This year’s event will also embark on a special programme of visiting schools in the rural areas to teach them basic lessons in Internet applications and designing in an attempt to bridge the digital divide among Ghanaians.
The first awards was organised last year by Mr Ashim Morton, a private businessman and a host of Information, Communications and Technology companies.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs, Mr Kofi Sakyi-Armah, who performed the launch on behalf of the sector minister, said Ghana will next month launch its government portal, an Internet-based device that will provide information on government activities in an interactive manner.
He said the portal entails an online and off-line electronic services, including electronic service (E-service) delivery and electronic government (E-government) operations with the people and within Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Mr Sakyi-Armah said the portal will make it possible for Ghanaians to access online services such as tax filing, purchasing customs forms for clearing and forwarding goods, registration of land, births and deaths, purchasing passport forms and the renewal of drivers licences.
He said the E-government operations will entail the electronic conduct of government business between MDAs and their regional or district offices on one hand and within the MDAs on the other.
The portal will also make it possible for the public to monitor government expenditure returns and payments from the district and regions as well as participate in various national activities such as voter registration, change of voter identification cards and census enumeration, Mr Sakyi-Armah stated.
He was optimistic that the programme will achieve the intended objectives to help in the socio-economic development of the country.
He expressed the hope that the web awards will serve as a forum to market the existence of the over 2000 Ghanaian websites both locally and internationally to enhance the country’s commerce and industry.
The Chairperson of partners of the event, Mrs Mavis Quarcoo, who gave an overview of the awards, announced that eligible website nominees must be those developed in Ghana for companies working in Ghana and must be submitted before the end of May 2003.
The Managing Director of Tinifa Company Limited, Nana Yaa Owusu-Prempeh, who chaired the function, said the ICT industry is going through a “roller coaster” drill and is facing a lot of bottlenecks.
He said this includes financial constraints, huge taxation and the lack of incentives for investing in ICT and appealed to the government to act swiftly to enable the sector to become effective and competitive.
She commended the organisers of the event and expressed the hope that it will impact positively on the social and economic development of the nation
Quelle: GhanaWeb
