The Minister for Communication and Digitisation, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, has called on information technology giants in the country to help come up with a local communication application which would either serve as a main source of communication or an alternative.
According to her, the young IT specialists in the country are capable of developing an application for communication when given the opportunity, stating that major softwares that are currently used in the country were designed by young people within the technology space.
“By government procurement, the National ID, the Digital Address System was developed by a local company, our SIM registration platform was developed by a local company on existing infrastructures that we have, and so does Ghana.gov payment platform which was developed by a local platform.”
She made these remarks during an MoU signing ceremony between Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation and the Digital Transformation Center.
The call also came following hours of disruption in about three of the major communication applications globally which left many, including online businesses, disturbed.
The minister stated that some countries like China have developed their own communication applications and it is currently operating.
She said her office is ever ready to provide the necessary assistance to any company that shows the readiness to come up with such invention.
About the MoU
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and the Digital Transformation Center by GIZ Ghana, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which is intended to guide the partnership between the two parties to achieve an inclusive digital economy and society.
Under this shared vision, every citizen, notably women and young people, are targeted to have the opportunity to participate in the digital world.
The collaboration focuses on areas like capacity building and skills development and support for policy formulation and implementation. This includes the support to 40 community ICT centres established by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to develop and provide a broad range of services, specifically, to rural communities.
The purpose of the partnership is to jointly implement projects and activities that support the sustainable growth of the Ghanaian digital economy.
The Digital Transformation Centre also seeks to work with various stakeholders of the digital innovation ecosystem to pursue a more inclusive digital agenda, as well as provide competent skills for job creation, bridging the gender digital divide, and making digitalisation accessible to all.
