[contextly_sidebar id=”BbgTOGiNs7NCt9sW0baaAGXN4oVvVw8I”]\u201cIn terms of the cost, what is being paid for is the back-end solution, data analytics, hardware i.e. the firewalls and servers, Google license, marketing and publicity as well as technical support, and GHc1.7 million VAT which goes back to the government. Contrary to popular belief, Google charges when you use their systems for look-up purposes or commercial activities. The Google license fee at the moment is $400,000 per year \u2013 that is the enterprise package,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
GHc3.5 million blown on publicity<\/strong><\/p>\n He added that, an amount of GHc3.5 million was also spent on publicizing the system.<\/p>\n “Publicity like I said, is GHc3.5 million, and there are very expensive firewalls, we can\u2019t say how many, but that also cost a lot of money,\u201d he added<\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n President Akufo-Addo about two weeks ago launched the National Digital Property Addressing System, also known as the Ghana Post GPS in Accra, aimed at providing an effective means of addressing every location and place in the country, using an information technology application.<\/p>\n The app, which government said cost the country $2.5 million has been criticized by some experts in the technology space as well as some civil society organizations.<\/p>\n For instance, president of policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, described the system as amateurish and not new.<\/p>\n He also questioned the security implications of the data received by the system.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve read quite a number of reviews by industry watchers, and some of the comments they\u2019ve made are not necessarily helpful \u2013 to think that you could input just any data and generate an address in itself sounds amateurish. There are basic web portals where you input any kind of data it could reject it, especially when you are filling forms. And to hear that obviously, that it is something with this app is quite troubling,\u201d Franklin Cudjoe added.<\/p>\n No data breach<\/strong><\/p>\n But speaking at the press conference, Nana Osei Afrifa, Chief Executive Officer for Vokakom, the company that designed\u00a0the app,\u00a0assured that the data accepted by the system is safe.<\/p>\n He added that, ample measures have also been put in place to forestall any data breach.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana![\"](\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ghana-post-md-2.jpg\")
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n