ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
SAMUEL NARTEY GEORGE, MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATIONS AT THE FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE SUMMIT 2026, AT 9:00 AM LA PALM ROYAL BEACH HOTEL, ACCRA Page 2 of 6 The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Pandit Asiamah Leadership of the National Banking College, CEOs and Captains of Industry, Regulators, Development Partners, Members of the Financial and Technology Ecosystem, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocols observed Good morning.
Let me start with a picture rather than a statistic.
A trader at Kantamanto taps her phone to pay a supplier before the goods leave the truck.
A cocoa farmer in the Afram Plains receives a transfer from a son working in the mines in Obuasi within seconds, without either of them seeing the inside of a banking hall.
A young graduat e in Tamale opens her first savings account using nothing but her Ghana Card and a selfie.
None of these three Ghanaians is thinking about interoperability protocols, open banking standards, or regulatory sandboxes.
Each of them is asking only one question : will it work, and will my money be safe when it does?
That single question, repeated by millions of Ghanaians every single day, is the real subject of this summit, however carefully we phrase it on our conference programmes.
I bring you warm greetings from the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, and I thank the National Banking College for convening policymakers, regulators, and innovators around a theme that could not be timelier: Innovation for Stability: Central Banking, Digital Finance and the New Architecture of Ghana's Financial Future.
I want to dwell for a moment on that word, "architecture, " because I think we reach for it too easily.
An architect does not admire the rain and then decide, on instinct, to build a roof.
An architect studies load, stress, soil, weather, and human behaviou r before a single brick is Page 3 of 6 laid.
What we are attempting to do with Ghana's financial system is more like renovating a house while the family still lives in it.
We do not get to pause the economy, redesign the system on a whiteboard, and switch it back on when we feel ready.
Every re form we make, we make under live load, on a system Ghanaians are transacting on right now, this morning, while we sit in this room.
That is the honest starting point for everything I want to say to you today.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, For too long, finance policy and communications policy in this country were designed in separate rooms, by separate ministries, answering to separate logics.
That era is closing.
Mobile money, digital identity verification, electronic Know -Your-Customer processes, and instant payments do not run on financial infrastructure alone; they run on connectivity, on spectrum efficiency, on the invisible architecture of a digitized nation.
You cannot digitize a country's financial sector faster than you digitize its information infrastructure and expect the foundation to hold.
Some countries tried to skip that sequencing.
Ghana has chosen not to.
We are building both deliberately and in step.
We have made real progress.
Mobile money interoperability now moves value across networks that once refused to speak to each other.
The Ghana Card has become the backbone of a national identity ecosystem.
Digital payments have expanded into corners of the economy that cash could never efficiently reach, and our fintech sector has grown from a curiosity into a genuine engine of employment and innovation.
I do not raise these gains to declare victory.
I raise them because they prove something important: when Government, regulators, and industry move in the same direction, Ghana moves quickly.
The question before us now is whether we can sustain that same discipline as the stakes and the risks grow larger.
Because innovation must move at the speed of opportunity, but regulation must move at the speed of trust.
I want you to sit with that distinction because it is not a call for regulation to slow innovation.
It is a recognition that trust cannot be manufactu red at the pace of a product launch.
It is built slowly, through consistency, and it can be destroyed instantly, Page 4 of 6 through a single breach, a single failed transaction, a single customer who loses money and cannot get a straight answer about why.
Technology creates the opportunity.
Trust is what allows that opportunity to compound year after year, rather than resetting to zero every time confidence is shaken.
This is why innovation is no longer the rival of stability.
It has become the condition for it.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, At the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, we measure digital transformation by a simple standard: does it change an ordinary life for the better?
Not whether it impresses a conference room, not whether it wins an award abroad, but whether it reaches the trader, the farmer, the graduate I described earlier.
That is why we continue to invest in digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital skills, and an innovation ecosystem where businesses can take risks without exposing citizen s to unacceptable risks.
The Government's task is to build the conditions under which responsible innovation is not the exception that industry has to fight for, but the default within which it operates.
We believe three pillars must anchor this next phase, and I want to be specific about each because vague commitments make for comfortable speeches and weak outcomes.
First, interoperability.
Telecom rails, banking rails, and fintech rails must speak to each other as though they were built by the same hand, even though they were not.
This means harmonized data and payment standards, and it means treating cross-border financial flows as a design requirement, not an afterthought bolted on when a regional partner asks for it.
Second, inclusivity by design, not inclusivity by apology.
Every reform we table, in communications or in finance, should be tested against one question before it is approved: does this reach the unbanked woman in Bongo as readily as it reaches the chief executive in Airport Residential?
If a policy cannot answer that question honestly, it is not ready, no matter how sophisticated it looks in a boardroom.
Third, resilience and cybersecurity.
A digital financial system is only as strong as its weakest, least-monitored node.
I say this plainly to industry: investment in national cybersecurity Page 5 of 6 architecture is not a compliance cost to be minimized.
It is the price of admission to operating in this space at all, and it is non -negotiable alongside investment in access and reach.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me now speak directly to the innovators, the fintechs, the banks, and the technology partners in this room, because you deserve more than polite encouragement from a podium.
You are building the products that will decide whether this new architecture holds.
I want to challenge you today, respectfully but firmly: innovate for the customer who has never set foot in this hotel, not for the investor sitting across the table from you.
Design for the woman who cannot read the terms and conditions, not only for the one who can.
Build systems that fail safely, explain themselves when something goes wrong, and treat a customer's money with the same seriousness you apply to your own balance sheet.
A financial product that is elegant for its shareholders and opaque for its users is not innovation.
It is simply risk, repackaged and given a better interface.
The Government's role is not to stand in your way.
It is to ensure that when you innovate responsibly, you are rewarded for it, and when you cut corners on consumer protection, data governance, or cybersecurity, the consequences are swift enough to matter.
That is the bargain of a mature financial architecture: freedom to build, matched by accountability for what you build.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, The future of Ghana's financial architecture will not be decided in a single summit, or a single policy, or a single institution acting alone.
It will be decided in the accumulation of thousands of small, disciplined choices, by regulators who supervise without strangling, by innovators who build without recklessness, and by a Government that coordinates without dictating.
Every basis point of efficiency we gain through interoperable systems should translate into something a Ghanaian family can feel: lower transaction costs, faster remittances from relatives abroad, easier access to credit for a small trader who has never Page 6 of 6 had a loan in her life.
That is not a technical outcome.
It is the entire point, and it is squarely aligned with the Reset Agenda of His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama.
We are firmly convinced that the stability of our financial sector enables innovation to scale, but it is innovation that makes stability meaningful to the ordinary citizen.
Stability without innovation is stagnation with a good credit rating.
Innovation w ithout stability is speed without a steering wheel.
Ghana's financial future needs both hands on the wheel at once.
Let me commend the National Banking College once again for convening this important summit and for creating a platform for this kind of honest engagement.
I am confident that what is said, and more importantly, what is committed to, in this room today will shape a financial ecosystem that is stronger, more resilient, and genuinely innovation -driven, one built not for the headline, but for the household.
I wish you fruitful deliberations and a successful summit.
URSULA OWUSU -EKUFUL, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITALISATION AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE EXPANDED PAIX DATA CENTRE ON TUESDAY, 2ND JULY 2024 AT MARRIOT HOTEL, ACCRA AT 5:30PM GMT The Hon Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, The Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure Investments A50, Mr Raza Hasnani, The Managing Director for PAIX Data Centres in Ghana , Mr Bright Tawiah, Esteemed Ambassadors, Hon Members of Parliament Invited Guests All protocols observed Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen Good evening, I am grateful for the invitation and wish to extend a warm welcome to you all.
It is always a delight to be part of such an achievement from businesses in the sector I supervise.
Best-in-class Cata centres like PAIX are a critical enabler of our national strategy to accelerate digital transformation and to ensure that the process is both inclusive and sustainable.
Let me take the opportunity to commend everyone involved - both at PAIX Ghana and Africa50 - for their commitment and investment in the country and their wonderful partnership with Government to build Ghana’s digital economy, supporting job creation and enabling innovation.
These are very exciting times for the Communications sector in Ghana.
The Ministry is championing governments Digital Agenda to ensure that Ghana participates fully in this 4th Industrial Revolution.
Cabinet has recently approved the Digital Economy Policy with 5 prioritized thematic areas to enable the Ministry to track the digital journey in Ghana.
These are: i. Universal Access and Connectivity ii.
Digital Government iii.
Digital Skills iv.
Data and Emerging Technologies v. Digital Entrepreneurship Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as Africa and the World embraces digital transformation to enhance their socio-economic development, the explosive growth and aggregation of data has been one of the relevant topics for discussions at international fora.
Data is now the ‘newly found Gold and Oil’ due to the high economic value of it.
Data will drive decision ma king and where the resources should be prioritized to impact the livelihoods of people and economic growth of the country.
With Data being the center of economics, there is an urgent need for Governments and the private sector to collaborate to derive the maximum socio-economic benefits associated with data utilization and to also pay attention to how data are securely stored and used.
Government has established the Tier 3 National Data Centre, both Primary and Secondary, being supervised by NITA with adequate capacity to support the public and private sector.
Government welcomes complimentary investment efforts of the private sector to ensure that together we serve the needs of our citizens and other countries on the African continent.
Ghana is positioning herself to become the ICT Hub in the west African sub-region.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Ghana is facilitating the expansion of digital infrastructure to open up broadband access to accelerate access to meaningful content and smart services to benefit all citizens.
Through the adoption of a whole - of-government approach to digitalise and transform public services in the health, education, local governance, agriculture, legislative and judiciary sectors, to mention just a few, services can be provided online to the benefit of all Ghanaians.
We have built a high -speed E-Gov network connecting 951 public institutions and agencies across the country, powered by 3500 kms of newly laid fibre, providing a nationwide resilient 100Gbps optical fibre infrastructure that will support the delivery 4G/ 5G services across Ghana.
Bridging the digital divide is our top priority and we continue to create digital opportunities for the marginalised, the elderly, and people in rural, remote, and underserved areas through initiatives implemented by the Ghana Investment Fund for Communications.
To ensure inclusiveness, integrating basic digital literacy into our educational curricula and community-based digital laboratories is ongoing, as we recognise that digital skills development is the cornerstone of digital transformation.
Through the Girls in ICT Programme, we are touching the lives of many girls.
We are currently implementing the Girls in ICT in Greater Accra Region with the training of 1000 girls and 100 ICT teachers.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the expansion of the PAIX Data Centre facility is important to the people and Government of Ghana because it will enhance our rank on the Data Center Map of Africa, create jobs and technology transfer to our people and afford greater opportunity for businesses to host their data in a secured environment, which will in turn drive down their costs of data hosting and guarantee security.
I am informed that this Data Centre meets the highest of security standards.
We have been pushing for data localization and secured storage on the continent to ensure the sovereignty and control of our own data.
One of the major threats to the realization of the full potential of data is Data Security.
We want to encourage the management of this Data Centre to be conscious of the physical and the virtual security of the facility to be able to win the confidence and trust of your clients.
Additional, ensure that you adhere to all the tenets of the Data Protection Act.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we are committed to a cross-sectoral approach to development and enhanced collaboration with the private sector to aid rapid digital transformation.
The Government of Ghana continues to work towards the creation of a fair regulatory environment and stability for the industry to thrive.
One of the areas we are passionate about is supporting our local tech start -up ecosystem, nurturing the development of indigenous technology and encouraging women, children and persons with disabilities to engage in ICT.
The expansion of PAIX Data Centre in Ghana is crucial to create the capacity for more people - from all backgrounds - to participate in Ghana’s digital transformation.
Our talented creative community also relies on robust digital infrastructure to meet the growing demand for local content - whether music, art, film or fashion.
We thrilled to see rising global interest in Ghanaian creativity and we are committed to creating the conditions for the expansion of digital infrastructure required to support this.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen , a s a Ministry responsible for driving the Digital Agenda, the whole country is looking up to our sector to bring the needed benefits of the digitalisation efforts to enhance public service delivery and usher efficiency in the entire public service arena.
This will project the country in terms of ease of doing business, better access and reduction in cost of acquiring these services.
In conclusion, I would like to once again commend all the Executives of PAIX and Africa 50 for the choice to invest in Ghana and we want to assure you that your decision will yield the required return on investment and the growth of the communication sector.
SPEECH BY THE HON.
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATION, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND INNOV ATIONS AT THE 7TH GENERAL MEETING OF THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (IT/IM) ASSOCIATION OF THE GHANA CIVIL SERVICE ON WEDNESDAY, 5TH AUGUST 2026 AT AITI-KACE, ACCRA The Head of the Civil Service, Dr.
Evans Aggrey-Darkoh, The National President and Executives of the Information Technology and Information Management Association, Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Distinguished IT and Information Management Professionals, Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning.
I bring your greetings from Hon Samuel Nartey George who would have wished to be here.
It is a great honour and privilege to join you today for Seventh General Meeting of the Information Technology and Information Management Association of the Ghana Civil Service.
I extend my sincere appreciation to the Executive Committee for inviting me to participate in what I consider a defining moment in strengthening digital governance and professionalism within Ghana's Civil Service.
Today's meeting is an important milestone in the continued evolution of Information Technology and Information Management as a recognised professional cadre within the Civil Service.
It reflects your collective commitment to strengthening your Association, promoting profession al excellence and contributing meaningfully to Ghana's digital transformation agenda.
I am particularly pleased that today's deliberations will focus on reviewing the Association's Constitution, Election Guidelines and Election Code of Conduct.
Every enduring institution is built on sound governance, accountability and shared values.
By str engthening these governance instruments, you are laying the foundation for an Association that will continue to serve its members with integrity, transparency and professionalism.
This year's theme, "One Constitution, One Association, One Future: Strengthening IT/IM Professionalism for a Digitally Transformed Civil Service," resonates strongly with Government's vision for a modern, efficient and technology-enabled public service.
Digital transformation is fundamentally about transforming how Government works, improving collaboration across institutions, delivering better services to citizens and building a public sector that is transparent, responsive, secure and accountable.
Around the world, governments are embracing Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, digital identity, automation, big data analytics and interoperable digital platforms to improve governance and public service delivery.
These technologies have become essential enablers of economic growth, national competitiveness and inclusive development.
Ghana is making steady progress on this journey.
Through sustained investments and strategic policy reforms, we continue to strengthen our digital public infrastructure, expand broadband connectivity, promote digital financial services, improve electronic government platforms, enhance cybersecurity and c reate an enabling environment for innovation.
These efforts are supported by important national policies and initiatives, including the Ghana Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, the National Cybersecurity Act, the Data Protection Act, the Electronic Transactions Act and the ongoing implementation of the Government's digital transformation agenda.
Considering the technological improvements globally, the Government through the Ministry is reviewing current sector legislations to reflect existing and future needs as well as drafting new bills such as the Data Harmonisation Bill and others.
As we move forward with the implementation of Ghana's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, digital public services will increasingly rely on trusted data, secure systems and a highly skilled public service capable of leveraging emerging technologies responsibly.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, None of these ambitions can be realised through policy alone.
Digital transformation succeeds because of people.
Behind every successful government digital platform, every secure network, every reliable database and every citizen -centred digital service are dedicated professionals who design, maintain and improve these systems every day.
That is why your profession has become indispensable.
The responsibilities of IT and Information Management professionals have evolved significantly.
Today, you are expected to maintain technology infrastructure as well as provide strategic advice, strengthen cybersecurity, improve information governance, sup port innovation, manage digital risks and enable evidence-based decision-making across Government.
Increasingly, you are becoming digital transformation leaders within your respective institutions.
I therefore encourage you to see yourselves as architects of Ghana's digital future not just as technology officers.
Every Ministry you support, every digital service you improve and every innovation you champion contributes directly to better Healthcare, Education, Agriculture, Justice, Local Governance, Public Financial Management and ultimately improved quality of lif e for our citizens.
However, there is, o ne area that deserves particular attention , that is, information management.
Government institutions generate enormous volumes of information every single day.
The value of this information depends on how effectively it is managed, protected, shared and utilised.
Good information management strengthens accountability, transparency, institutional memory and evidence-based policymaking.
As Artificial Intelligence and data -driven technologies become increasingly integrated into Government operations, the quality, integrity and security of Government data become even more critical.
This places an even greater responsibility on Information Management professionals to ensure that Government information remains accurate, secure, accessible and fit for purpose.
The future of digital government will depend on trusted information, resilient digital infrastructure and professionals who understand how technology and governance must work together.
Against this backdrop, the continued growth of this Association could not have come at a better time.
Strong professions require strong institutions.
Every respected professional body is built upon effective governance, ethical standards, continuous learning and collective responsibility.
I therefore commend the leadership of this Association for the vision they have demonstrated in strengthening the organisation and creating a platform through which members can collaborate, share knowledge, mentor younger professionals and contribute meani ngfully to national development.
Unity will remain your greatest strength.
By working together across Ministries, Departments and Agencies, you can establish common standards, promote best practices, strengthen peer learning and help accelerate Government -wide digital transformation.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, The Ministry remains committed to working closely with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service and your Association to strengthen digital governance across the Civil Service.
We will continue to promote policies and programmes that encourage innovation, cybersecurity, interoperability, Artificial Intelligence readiness, digital inclusion, digital skills development and resilient digital infrastructure.
However, technology evolves rapidly.
Continuous professional development is therefore no longer optional.