Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has criticized Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over a technical glitch that occurred during the commissioning of the new electronic gates (e-Gates) at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
During the event on Tuesday, December 3, one of the e-Gates failed to open for Dr. Bawumia, although the ceremony proceeded as planned.
Reacting to the incident during his campaign at Mpatom, Manso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, December 4, Mr. Mahama accused the vice president of promoting unreliable digitalization initiatives. He argued that the malfunction exposed flaws in the government’s digitalization efforts, which he claimed were based on weak foundations.
“The digital gates didn’t open for the digital man, you can do all the propaganda with the digitalization you like, if the fundamentals of the digitalization is weak, the digital gates will expose you”, he said.
Mr. Mahama also criticized the vice president’s earlier assertion that the Ghana Card could be used as a travel document. He recounted a personal experience where an individual he was traveling with to Abuja, Nigeria, was unable to board a flight after attempting to use their Ghana Card in place of an expired passport.
According to him, the rejection of the Ghana Card by airport officials highlighted the inaccuracy of the vice president’s claims. He further argued that the e-Gate malfunction was an embarrassment to the vice president and evidence of the shortcomings in the government’s digitalization drive.
