The Communications and Digitisation Minister-nominee, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful says Ghana’s COVID-19 Tracker App was developed for the country free of charge.
Speaking during her vetting, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful 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 to handle the situation.”
“Certain public-spirited individuals extended all kinds of support to the government, and some companies also offered to put their expertise at the disposal of the government, which we gladly accepted, resulting in the creation of the Tracker app. The app didn’t cost the government a pesewa. We did not pay anything for the app,” she insisted.
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.
While launching the App, Dr. Bawumia said, “It will help us easily track people with the virus, [and] those who have had contact with others. It is also useful in quarantine reliability, in case certain individuals need self-quarantine.”
He said Ghana is one of the few countries to deploy such a tracker to chase the virus. Dr. Bawumia also urged Ghanaians to utilize the App.
An upgraded version of the app was later re-launched on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.
Since the app was launched on April 13, it has been met with criticism that it was rushed and had some security concerns.
Others have questioned the usefulness of the app after it was re-launched.
