[afnog] 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 .ghat 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 saidthat the status of a cctlds, 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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