Digitalized National Assay Laboratory: Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President, has reiterated the government’s willingness to support any public or private institution that wants to implement digital initiatives to improve efficiency and combat corruption in the delivery of public services.
Dr. Bawumia noted that the effective execution of such programs is in line with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo objective’s of making access to government services easier, more efficient, and reducing human contact that might lead to corruption.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia made the statement during the unveiling of a digitalized National Assay Laboratory in Accra on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, which is administered by the National Assayer, the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), which has the responsibility to assay all precious minerals destined for export.
“As you are aware, the government is already using digitization to transform the governance of various sectors of Ghana’s economy. Because the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, and Ghana must take advantage of it if we are not to be left behind, the government’s digitization effort is a critical component of the overall economic plan.
“The government’s digitization effort is extending across many areas of the economy. The use of digitization to solve the issue of effective public service delivery and the prevention of corruption is one area where the government has achieved tremendous progress.
“In order to improve the delivery of public services, we try to keep human touch to a minimum.” As a result, we’ve begun massive digitization of service delivery operations across a wide range of government agencies.
“I am pleased to state that today’s opening of the Digitalized National Assay Laboratory is a significant contribution to the Government’s portfolio of digital projects,” Dr. Bawumia stated.
Vice President Dr. Bawumia praised the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, the PMMC Board of Directors, led by Kinston Kissi, and the management and staff of PMMC for their leadership roles in digitizing the National Assayer’s operations, saying that this would, among other things, provide real-time data on Ghana’s gold exports and ensure the nation receives the revenue due her.
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“In 2017, President Akufo-Addo requested that the government find a mechanism to independently verify gold exports so that the country receives the money owed it from its valuable mineral resources.
“Modalities for the smooth take-off of the National Assay Program were put in place following several engagements with the Ghana Chamber of Mines and the Association of Gold Exporters, now Chamber of Bullion Traders, Ghana, and PMMC officially commenced operations as the National Assayer with the mandate to assay all gold earmarked for export from Ghana in February 2018.”
“I am informed that, as part of initiatives to optimize income and, eventually, maximize the advantages from our natural resources,” the Vice President stated, “the silver detected in the gold d’ore that is exported will shortly be measured, and the appropriate tax paid on and collected from same.”
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo acknowledges that digitization is intimately tied to our success as a nation in the contemporary world, and will continue to use it for improved service delivery.” It is a key road for our country to be competitive in today’s and tomorrow’s worlds,” he added.
Shedding additional light on the benefits of digitizing the assay process, the Managing Director of PMMC, Nana Akwasi Awuah, said it is now feasible to issue assay certificates that have unique security characteristics. These distinctive qualities will make the certificates impossible to fake by gold fraudsters to enable their fraudulent sophisticated schemes.
“Digitization has also made it feasible to track gold shipments as they transit through the National Assay Laboratory in real-time.” Persons with dashboard access may see the amount of gold shipped in kilos and ounces, where it was exported to, the value in Ghana cedis and dollars, the withholding tax, the exporter, and many other essential data in real-time in order to improve national economic planning.”
