Ghana has moved a step further in her efforts to join the information super highway. Ghanaian IT experts are holding a two-day round table conference in Accra to discuss an IT policy framework and to come out with a dynamic Information and Communications Technology (ITC) policy document.

The ITC policy framework will among others define the rules of engagement by IT companies and ensure the standardisation of computer hardware and software and create the enabling environment for local manufacturing of computers and the establishment of assembly plants for IT equipment and accessories.

The new IT policy is also expected to encourage the establishment of structures that will facilitate local software development.

As pre-requisite for the formulation of the policy, a five-member IT Task Force that will comprise IT experts will be appointed by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) and charged to develop the national IT policy.

NITA will also be tasked to work closely with selected statutory bodies, including the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Standards Board to ensure the proper functioning of licensing and regulating regimes relating to IT.

The IT policy will place emphasis on the harnessing and development of human resources to ensure sustainability in an IT-led socio-economic development.

It will therefore make IT a mandatory subject at all levels of education and lead to the establishment of IT institutions in all districts.

Under the education component of the IT policy the government will create a National Council for IT Education (NCITE) within the Ministry of Education. This body will be charged to develop a dynamic curriculum to reflect the rapid development in the IT world.

When the IT policy becomes operational it is expected that Ghana will make a leap into the computer age and make remarkable economic and industrial growth. Ghana is implementing a carbon copy of the strategies of economies like Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia which used IT as the springboard to bridge the gap between them and the advanced countries.

Addressing the opening session of the conference, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Felix Kwasi Owusu-Adjapong, said the country must assess its current position and chart a new course that would turn the nation into the Silicon Valley of West Africa.

He challenged the participants to work hard to fashion out a sound and viable national IT policy.

Mr. Owusu-Adjapong disclosed that the government was exploring the possibility of initiating a cyber village concept for it to embark upon certain pilot projects that would give the country a strong foothold in the global trade in Information Technology.

The Minister said to pursue IT development all senior public and civil servants would be trained to become computer literate.

In that connection all Ministers of state and their deputies would start computer literacy classes from September 17, 2001, he said.

The Minister said the government was hopeful that the IT policy framework would help the country to realise the vision to become a middle-income country with annual GDP growth of about 8%.

The Chief of Staff, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, said Ghana had no choice but to join the IT world.

He is of the view that the benefits of IT would go a long way to improve health delivery, education and quality of life of the people.

Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey stressed the need to create a level playing field and a favourable environment that would make it possible to produce computer geniuses in the country.

Dr. Stephen Adei, Director of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), said Ghana had brilliant people working in the IT industry in the areas of Economic Management, Education and Private Sector Development among others.

He said there was the need to synchronise and direct all national think tanks on IT to have the desired impact.

The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) in the Netherlands donated 15,000 Euros (?91 million) towards the IT conference.

The IIDC is an independent foundation established in 1997 to assist developing countries to realize sustainable development by harnessing the potentials of ICT.