[AfrICANN-discuss] GHANA GETS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR IT’S NATIONAL IT AGENCY

[Eric Akumiah]

GHANA GETS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR IT’S NATIONAL IT AGENCY

By Vera Doku, ISOC Ghana

Friday October 22, Accra Ghana. Some members of the Internet technical
community recently congratulated Mr. William Tevie on his appointment as
Director General (DG) of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA)
at a social gathering in Accra, Ghana.   A citation was read on behalf of
ISOC Ghana Chapter, GARNET and the entire Internet Technical community,
extolling Mr. Tevie for his contribution toward the advancement of the
Internet in Ghana. “We hope that you will help Ghana regain its premiere
role as leader of the Internet in Africa,” the citation read.  In IT
circles, the appointment of Mr. Tevie to this position has been seen as
the government of Ghana’s commitment to the advancement of the Internet in
that country.
Mr. Tevie was the first IP engineer in Ghana and former Chief Technical
Officer (CTO) of Network Computer Systems the Internet pioneers in West
Africa. He has held several positions in the industry and was instructor
in Internet Society’s INET developing countries IP workshops in the
mid-1990s. Mr, Tevie was also a former executive member of ISOC Ghana and
is currently board member of the Ghana Chapter.
Speaking on the topic Towards an efficient country Code Top Level Domains
(ccTLD) Registry (ccTLD) for .gh at the Internet Society Ghana Social
evening event, Mr. Tevie traced the history of the ccTLD in Ghana and
mentioned that because of some peculiar challenges, there was a lull in
the development in the sector.  He assured the gathering that as DG, his
outfit would take steps to put policies in place to advance IT in the
country.
The main presentation for the event was Role of a ccTLD in every Country
by Eric Akumiah, General Manager Africa Top Level Domains Organization in
Mauritius.  Mr. Akumiah presented the concept of ccTLD to a diverse
gathering made up of Internet savvy people, the media and among other
people.  He explained that it was important that Ghana like other
countries, market its country code top level domain (.gh) widely through
automation, so that more people would use it as their Internet addresses. 
He also said that government should play a central role as a facilitator
to make sure that the country codes top level domain is properly managed. 
In responding to the question of who should manage the .gh domain, Mr.
Akumiah said that the status of a cctld, whether commercial or
not-for-profit should be governed by national policy.  “This is the
essence of having a NITA, which would be responsible for coming out with
policies to guide the IT industry,” he said.

Responding to a question on how Ghana could regain its leadership role in
the Internet on the continent.  Dr. Nii Quaynor, Executive Chairman of
NITA, who chaired the gathering, said that NITA would play an instrumental
role on ICT policies in the country and would build a government Network
of all government institutions with domain names and IP addresses. Most
importantly NITA would be responsible for sustaining the growth in IT
sector in the country.
Some members of the society who could not be present at the event joined
the meeting via skype and twitter.
In a related development, ISOC, GARNET and Ghana Network Operators’ Group
(ghNOG), members of the Internet community paid a courtesy call on Mr.
Tevi at the offices of NITA on Wednesday October 27.   Among the members
present was Prof. M. Dakubu of acting CEO of GARNET, who said his outfit
would be part of the national network and hoped that NITA would help
GARNET to create its own physical infrastructure for academic research
which would finally be linked to the West Africa region and eventually the
continent. Prof. Dakubu said NITA could also benefit from GARNET, which
specializes in research and the training and development of ICT personnel
for the industry.
On his part, Mr. Ernest Brown, Convener of ghNOG, who was also present
said, “I am very excited about the appointment of Mr. Tevie.  I know that
his appointment will change the face of IT in the country.”  He said that
with the appointment of the new Director General, he hoped to see more
stakeholder consultation; a bridge in the gap between practitioners, and
policy makers; the formation of a consortium by NITA to support
eGovernement infrastructure and good management of IT infrastructure.
“We believe with the appointment of Mr. Tevie, the development of the
ccTLD and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) will be a priority,”
said Mr. Eric Akumiah, General Secretary of ISOC Ghana who was also part
of the team that paid the courtesy call to the Director General of NITA.

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