Accra, Nov. 17, GNA - Ghana has retained her seat on the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council after a tight voting session held on Thursday in Antalya, Turkey where member countries are currently holding a Plenipotentiary Conference. This is the second time Ghana has won an election to the ITU Council since independence when it joined the ITU. The first occasion was at the Morocco Plenipotentiary Conference in 2002.

A statement forwarded to the Ghana News Agency from the Conference said, Ghana improved her performance in the voting session from the last Plenipotentiary Conference placing ninth this time with 107 votes as against the 13th position (83 votes) it occupied in 2002 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The election formed the climax of the Conference, which elected 46 member States to sit on the ITU Council.

The ITU has five administrative regions each of which is entitled to a number of seats, which is keenly contested. The competition was fiercer in the African Region, which had 20 countries contesting for 13 seats.

The casualties from the Africa Region were Uganda, Burundi, Sudan, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda and Zambia.

The statement said there were surprises from the other regions which saw countries like the United Kingdom failing to secure election to the Council for the second time.

=93This signifies the nature of the competition in the ITU,=94 the statement said.

The Council represents the membership of the Union in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences and its role is to consider broad telecommunication policy issues to ensure that the Union's activities, policies and strategies fully responded to today's dynamic and rapidly changing telecommunication environment.

The Council also prepares a report on ITU policy and strategic planning and ensures the smooth day-to-day running of the Union; coordinate work programmes; approve budgets and control finances and expenditure.

The statement said during the conference, Ghana, as a co-ordinator for the Commonwealth positions in the Plenipotentiary Conference, was in the forefront of the negotiations that saw the election of Mr Hamadoun Toure of Mali to the top position of Secretary General of the ITU. Prof. Mike Ocquaye, Minister of Communications, who led Ghana's delegation to the Conference, was mandated by the Africa Group and the Commonwealth ITU Group to seek the support of the other Regions of the ITU in a crucial third round voting that eventually secured the seat for Africa.

Meanwhile, the candidature of Mr John R. K. Tandoh for Deputy Secretary General was withdrawn honourably because the topmost position had been won by an African and for which reason the ITU would not vote for a second official from Africa.

This, the statement said, was demonstrated in the loss of Mr Patrick Masambu of Uganda, who was the front-runner for the Position of Director of the Development Bureau and had to succumb to Mr Al Basheer of Saudi Arabia for a position that was well-deserved for Africa. Prof. Ocquaye has since been relieved by Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Deputy Minister, after the first week of the conference at which he led the campaign for the Council seat.

The results of the elections on 16th November 2006 are as follows: Morocco (117), Senegal (117), Algeria (115), Nigeria (114), Mali (113), Tunisia (113), South Africa (112), Egypt (111), Ghana (107), Burkina Faso (103), Kenya (97), Tanzania (97), and Cameroon (95).