There are two kinds of nations in history: those that build, and those that rebuild.
The builders imagine the future and construct it, stone by stone, system by system.
The rebuilders keep starting over, breaking what they inherited, mistaking destruction for renewal.
Imagine a country where each new government tears down the railways built by the last, destroys the markets, abandons the systems, and erects new ones, not because the old failed, but because the different hands built them. Such a country would live in a permanent present without progress, without memory, without trust.
Sadly, that is what we risk becoming in Ghana’s digital journey: a people of rebuilders, not builders.
The world has entered an age where data is the new soil, and systems are the new roads. The nations that are prospering are those that are planting their institutions firmly in that soil, allowing roots to deepen across generations. Ghana must build a Digital Twin of the nation: a living, breathing digital reflection of our economy, our services, our people that survives governments and grows with time.
This is not a question of technology. It is a question of vision, of continuity, of faith in the future.
The Cost of Politicizing Technology
When one government replaces another, the goal should be to improve what exists, not to erase it. Yet, too often, we replace systems as though every new term must begin with an empty or clean slate. The recent attempt to replace the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) with the Ghana Health Information Management System (GHIMS) is not merely a technical issue. It is a moral one.
In destroying what worked, we lose more than money. We lose time. We lose trust. We lose the invisible capital of experience. The data pipelines are broken; health workers must learn anew; citizens are confused. Progress vanishes into paperwork.
A nation that replaces instead of refines is a nation that forgets.
The Wisdom of Continuity
Ghana already knows how to build institutions that outlast politics.
The Bank of Ghana protects the cedi through professionalism, not partisanship.
The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) ensures our banks and payment networks function smoothly no matter who governs.
These are not institutions of a party. They are institutions of the Republic.
They prove that when professionalism triumphs over politics, progress becomes permanent. And permanence is the true measure of good governance.
The Digital Twin Authority: A Covenant with the Future
To ensure the same for our digital economy, Ghana must establish a Digital Twin Authority or similar — a new kind of national institution that exists not to serve governments, but citizens for generations. It will build and maintain the digital backbone of the state: our identity systems, data flows, and public-service workflows and tightly integrate with our digital financial system.
It will partner with our best engineers, universities, and private-sector innovators, but it will belong to all Ghanaians. It will ensure that every government leaves behind something that the next can build upon not break apart. Every system that plugs into that backbone must meet the highest international standard in order to continue to preserve and strengthen the trust that citizens have in the digital twin platform.
The Ghana Card already shows us what is possible when politics yields to professionalism. Built on global standards, in partnership with the private sector, it endures because it was designed to serve, not to divide. That same philosophy must guide our digital future.
When a citizen applies for a license, pays a fee, or accesses healthcare, it should all pass through one shared architecture which is efficient, trusted, and enduring. Why should ministries rebuild what others have already perfected? Each duplication is not a sign of innovation, but a confession of disunity.
A Nation That Builds, Not Rebuilds
Steve Jobs once said, “Design is how it works.” Elon Musk reminds us, “If the rules don’t work, you redesign the system.” But I would add: design is not only how it works it is also how it endures.
Ghana must design its digital destiny not as a series of projects, but as a legacy.
The choice before us is moral as much as technical. Will we be a nation of rebuilders who pride themselves in tearing down, renaming, restarting? Or a nation of builders who constantly aspire to improve, preserve, and expand what we inherit?
If the Bank of Ghana protects our currency, then the Digital Twin Authority must protect our continuity; the lifeblood of our digital civilization.
Because rebuilding is easy. It flatters the ego of the present.
But building, truly buildind, honors the generations to come.
And that is the future Ghana deserves: a nation that remembers, improves, and endures.
