Address delivered at the Opening Ceremony of the Second Preparatory Conference on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

By H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor,
President of the Republic of Ghana

Accra, Ghana from 2 to 4 February 2005

Your Excellency President Kagame of Rwanda
Your Excellency the Vice President of Ghana,
Your Excellency, The Prime Minister of Tunisia
Honourable Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Your Excellency the Secretary General of the ITU,
Your Excellency, the Executive Secretary of the ECA
Niimei/Naamei/ Nananom
Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen:

I welcome all of you to the second Africa Region Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) here in Accra and I thank the African Union for endorsing the selection of Ghana to host this conference.

The theme for this conference, "Access: Africa's Key to an Inclusive Information Society" is most appropriate and gives a clear indication that the continent of Africa has made some progress since the first world summit held in Geneva a little over a year ago. Many of us who spoke at that conference emphasized the need to ensure Access to information for all sectors of our global society.

Now that we have reached the implementation stage of the decisions taken at the first WSIS, this conference should urgently move to spell out for the guidance of African countries, how to gain this access. I believe we can all agree at this stage, that none of us needs to be convinced about the importance of being part of the Information Society.

Our continent, Africa, has in the memorable but sad words of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, become a "scar on the conscience of the world". Ladies and Gentlemen, Africa cannot continue to exist as a poor relation to the rest of the world, and as an embarrassment to itself. It is possible for us to make our continent and its people work and prosper. The mastery and exploitation of the science and technology of information communication are hastening phenomenally, the transformation of societies allover the world for the better. Africa of this century is very much awake to this reality, and is determined to join- in this heritage to improve the quality of life of its people.

This Conference should therefore assist us to critically assess how our nations are performing so far, and agree on a clear vision and practical policy options on how the continent of Africa can take full advantage of the globalization of ICT.

Ghana's experience has already shown us how the tools provided by ICT can dramatically improve and enrich our way of life both at the individual and societal levels. The example of distance learning comes to mind. With this tool, tuition is reaching the remotest parts of our country, even in the face of the serious shortage of qualified teaching personnel. Another example is the sprouting of out- sourcing data processing companies providing numerous well paid jobs to our youth, and also inculcating the disciplined work-ethic of the developed world in them.

Here in Ghana, efforts are afoot to deploy ICT within the economy and society as a whole. After an extensive nation-wide consultative process, government has developed the "Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development Policy" to serve as a roadmap for the development of Ghana's information society and economy.

The policy is to be integrated within government's three-pronged development strategy for its second term, which revolves around the development and enhancement of the nation's human resource base, the continued rejuvenation of the Private Sector, and the entrenchment of Good Governance. Our belief is that each of these inter-related areas requires a strong reliance on the delivery of and access to ICT.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is the development of our human resource base that must be at the heart of all we seek to do. In today's world, government is convinced that we can only get this well-educated and skilled population when we embrace ICT. In much the same way the promotion of good governance and sustainable development has been proved to be more easily attainable through its application.

Our starting-point must necessarily be the full utilization and sharing of the various IT Capacity Development Institutes on the continent of Africa. This will empower our entire populace to acquire the necessary skills and competencies to enhance Access. A home- grown example is the Kofi Annan ICT Center of Excellence of which we are particularly proud. A result of a Ghana-India partnership, it has become a trainer of trainers, attracting attendance not only from all parts of Ghana, but from the entire West African sub-region. More of such establishments are needed, as Africa increasingly accepts ICT as the infrastructure to drive all others.

Let me at this juncture indicate my appreciation for the ITU's recognition of Africa's increasing relevance to the global partnership. I also acknowledge the enormous work done by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in guiding a good number of African countries to develop their ICT Policy and Strategies to facilitate the promotion of accelerated development.

In most of these documents, steps have been taken to tackle the issue of Access as it relates to the development of infrastructure, local content and skills acquisition to enable us achieve benchmarks set out in the global Action Plan concluded in Geneva.

It is important that we use the opportunities created through the African Information Society Initiative of the ECA to link the implementation of the African strategies to the global Action Plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no running away from the fact that most of our best-laid plans have often been undermined by the lack of money. This is probably the time to remind all of us that our proposed Digital Solidarity Fund is still awaiting endorsement and adoption by WSIS. I should state here that the maiden report of the Task Force set up under the auspices of the United Nations to examine the issue of Financial Mechanisms for ICT has just been released. The report advocates the creation of a "North-South" fund to cater for the promotion of Access to under-served areas, and this is in the right direction.

I must also at this stage, acknowledge the immense contribution being made by my colleague President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal in waging a sustained campaign for the support of the Digital Solidarity Fund immediately after the Geneva conference to date. Many an African country has been persuaded to contribute voluntarily into the fund. This is a positive step that should win the support of our development partners and friends in the developed world and encourage them to also contribute into the ICT development fund.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Another impediment to the implementation of the vision is the inadequacy of the telecommunications infrastructure. Indeed whether it is tele-medicine, e- commerce, e-governance, e-agriculture or distance learning, the widespread promotion of ICT on the continent is dependent on telecom infrastructure that will provide an affordable gateway to our developing economies.

The situation on the continent however does not lend itself to the easy promotion of these initiatives. Regional connectivity is greatly hampered by gaps in cross border infrastructure. We still appear to be prisoners of our colonial past, with each little country clinging to its telecommunications network.

It is surely time to resolve to harmonize telecom infrastructure usage under a common regulatory environment in all the sub regions of Africa under the NEPAD arrangements. It is also time to come out with an African ICT infrastructure backbone plan that will run across the whole continent and beyond.

We need to take some brave decisions. We do not have a lot of time. Future generations will not forgive us if we should lack the will to take these decisions. This is a call to partnership in line with the letter and spirit of NEPAD. Africa should not and need not be a scar on the conscience of the world. It is time for us to take our place as proud members of the world community.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, Africa has not done badly as a WSIS regional group. It has managed to place issues such as Internet Governance and Financing the Information Society high on the WSIS agenda.

It is time therefore to work with the rest of the world to ensure that, this time round, we would not be left behind and that by the 2015 deadline, we will be in the mainstream of the ICT revolution, not just in the consumption of the products of ICT but also in providing the wherewithal to produce some of them.

Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen;

I am confident that we can bridge the digital divide, and that the next few years will see Africa making amazing strides in this sector, and leap-frogging its development.

There are a lot of actions to be taken to bring Africa's input on board at the Second Global Preparatory Conference scheduled for mid February in Geneva. It is imperative that we present a common stand on all the issues that we are discussing here.

Let me therefore at this point; make a special plea to the Media in Africa. Please help to educate the populace to demystify ICT. This way, all of us will be involved in making Africa part of the World Information Society.

I thank you all, and I wish the Conference fruitful deliberations in developing and agreeing on clear-cut positions for Tunis.

Special thanks go to my Brother and friend President Kagame of Rwanda, for sparing the time to come and join us to prepare for Tunis.

Then to my brother, the Prime Minister of Tunisia, when you go home, please report to our brother, President of Tunisia Ben Ali that he has the total support of all of us in Africa as you prepare to host the entire world in Tunis come November of this year.

On this note I declare the Second Africa Region Conference on WSIS opened. I thank you all.