Government pledges to accelerate growth of ICT

Accra, Feb. 27, GNA - Government has pledged its support to the promotion of Information and Communication Technology to help accelerate the country's socio-economic development. Speaking on Thursday at a reception organized by Omatek Computers Limited for its Board of Directors, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, said government was keen on mainstreaming ICT in all aspects of the country's development and would not relent in its efforts to achieve the goal.

"ICT applications can help improve our health, education and business sectors and make life meaningful for the population," he said. Mr Iddrisu said government was ready to partner with Omatek to move beyond computerisation to the use of ICT to improve business practices, enhance learning for students and to reduce the cost of doing business for SMEs.

He said the establishment of the Omatek factory in Accra to assemble computers was a step in the right direction as it would generate employment and provide government revenue for development. Mr Iddrisu urged Omatek to make the cost of computers affordable. Group Managing Director of Omatek Ventures, Mrs Florence Seriki, called on Government to outline policies that would stimulate the growth of local enterprises. One such step is to encourage parastatals to patronise locally assembled products.

Omatek Ghana in partnership with government last year launched an express consumer initiative to make computer acquisition easy and affordable to consumers especially civil servants, corporate executives, educational institution and students through a structured payment plan with partnering banks. 27 Feb. 09