IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The beneficiary MDAs include the ministry of foreign affairs passport office, Accra metropolitan assembly, food and drugs board, births and deaths registry, national identification authority, national communication authority, national information technology agency, Ghana tourism authority, minerals commission, driver and vehicle licensing authority, and Ghana police service CID Office.

He said even though ICT has become a lucrative sector in terms of job creation, business growth and rewards, career in ICT had somehow become mainly dominated by males.

Mr Vanpercy made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by Mrs Florence Martey, NCA Deputy Engineer, at a “Girls in ICT” Marathon training programme on Wednesday in Accra.

Under the agreement with NITA (National Information Technology Agency), Alcatel-Lucent will also manage network operations of Ghana’s entire ‘e-government’ program for three years commencing November 2012. The e-Ghana initiative is aimed at developing local IT services and improving the transparency and efficiency of government functions.

Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, whose ministry is supervising and implementing the e-Ghana project, opened the e-Commerce Expo.

He said, “This e-commerce Expo is a welcome development in the promotion of ICT for our national development [because] it brings out the valued responses to the numerous initiatives that Government is putting in place to transform our economy and country from an agrarian raw-material-dominated production-base into a forward-looking, information and knowledge-based society that holds the key to our eventual prosperity.”

A World Bank report says that whiles digital technologies are spreading rapidly throughout the developing world, the anticipated digital dividends of higher growth, more jobs and better public services have fallen short of expectation.

It said 60 per cent of the world’s population remained excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy.

According to the “World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends,” authored by co-directors, Deepak Mishra and Uwe Deichmann and team, the benefits of rapid digital expansion had been skewed towards the wealthy, skilled, and influential around the world who were better positioned to take advantage of the new technologies.

Yam Festival celebrations dedicated to “the significance of ICT education in the contemporary Ghana-role of the citizen” raised GHS10,000 (US$4,592) towards the project.

The event also marked a joint effort between Dodome-Doglome and Dodome-Awuiaso towards the development of resources.

The e-government project is being implemented by the government of Ghana, under the sponsorship of the World Bank, to assist government to generate growth and employment to influence Information and Communication Technology and public private partnership.

The Director General of National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Mr William Tevie, has said the new Eastern Corridor optical backbone network will offer a great number of direct socio-economic benefits to communities within the project’s catchment area.

He said the facility had no coverage limitation and could be tapped through any of the many technologies available.

Mr Tevie told newsmen in Ho that the project would attract new businesses, offer teaching and learning opportunities as well as telemedicine and new e-health services along towns on the Eastern Corridor.

The registration, which is being done in collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Ghana Community Network Services Ltd (GCNet) and its technical partners, is part of Ghana e-Government GeGOV project that aims to improve quality of customer records and facilitate improved service delivery.

The Communication Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah performed the ground breaking ceremony in Accra yesterday.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo may have genuine concerns of appointing a record number of 110 ministers to help him administer the country for the next four years, however, it is not the most convincing indicator of government’s willingness to ensuring efficiency in the delivery of its mandate, Penplusbytes, a not-for-profit organisation driving change through innovations using new digital technologies, has said.

In a statement, the organisation said: “Penplusbytes is deeply excited about the vision of Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to ensure progress and economic and social growth of the country.

The project, which is being sponsored by telecommunication service operators, has three components aimed at building the capacity of people to manage the centres properly, equip the facilities with computers, internet service equipment and also monitor and evaluate the project.

He noted that ICT skills would be an advantage to the trainees given the fact that contemporary vocational and technical education had become more knowledge-based.

They would become better equipped to favourably compete on the job market, he said in a speech read for him at the inauguration of a computer laboratory built at the Ramseyer Vocational Technical Institute (RVTI) at Kyirapatre in Kumasi.

An International Danish technology company, BlueTown, is set to introduce Internet connectivity into Ghana’s rural communities by July 2016, Footprint to Africa reports.

BlueTown establishes connectivity in areas where there is no Internet coverage or where 3G is too expensive to roll-out, and provides Wi-Fi connection at a very long range of 0.5-1km radius via a Microwave Link.

He reiterated Government's commitment to continue to promote the deployment and mainstreaming of ICT in all sectors of the economy.

Dr Boamah made the remarks at the commissioning of a One-Stop Service Centre to facilitate the delivery of Government services to citizens under the e-Government programme in Accra yesterday.

Government has promised to set up a National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA) to oversee the protection of the country's critical national information infrastructure in line with global trends and best practices next year.

The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) was working with the World Bank to deploy a secured network across government institutions to help improve protection of data in public sector institutions.

The eGovernment project, which is being built by Huawei Technologies (Gh) Ltd, will enable the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the activities of the country’s public sector organisations, when completed.

The project sites are currently running on Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) which is providing about 30 to 40 megabit-per-second data rates.

Briefing the press July 30, 2013 in Accra, Ghana’s Minister for Communications, Dr Omane Boamah said “presently, the Ghana e-government platform project is upgrading existing WIMAX sites to LTE.”

The Electoral Commission (EC) has issued directives for the replacement of lost Voter Identification Cards with a warning to the electorates who have lost their ID Cards against registering in the on-going Limited Biometric Voter Registration Exercise.

"Electorates seeking to replace lost Voter ID cards are required to pay a replacement fee of GHC5.00 into the EC's Bank Account - number 1161130000275 - at the Boundary Road Branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank," it said.