Is E-zwich working at all in Ghana?

THE ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEMS IN GHANA

Bank of Ghana's subsidiary Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) was set up with the following mandates:

1. To set up and operate the National Switch with smartcard payment System and the provision of smartcard service
2. To manage the Cheque Truncation system
3. To operate an Automated Clearing House (GACH) for direct debit and direct credit
4. To operate a help desk to assist the payment system in general

GhIPSS responsibility is to manage, develop and promote these systems on an ongoing basis.
But then my humble question is, Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlement Systems Limited (Ghipss)are they really on top of their mandate? To answer that myself i believe they are partly able to do something.The next issue is do we want them to do something or we want them to do all that we have mandated them to do?
I believe in going forward we will realise that we wanted them to do all what we mandated them to do. Picking on their core mandates from the list of roles they are to perform,the first being operating a National Switch with smartcards payment systems,much have not been achieved in this area as the pertinent question of where can i get a reliable E-zwich services to perform is still a difficult riddle to crack.
To enumerate why this mandate since 2007 has not been achieved i will be looking out to a number of compounding factors and their multifaceted nature in this article and the subsequent ones i will be posting.

WHY THE SMARTCARD PAYMENT SYSTEM HAS PERFORMED POORLY

Following my personal experiences with the use of the e-zwich card and comments from friends who have at a particular point in time had to use the card for one transaction or the other and my personal chat with some key personalities in the banking industries,be it a commercial bank or rural bank and some savings and loans,i can confidently point to these factors as some if not all of the reasons for the underperformance of the E-zwich product.

1. The Marketing Approach used By GhIPSS
2. Operational Issues of Banks
3. Education of the General Public
4. Fee charges

From the list above in my next post i will be explaining why they are causing the inefficiency of the working of E-zwich and provide some possible solutions which i believe when considered by the authorities will help improve the current situation we find ourselves in now.

The current elections in Ghana has shown clearly that Africa is making a headway with democracy.If in simple terms democracy is the people's choice then we are on course.Our mode of selection will have its own merits and demerits but in all we stand tall.

Am hoping a time comes when Africa will be noted as the exemplary of democracy. We  will have our own system of choosing governments which will be quit different from the west. Ghana,the beacon of hope for Africa is having a great share in making this possible dream come true. It has been done before and now is the hour to do it once more again.
 In religion we are able to do it where Africa is going back to win souls for God in other parts of the world and same will it be with politics as we take hold of what others have practice and make it our own by introducing lasting institutions tested  with our culture. Ghana should however note that our culture and traditions do not know corruption and insult but rather hard-work and constructive criticism. These should therefore  be the tenets of our democracy.
Ghana, all we say to you is ' ayekoo'(welldone ) and continue to do what you've started.