Claim: The 2024 Presidential candidate of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, claims the internet penetration rate in the West African country in Jan. 2017 was 32%.
Verdict: This is false. Investigations by JUSTFACT GHANA revealed that the internet penetration rate in West Africa in Jan. 2017 was 28%, not 32%, as he alleged. Data from the World Bank and research firm Statista have disclosed that the 2017 internet penetration rate in Ghana was 28%.
Background:
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2024 flagbearer of Ghana’s governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has alleged that the internet penetration rate in the country in 2017 was 32%.
The economist made this comment when he addressed some youth at the 3rd National Youth Conference held on Aug. 12, 2024, under the theme: “From clicks to progress, Youth digital pathways for sustainable development.”
“When we came into office, only 32% of Ghanaians had access to the internet, so the gap was very wide. Today, as we speak it has gone up to 73%, from 32%, so we are getting close. My goal is to have above 99% internet penetration in Ghana. That is where we should go and I believe we can achieve it without the next four years,” the former deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said.
See the comment at minutes 32:42 to 33:15 of the video posted on Dr Bawumia’s Facebook page here.
Investigations:
Investigations by JUSTFACT GHANA revealed that the internet penetration rate in the West African country in Jan. 2017 was 28%, not 32%, as he alleged.
Data from the World Bank and research firm Statista reveal that Ghana’s internet penetration rate in 2017 was 28%.
A screenshot of World Bank’s data
DataReportal has noted that Dr Bawumia came into office on Jan. 7, 2017, when the country’s internet penetration was 28%.
A screenshot of DataReportal data on Ghana
However, the internet penetration rate in Ghana at the end of 2017 was 38%, the World Bank disclosed.
Research firm Statista has said that as of Jan. 2017, there were over 11.3 million internet users in Ghana.
The figure provided by Statista is significantly higher than DataReportal’s estimate of 7.96 million internet users in Ghana as of Jan. 2017.
Also, a report by DataReportal showed that the internet penetration rate in Ghana as of Jan. 2024 was 69.8% and not 73%.
“There were 24.06 million internet users in Ghana at the start of 2024, when internet penetration stood at 69.8%,” DataReportal report read.
Conclusion:
It is not true that Ghana’s internet penetration rate as of Jan. 2017 was 32% as alleged by the country’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
