Ghana at threshold of ICT revolution - Attor

Ho, Aug. 13, GNA - Mr Kofi Attor, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), said the country was at the threshold of revamping Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the country to extend the facility to the rural areas.

He said that the country's drive towards increasing access to ICT throughout the country would conform to the objectives of the Commonwealth ICT project.


Mr Attor was speaking at the Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI) In-Country capacity building workshop, in Ho on Thursday.


The COMARCI being spearheaded by the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) seeks to improve ICT access in 18 Commonwealth African countries including Ghana with focus on rural areas.


Mr Attor said by the end of this year, people in the rural areas "won't be afraid of the computer", and that GIFEC has been pursuing projects to improve every facet of public life.


He said the GIFEC has erected 52 masts in areas that were inaccessible to the telecommunication companies to enable them to provide services to the people.

Mr Attor said 120 community information centres in the country would be equipped with computers to promote the learning of computer.


He said 38 Colleges of Education would also be provided with ICT facilities to train students to acquire the necessary skills in the technology, adding that by the end of this year, all technical vocational and youth leadership institutes would be equipped with ICT.


Mr Attor said that all Nurses Training Colleges and Secondary-Technical institutes would also be hooked to ICT next year.


Mr Attor said public libraries and a pilot project involving 15 out of the 350 Post Offices countrywide would be provided with ICT. Mr Gideon Quarcoo, Deputy Minister of Communications, called on the people in the Volta Region to embrace the opportunities offered under COMARCI because it has great potentials for the development of the area.


He said government regarded access to ICT as a basic right for all citizens since access to communication services would facilities the delivery of government services.

Mr Quracoo said government was committed to "push for the rapid development of the country's ICT infrastructure to carry high-speed voice, video, data and Internet facilities to all districts of this country."


Mr Marcel Belingue, Senior Manager, Programmes of CTO, said Africa has the least access to internet globally and that less than four percent of people in Ghana use the facility.


He said price of ICT facilities in Ghana was unfavourable and called on people in the rural areas to put the facility to good use.