ICT, Vital Benchmark For National Dev.

The Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has noted that Information Communications Technology (ICT) has become a vital bench-mark for the realisation of the socio-economic development of countries.

He said the Government was, therefore, determined to raise ICT's contribution to the GDP from the current level of around six per cent through implementation of programmes such as Government-Assisted PC Programmes (GAPP), Community Information Centres, Development of Incubators Services and Technology Parks, as well as IT-enabled services that would facilitate local soft-ware development and implementation.

He was speaking at a ceremony in Accra, to mark the 20th anniversary of Omanfofor Ghana Ltd, a local company which deals in  a range of products including Canon copiers, fax machines, printers, document readers, scanners, camaras, calculators UPS, anti-viruses, Dell desktops, laptops and servers.

Mr Iddrisu said the programmes to be implemented expected to offer real advantages of improving the nation's economy and eventually generate employment for the citizens, particularly the youth.

He commended Omanfofo for showing keen knowledge of Government policy on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and how stakeholders in the sector could contribute to the achievement of the objectives.

He said that the Ministry of Communications was in the process of developing supplementary laws to support the fast growing industry to protect genuine operators.

That initiative, he stated, would create the needed enabling environment for foreign direct investment in the industry, as well as whip up local initiative in computer programming,

Software development and hardware manufacturing in line with government policy.

The Ministry called on the few companies engaged in the local assembling or production of office equipment to make concerted efforts to improve the quality of their products.

He expressed dismay at the manner in which abandoned computers and other electronic devices that were most extremely hazardous, were indiscriminately disposed of on a daily basis and urged the industry to consider adequate re-cycling arrangements.

He announced that the Ministry, in collaboration with the relevant institutions, would take stringent measures to prevent shipment to, and dumping of, toxic waste in Ghana. 

Citing the international attention that was drawn to the dumping of abandoned computers and other electronic devices at the Agbogbloshie area, he tasked all stakeholders to respond to the menace.

Ms. Vivian Baitie, Managing Director of Omanfofor Ghana Limited, commended customer and staff of the company for their immense contributions to its growth over the past 20 years.

Mr Alex Abbey, a representative of Channel IT Ghana Limited, and Mr Glan De Vallier, Chief Executive Officer of Canon South Africa, commended Omanfofor for its achievements over the years.

Mr Abbey noted that Omanfofor was the first company to be signed on by his company as a reseller for Dell computers, and was happy that it had displayed professionalism and greater customer care over the year.