strategy of the economy undertaken by the government aims to be one of the responses to this gangrene which weighs on the attractiveness of Ghana as much as on the State budget, while improving the services of the administration and exchanges with citizens at the same time.
Promotion of ICTs in the management of public services
According to the government, the recent migration of certain public institutions, including the ports, the Ministry of Tourism and the passport service to digital platforms has resulted in an increase in the efficiency of these administrations as well as an increase in revenue mobilization by these same institutions.
The new platform will also be a key element of the government's efforts to promote the use of ICTs in the administration of public services.