Ghana to implement a National IT plan

Ghana will soon implement a National Information and Technology plan to enhance government services and make civil servants more efficient.

In addition, it will enable Ghanaians to have quick access to information.

Mr Solomon Adiyiah, a Consultant to the project who announced this said it would also bridge the gap between business and the Information Technology (IT) environment.

He was addressing the opening session of a three-day workshop organised by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA) for IT managers and personnel for the effective and efficient implementation of the plan.

Some of the participants were from the National Communications Authority, Bank of Ghana, the Ministries, Agencies and Departments and the private sector.

The World Bank funded project is dubbed: "Enterprise Architecture."

Mr Adiyiah said Ghana was among the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to implement a National IT plan and the appropriate technology to define operations of government agencies.

The project, which is being undertaken under the Ghana Information Communications Technological Directorate would connect government agencies and make exchange of information and communication easier.

Mr Gideon Quarcoo, Deputy Minister of Communications, said there was the need to reduce the complexity of organisational structure and adopt a technology driven approach to enable government to provide faster and cheaper services for the citizenry.

"If Ministries, Departments and Agencies are to meet the challenges of a modern digital economy an Enterprise Architecture framework must be defined," he said.

The Deputy Minister urged participants to actively network with each other to form a core technical leadership group.

Mr Tony Bediako, Director of Strategy and Architecture at NITA, called on IT personnel to ensure that they include civic engagement in their programmes.

He explained that the programmes were people-based and called on government to involve the communities, media, advertisement agencies and other publicity programmes to educate the public on the plan.

Source: GNA