Ghana must leverage technology for accelerated development - Dr Kludjeson

Dr. Prince Kofi Kludjeson, President of Celltel Networks Limited, has stated that the comprehensive acceptance and assimilation of technology into the national development architecture is the key to Ghana’s development growth.

Dr. Kludjeson, a past President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), was speaking at the Ghana News Agency-Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform on “The New Global Economy and Technological Education” in Tema.

He stated that to reap the benefits of technological innovation and digitisation, Ghana must first have adequate internet connectivity, noting that data connectivity in the country was now too low in comparison to voice connectivity.

He asserted that the country’s low connectivity made it difficult for people to rely on it for education and health-related issues such as diagnosis, among other things, as is done in other digitalized economies.

Dr. Kludjeson, who is also a Chief Advisor for the Centre for Greater Impact Africa, believed that with adequate technical investment in the country’s many sectors, Ghana would significantly improve and flourish.

According to the Celltel President, technology was critical to citizen empowerment; thus, policymakers and members of parliament must advocate the use of technology to increase the country’s wealth, which would help solve Ghana’s developmental and economic problems.

He said despite Ghana’s abundance of resources such as gold and lumber, the country had not produced anything.

He described how teachers were attempting to introduce and teach youngsters Information, Communication, and Technology in the absence of computers, with some having to improvise with stones and other items.

“Because education is expanding, we cannot deny them access to the internet.” “The policy prohibiting schoolchildren from sending phones to school must also be reviewed,” he said.

According to Dr. Kludjeson, to stimulate digitalisation, research, and the use of technology, every school-aged child in Western countries has computers and phones with sufficient internet connectivity.

He claimed that the argument that children would use such devices to view and engage in immoral actions was unfounded because there were programmes that could be used to block such sites to prevent minors from accessing them.