The Communications and Digitisation Minister-nominee, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated that it is important for considerations to be made for the COVID-19 tracker app to be mandatory in Ghana.

Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia first launched the GH COVID-19 Tracker App on April 13, 2020, to help boost the government’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.

But the app seems not to be getting the necessary appeal from Ghanaians.

Speaking during her vetting, the Communications and Digitisation Minister-nominee, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful explained that other countries have made the apps mandatory, and it has helped them.

She added that talks with the Ghana Health Service are underway to see how the tracker can be incorporated into their terms.

“The infrastructure still exists. With this second wave [of COVID-19 infections], I think it will be useful if we re-visited the usage. We’re going to have further discussions with the Ghana Health Service to see how they can also incorporate it into their terms. In [South] Korea, it’s mandatory for everyone who enters the country to download their [COVID-19] app. The app already exists here. It is incumbent on us to utilize it.”

“All the functionalities that exist in the app in Korea, exist in the app in Ghana. If given the nod, I will work with the Ghana Health Service to increase the uptake of the app but we need to look at whether it will be voluntary downloads or we’ll make it mandatory, as it is in other countries,” she added.

Government did not pay for COVID-19 Tracker App – Ursula

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful during her vetting also said Ghana’s COVID-19 Tracker App was developed for the country free of charge.

She explained that some individuals volunteered to develop the app for the country.

“Many countries, at the onset of the pandemic, tried to use technology to assist them in contact-tracing, and for people to self-report to give an overview of what is happening in the various countries to enable the health authorities handle the situation.”