RE: [AfrICANN-discuss] GHANA GETS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR IT'S NATIONAL IT AGENCY

[Vika Mpisane]

Interesting article, Eric. Well done. I suppose it's high time you should
start to interface with the media more on AfTLD's behalf.

Regards,

Vika Mpisane
ZADNA
+27 11 275 0082

> -----Original Message-----
> From: africann-bounces at afrinic.net [mailto:africann-bounces at afrinic.net]
On
> Behalf Of Eric Akumiah
> Sent: 05 November 2010 09:57 AM
> To: africann at afrinic.net
> Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] GHANA GETS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR IT'S
NATIONAL
> IT AGENCY
> 
> 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.
> 
> PDF Copy attached
> 
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