Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Accra Digital Centre, Kofi Fosu Nkansah, has stated that ex-president John Dramani Mahama inaugurated a hollow space as the Accra digital centre.
He made these revelations on Happy FMs ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ political show.
‘’The NDC’s commissioning of the Accra Digital centre was just an exhibition. The place was empty,’’ he stated.
‘’There was not a single furniture, computer or anything else in the building. All they left was the empty building,’’ he added.
According to Kofi Fosu Nkansah, it was the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that turned the ‘empty’ space into an operational office ready to support Ghanaian IT companies to enable them to grow and create digital jobs.
He further explained that government is providing Technology companies and entrepreneurs with the affordable infrastructure and facilities at the Centre to enable them grow.
‘’over the years, high rental fees for office space in Accra has been a hindrance to the growth of the sector in Ghana and government is, therefore, providing the affordable work space as an incentive to attract more companies to drive the ICT industry,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Centre consists of twelve (12) unit blocks, each with space of 750 sqm, providing total workspace of 9,000 sqm and 6 one-storey office buildings with 24 rooms to serve as common service areas. One block is reserved for digital Entrepreneurship program to help nurture Technology startups in the ecosystem.
The Accra Digital Centre is capable of hosting up to 10,000 direct digital and ancillary jobs. There are plans by the Ghana Digital centre (GDCL) to establish an ICT park or Digital Centre per region to harness the digital potential of the entire country to promote Job Creation and Economic Development.
Ghana Digital Centres Limited is the Parent Company (GDCL), under the Ministry of Communications overseeing the management of the Accra Digital Centre to ensure that it is operated on a sustainable basis.
GDCL’s mission is to lead the development of Technology Parks and Digital Centres across Ghana by providing the required infrastructure, facilities, environment, services and programmes that foster the growth of the ICT and Business Process Outsourcing industry as part of the strategy to make Ghana the ICT/BPO hub of the sub-region as stated in the 2016 NPP manifesto.
The necessary background work required for start of operations at the Centre has been completed by the current Management. The Ghana Digital Centres Limited is inviting interested companies to submit Applications as Tenants of the Accra Digital Centre for the purposes of digital job creation.
However, the Digital Centre, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre established by the Government of Ghana with support from the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation.
By: Bridget Mensah