The Director for policy planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation at Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, Veronica Rita Sackey, has called on African governments to speed up their adoption of digital transformation if the continent is to effectively emerge from the economic devastation left behind by COVID-19.
Speaking at a workshop organized by TransNumerik in partnership with Que’bec and Microsoft on the theme—unlock productivity and collaboration in the digital era—Ms. Sackey described digital transformation as a “game-changer”, adding that it is an opportunity to drive innovation, economic growth and job creation in many key sectors of the continent’s economy as well as allowing for greater interconnection of African markets and success of the continental free trade area.
“Therefore, it is the responsibility of governments to provide the necessary basic infrastructure, a conducive legal and regulatory environment, and build capacity to improve the adoption and use of ICT to engender digital innovation as a means of leapfrogging the developmental process,” she said at the workshop in a speech she read on behalf of Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Ghana’s Communications and Digitisation Minister.
“ICT has gained recognition as an enabler of development. Due to these realized and potential gains from the application of technology and innovation, governments across the world are adopting digital technologies to fast-track their development, provide better and effective services, and better respond to the needs of the people.
Digital technology, and Information Communications Technology (ICT), have globally become predominant factors in development and have become increasingly central to national policies and plans formulation and implementation with the aim to respond to the challenges of the future,” Ms. Sackey added.
How’s Ghana faring?
According to Ms. Sackey, the burning desire to emerge from the excruciating challenges left behind by COVID-19 as well as accelerate development, formed the basis of both Digital Ghana Agenda and the Digital Transformation Agenda of the country.
Highlighting some of the progress made on those fronts by the government, Ms. Sackey said the country’s strategy for digital transformation has focuses on: legal, institutional, and regulatory framework and structures including; ICT infrastructure, capacity Building, Universal Access and Bridging the Digital Gender Divide.
“One of the aims of government’s digitalisation agenda, is to ensure digital inclusion, where each citizen has the tools and requisite skills to be part of our digital world. Providing ICT equipment to educational institutions, is vital to guaranteeing availability of the right resources for teaching and learning,” she stated.
Cyber Security Act
On Cyber security, she said the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation is committed to ensure that the digital interventions rolled out as part of the Digital Ghana Agenda are secured from prevailing cyber-attacks.
“The enactment of the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) is one of the enabling interventions of government to affirm its commitment as a cybersecurity enabler for Ghana’s cyber security development. This is expected to build and consolidate various activities and to establish baseline cybersecurity requirements. The key strategic imperatives of the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy is to build a Resilient Digital Ecosystem, Secure Digital Infrastructure, Develop National Capacity, Deter Cybercrime and to Strengthen Cooperation,” Ms. Sackey said.
TransNumerik
ADNM International and the African Consortium for Information Technology (CATI) joined forces to create TransNumerik, a company specializing in cutting-edge technologies and adapted strategies.
The creation of TransNumerik was designed to support African businesses towards their digital transformation, Managing Director, Mody-Oury Barry said. “Thanks to our experts and our network of partners, we are determined to provide all the necessary tools to ensure the development of organizations on the African continent. We believe in their strong potential and want to propel their digital transformation,” he stated.
TransNumerik plays an important role in serving the African market with both African and international expertise. The company is present in 3 regions of Africa: West Africa, East Africa, and Central Africa with offices in Canada.
