The Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has said Ghana’s digital agenda needs infrastructural development and investment.

She made this known in her welcome address at the GhanaCARES Digitisation Readiness Workshop held in Accra on 2nd December 2021.

According to Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, Ghana cannot be left out of the world’s technology agenda as has become the new dimension for better progress of economic recovery from the COVID-19 effect.

“That is why we are determined to accelerate our efforts to transform our country and our economy into one that is more agile and more competitive in this new digital age. I am sure you have heard about the Ghana Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) programme which sets out the Government’s approach to mitigating the economic challenges created by COVID, as well as steps we can take as a nation to drive our national economic transformation.

“We must ensure catalytic investment and development of communication infrastructure, integration and the leveraging of data systems and platforms, enhanced capacity of key institutions and improved coordination with the private sector for improved service delivery, business expansion and economic transformation” she added

GHANACARES PROGRAMME

The Ablekuma West lawmaker noted that her ministry has been making certain specifically agreed interventions under the GhanaCARES “Obaatan Pa” initiative which started in July 2020 and is intended to end in 2023.

The move is to ensure the availability of long-term investment capital for entrepreneurial ventures and productivity-enhancing investments by young people to fast-track the digitisation agenda.

They include:

• Invest, consolidate, strengthen and expand the national fibre network backbone in order to expand and improve internet connectivity.

• Promote increased digital literacy, to enable our citizens in every part of the country to take advantage and use the digital infrastructure and services we are putting in place

• Support Ghanaian technology entrepreneurs to build tech hubs and to export IT-enabled services such as business process outsourcing (BPO) firms

• Expedite implementation of Government digital initiatives (e.g. the National ID, digital address systems, etc.)

The Ghana CARES programme has been designed to stimulate economic growth through increased investment in selected sectors, including agriculture, trade and industry, tourism, housing, science and technology and financial services.

Specific efforts will be made towards providing the youth with access to finance and skills in these areas to expand the production capacity in the selected areas.