Ghana Receives US$1 Million From India For ICT Training

The Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI KACE) on Tuesday, October 2, received an amount of US$1 million from the Indian government through its High Commissioner to Ghana to support the teaching and learning of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the country.

The ceremony which took place at the auditorium of the Advanced Information Technology Institute (AITI) in Accra aimed to promote the study of ICT, research and innovation in Ghana.

The ceremony was well attended by a host of dignitaries from both Ghana and India which included the Deputy Minister of Communications, Vincent Sowah Odotei; the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency, Birender Sing; and the Director General of the Institute, Kwasi Adu-Gyan, as well as some students from both countries. Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Ocquaye, was the special guest of honour at the ceremony.

In his address, Prof. Mike Ocquaye admonished the gathering on the essence of the study of ICT in Ghana, saying it comes in as a handy tool “as we work together in building our nation.”

He stated that the Indian government had supported Ghana in many respects especially in the agricultural sector by providing tools and equipment and 3,000 tractors to Ghana in previous years.

Among the many benefits that Ghana stands to achieve in ICT was a tool for security that would aid transparent elections, the speaker said.

He stressed that when managed and operated properly, ICT could help reduce the country's tax issues and challenges faced at the ports provided the duties and modes of operations are computed and collected digitally to avoid the incidence of some individuals satisfying their selfish interests by carrying out their regular duties manually.

Director General of the Institute Kwasi Adu-Gyan expressed excitement over the initiative by the Indian government and their continued support to the institute. The institute, according to him, was established with a mandate to provide institutional and human capacity building training as well as providing assistance to the development of research and consultancy in the country with the aim of being the pillar that would lead the way in E- government – a system of paperless governance in the country under the Ministry of Communications.

He indicated that the donation forms part of provisions in an MoU between Ghana and India which dates as far back as in 2002, which recognized the need for both countries to partner in the study and promotion of ICT. He said with India's strength in ICT, it would assist the country in building quality local content. Thus the money received would focus on exploring the government's digitization agenda which would go a long way to achieve the aims of the country.

By Charles Cheku Armah & Nii Adjei Mensahfio