Former Vice President Bawumia Urges Africa to Embrace ‘Smart Formalisation’ for Development
Former Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has called on African nations to adopt “smart formalisation,” a digitally driven strategy to address the continent’s long-standing developmental challenges.
Delivering the keynote address at the Cambridge Africa Business Conference on May 17, under the theme ‘Africa’s Digital Transformation: Building Resilient Economies Through Innovation’, Dr. Bawumia highlighted persistent issues such as lack of unique identification systems, absence of national property address frameworks, dominance of informal cash-based sectors, financial exclusion, high interest rates, fragmented government databases, poor healthcare access, and weak tax compliance.
“These structural deficiencies have resulted in widespread poverty, high unemployment, and low productivity across Africa,” he said.
Dr. Bawumia explained that “smart formalisation” involves creating integrated digital systems that enable governments to interact more efficiently, transparently, and affordably with their citizens, which would improve public service delivery, deepen civic engagement, and accelerate development.
He urged African governments to view digital transformation not just as a modernisation effort, but as a strategic imperative, noting that technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and mobile computing offer the chance to leapfrog outdated systems.
“Through smart formalisation, Africa can achieve inclusive growth, improve public services, and build resilient economies ready to face future challenges,” Dr. Bawumia concluded.