From Accra to the blockchain

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Let’s dive into this week’s Tech Safari Take!

Ghana’s government just announced it’ll be moving all its data to the blockchain.

This is unprecedented in Africa.

But is this all talk?

Let’s get into it.

The Story

Last week, Ghana’s vice president dropped a bombshell.

He announced that Ghana is moving all government data, payments, and legal documents to the blockchain.

Why? To fight corruption and make the government more transparent.

If it happens, Ghana will have Africa’s first blockchain-powered government.

And it puts the country in good company - Estonia, Singapore, Australia, UAE, Georgia, and Sweden have all gone digital.

But none of them live entirely on the blockchain.

So, is Ghana biting off more than it can chew?

The Context

Governments handle a lot of data → taxes, legal data, security updates, and payments.

In the past, this data was paper-based and kept in rooms and handled by people.

For decades this was a problem for African countries:

• Important data was lost

• Government money went missing

• And development slowed down

But as the world went digital, some African governments followed.

Paper-based systems moved on to computers, and governments moved faster and got things done.

Moving to the blockchain would be a major step into the future:

• Data would become tamper-proof.

• Government spending would be more transparent.

• And labour costs and time would be cut.

For example, Dubai created the world’s first “Court of Blockchain” in 2019 to make legal processes more efficient.

It saved 25 million hours of labour and $1.5 billion annually.

In other countries, blockchains are fixing budgeting, immigration, and even property rights.

One clear winner in Ghana is payments.

In 2021, the country created ghana.gov, a collections portal for government payments.

It processed GH¢201 billion ($14 billion) in the last four years, but only the government can know for sure.

But if payments move to the blockchain, every citizen can see how government money moves in Ghana.

African governments aren’t known for being the most transparent, so this move is a huge positive because:

• Ghana’s government gains public trust

• Corruption slows down

• And it’s a huge validation for blockchain adoption on the continent

  

  Ghana’s ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index. Source: Transparency International.

The Tech Safari Take

Ghana’s blockchain plan currently lacks a “how”.

So can the government pull it off?

We think it can.

Because this isn’t Ghana’s first dance with the blockchain.

In 2021, it launched the eCedi, a digital currency to be issued by Ghana’s central bank.

A few days ago, the eCedi was used for the first time to settle a cross-border trade with Singapore.

That’s a huge step, but it took three years to get one transaction right.

Moving a country’s data to the blockchain is harder, more expensive, and can be unsafe.

Ghana’s safest bet is to build a blockchain from the ground up - but that’s also difficult.

If taking a digital currency from zero to one takes three years, how long could this take?

But we think there’s a chance Ghana will pull it off if it works with startups.

SocketWorks, a Nigerian tech company, built a global business around helping governments go digital.

It started out digitising Nigerian universities and expanded to government agencies.

Startups have the speed and technical talent Ghana needs to move to the blockchain.

But there’s a bigger question about whether or not the government would be open to working with them.

And if it’s not, it might be a long time before we see Ghana’s blockchain dream come alive.

How do you think Ghana’s blockchain dream will play out?

Hit reply and tell us what you think.

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What we’re reading

It’s the only way. 😔

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