Ghana will be Africa's AI hub in 4 years — Sam George

Ghana will become the centre and the hub of Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, cyber security, data analytics and data processing on the continent in the next four years, the Minister designate for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George, has said.

"We’re going to take the current AI strategy developed by the previous government, review it and make it fit for purpose," he told the Appointments Committee of Parliament in Accra yesterday.

Mr George said the current government would do so by engaging industry and ensuring that Ghana became the hub of AI on the continent.

"President John Dramani Mahama has a clear vision on his Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy”.

"And we are going to do this by making sure that our innovation hubs promised in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto are executed and introduce AI on top of big data that we are taking," he told the committee.

SIM reregistration

On a proposed reregistration of all subscriber identification module (SIM) cards, Mr George said he was going to collaborate with the National Identification Authority (NIA), National Communications Authority (NCA), as well as the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to reconcile individual biometric data and the cost would be catered for by the telecom companies (telcos).

He said individuals who may experience discrepancies in their biodata would be notified to visit their telcos for rectification.

According to him, that would avoid the long queues and unnecessary long productive hours that people spent pursuing that same purpose in the past.

"I think it was wickedness on the highest order on the part of the previous government to subject Ghanaians to long hours in queues, taking away productive hours affecting our economy to go and resubmit biometrics simply because egos could not be managed.

"We will do a proper sim reregistration again but this time nobody is going to queue because common sense will prevail, expertise will prevail and logic will work," he said.

Mr George, whose vetting process was nearly truncated over the issue of quorum, said currently many SIM cards did not bear the names of the rightful owners because they were pre-registered.

He said in order to get the true identities of holders of the SIM cards and be able to track perpetrators of crimes, it would be in the best interest of the Mobile Network Operators for all sims to be reregistered.
 

Cost

On the cost of data in Ghana as compared to the rest of the world, Mr George promised to work with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the issue was addressed.

He also said he would look at the tax components that made the use of mobile telephones expensive.

Cyber security

On cyber security, the Communications Minister designate said there was the view that it should not be under the Ministry of Communications but rather under the National Security Ministry.

He said although there was some merit in that, per the best practices across the globe and looking at best practices in India and Rwanda, among others, it is believed that the best ministry to keep it is either the Ministry of Communications or the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry.

According to him, this was because cyber security played five cardinal roles or interfaces – public, international, industry, policy formulation and security and intelligence.

He said four of the five interfaces were civilian and only one security, which justified why it should be placed under the Ministry of Communications.

LGBTQI+

On whether President John Dramani Mahama would assent to the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values also known as the LGBTQI+ Bill, the nominee said the bill was introduced in the eighth parliament and had expired with that parliament; therefore, currently, the bill was dead.

Mr George called for a national conversation on the matter again since it formed a critical part of the nation’s life.

He gave an assurance that the bill would be reintroduced either as a private member's bill or as an executive-sponsored bill.