The opportunities opened for the country is in the field of telecommunications, business, agriculture, education and internet services which should help speed up Ghana’s development process.
Like many countries around the world, Ghana has already demonstrated a strong capacity for growth in the ICT subsector – notably so in the area of mobile communication.
The students demonstrated this when they used the E-voting system during their 2011 SRC elections which unlike previous years ended without any post-election controversies.
Read more: GH: E-Voting System at University of Cape Coast 2011 SRC Elections
The Minister for Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, announcing government’s intention to support the EC, said the exercise could cost over $80 million.
“Though the cost might be a little high, it is not more than the cost of disputed elections, and addresses the issue of multiple voting to make our elections more credible”, the Minister said in an interview after opening a two day conference for IT professionals in Accra.
On Saturday, the Ghanaian Times captured the Public Affairs Director of the Commission virtually pouring cold water on the biometric voting system. Mr. Christian Owusu-Pare is quoted by the state-run newspaper, as stating in a radio interview, that the people of Ghana might not be ready for the innovation in the 2012 vote.
Read more: GH: The Electoral Commission and the biometric vote
He said: "It is our hope that it will improve our financial services, improve the health services and the educational system and transform the agriculture sector through value addition."
Vice President Mahama lauded the steady growth of telecommunication services in Ghana with over 17 million subscribers, giving a teledensity of 75 percent compared to less than three per cent in 1997.
Read more: GH: Vice President Launches Glo 1 Fibre-Optic Cable