Paper short abstract:

This paper takes as its case Ghana's app-based digital addressing system to investigate novel instances of platformization in digital public infrastructure in Africa. It proposes a South-South comparative view on the development of digital state infrastructure as future making.

Paper long abstract:

This paper takes as its case Ghana's GPS- and app-based digital addressing system, GhanaPostGPS, to investigate novel instances of platformization in digital public infrastructure in Africa. Foregrounding the developmental promises and future imaginaries associated with open data/open APIs, officials at the GhanaPost - the public agency responsible for the development and initial rollout of the system - not only associated the project with the vision of a knowledge-based economy as defined in the government's larger datafication agenda. At the same time, the system designers embraced the idea of building a new interface between private sector and state-led population registration similar to the hourglass metaphor described by Singh (2019) for the case of India's Aadhaar system. The paper traces processes of the techno-political integration of the novel addressing system with other state registers (e.g. ambulance services) and initiatives of private sector developers building applications in areas as diverse as financial sector authentication services, and medical advice services. The paper proposes a South-South comparative view on the development of digital state infrastructure in order to illuminate the processes of adaptation of model systems, their implementation in public sector digitalization, and ultimately, their capture by private sector activities, and their impact on the future of African statehood.