Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communication has reiterated government's resolve to extend mobile telephone services to all rural communities across the Country.
She said Ghanaians living in remote communities also deserved to be part of the digitized global community, and that, extending telecommunications infrastructure to those areas was therefore necessary.
Mrs. Ekuful made the observation at Amantia in the Asante-Akim South Municipality, as part of her working visit to the Ashanti Region.
The Minister is in the region to inspect project sites of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) under the Rural Telephony Project (RTP).
She would also acquaint herself with the Community Information Centres (CICs) as well as the School Connectivity Projects, in eight districts in the region.
The Asante-Akim South Municipality has four of the RTPs sites at Amantia, Banka, Bankame-Sunkwa and Gyadam with two CICs at Banso and Obogu.
The Communication Minister said the Ministry through GIFEC was extending mobile telephone services to areas of the country where access were not adequately available.
She said there were areas where licensed operators were unwilling or unable to expand their networks to due to its low commercial viability, adding that, it was the responsibility of government to fill such gaps.
The objective of the RTP, she noted, was to achieve 100 per cent mobile telephone service coverage throughout the country and to increase telephone subscribership to as many citizens as possible.
She said the provision of computers under the School Connectivity Project would facilitate Information Communication Technology (ICT) studies, which was critical to quality education.
Hopeful that the project would help raise standard of education in the area, she urged beneficiary schools to arrange with schools in surrounding communities to also use the facility as a means of reaching out to more pupils.
Mr. Abraham Kofi Asante, the Administrator of GIFEC, said a total of 100 RTP sites had been completed across the country with 29 located in the Ashanti Region.
He said the second phase would see the construction of 200 sites, out of which 30 would be in the Ashanti Region.
Osabarima Tweampomah III, Chief of Banka, commended government for the project, which he said, was a laudable intervention that had addressed many years of communication challenges.

Source: GNA

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey has called on the government to include coding as a subject in the school curricula.
According to him, coding, which is the language of technology has become the order of the new digital age; hence the need for the people to know about it at an early stage in life.
Mr. Ashigbey made the call in an interview after the launch of the Vodafone National Coding Programme in Accra last Friday.
The programme is to provide hands-on training for 10,000 young people in coding across the country.
Mr. Ashigbey said companies and individuals who did not have the basic understanding of the language for the future-coding—risked losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT) and robotics.
He added that it was not enough to be able to read and write, just as the various curricula in the primary schools have been providing. Instead, there was the need to equip young people with the basic knowledge in coding which would enable the country to have young brains that would be able to build and develop applications that were relevant in solving social problems.
“Being able to read and write is no more enough. You need to be able to code; no matter the roles you play, you would need the ability to know some level of coding to be able to say viable,” he said.
He therefore called the young people to register with the Vodafone coding programme and equip themselves to be able to stay relevant in what he described as “a very complex yet transformative digital world”.
Transformational Agenda
Earlier during the launch, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr. Vincent Sowah Odotei, said in a bid to place the country on a digital roadmap, the government, through the ministry, had partnered the World Bank Group to build an impact hub at the Accra Digital Centre (ADC).
He added that the ministry had also built other Enhanced Community Information Centres (ECICs) in deprived communities across the country. The centres, he said, were aimed at sending technology closer to the people, especially those who had been left out in digital experiences.
Mr. Odotei indicated that aside from equipping young people with skills in technology, the centres also provided capacity building for people with practical training on how to use the new technologies that were coming up.
“The ECICs are also aimed at creating a converging point for those in the community to go there and try their hands on electronic gadgets to feel the exciting digital experience, in addition to the children being taught how to code,” he said.
He stated that the ministry was building ICT centres in the various second cycle institutions in a bid to promote the digital transformation programme.
The programme
The Vodafone National Coding Programme is a nationwide digital programme which seeks to train young people in coding languages to prepare them for the future. The programme is also aimed at preparing people to be able to participate in building applications, websites and other social enhanced technological devices and add on to the growth of the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, Ms Yolanda Cuba, said: “if we have young people who do not have interest in coding, which is a basic language in order to partake in the new technology world, we will fall short in igniting Ghana’s digital revolution.”
She therefore called for dialogue to discuss the pragmatic ways to ensure that the country had an efficient narrative of being the digital hub of West Africa.

Source: graphic.com.gh

Accra, 24 August 2018 - Government has endorsed a National Coding Programme recently launched by Vodafone Ghana to benefit 10,000 Ghanaian youth in the next five years.

The telecommunications company on Friday August 24th, announced that the coding programme is part of a unique strategy to ignite Ghana’s digital revolution.
Globally, digital coders are reshaping the world – disrupting and demystifying previously existing myths in technology and innovation. It has become an empowerment tool; changing the way businesses operate. Vodafone, through the Foundation, is bringing this closer to the Ghanaian youth in every corner of the country in order to equip them to be competitive in the changing global world of technology.

Deputy Communications Minister, Honourable Vincent Sowah-Odotei, speaking at the launch of the programme, said:

“When we can transform the lives of the Ghanaian youth through coding; our future world of technology as a country is in safe hands. It is fulfilling that our youth can get this opportunity to become change makers with coding. Inasmuch as it is comforting for us that Vodafone is taking the lead in this, we want to also pledge that we are committed to ensuring that they will be given flexible room to operate efficiently; imbibing the latest technology and innovation to succeed whilst bringing immense benefits to our youth.”

Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana said:

“We are confident that this initiative will start a revolution that will elevate Ghana from our current normal technological status to a force to be reckoned with in the future. There’s so much coders can do to change the world and today, right here, we are developing the next generation of world changers inspired by Vodafone.”

The programme, which uses Vodafone’s employees as trainers, is targeted at Ghanaian youth aged between 14 and 18 years who have a passion for technological innovation and will typically last for five days in each region.
The Central Region is the next stop for the initiative; beginning on Monday August 27th to 31st at Adisadel College. A total of 50 youth are expected to take part. Interested participants should call 0503635266 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: vodafone.com.gh.

This story from Uganda holds great lessons for Ghana that I believe culling it from the Monitor of Uganda and relating it to the progress we have made in Ghana is very important
Over the last 18months, there has been a consistent attempt by many Governments within Sub Saharan Africa to tax mobile money and other ICT related programs and services.

Well some governments have put their tax thirst into action by the introduction of excise taxes as we have seen imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and the most recent one is Uganda. President Museveni signed into law on June 21st 2018, the Excise Duty Amendement Act 2018, which brought in the place the mobile money tax and an determined extension to social media, also called Over the Top (OTT) tax.

The law passed by the Ugandan parliament, imposed a 1 per cent tax on mobile-money transactions, including depositing, sending, receiving and withdrawal, as well as a daily Ush200 ($0.05) over-the-top tax on social media services.

After pressure from consumers, Kampala dropped three of the four levies it had imposed on mobile money transactions, and now maintains only a 0.5 per cent charge on cash withdrawals.
Impact of Mobile Money
Mobile money contributes to financial inclusion and East Africa is one of the largest mobile money markets, accounting for 56.4 per cent of total users in Sub-Saharan Africa. The service enables more efficient payments for goods and services, reduces the informal economy, creates employment and protects vulnerable segments of society from financial shocks.

The positive externalities of mobile money also drive other sectors, such as agriculture, healthcare and education and many more. In short, there are strong incentives for the Governments to support the growth of mobile money, which is the opposite of what an excise duty is typically designed to achieve. Mobile money has increased financial inclusion, particularly amongst the marginalized segments of society.

The Excise Tax (Taxation)

Excise taxes, such as those imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are typically used to address negative externalities. They are, for example, imposed on tobacco sales to discourage people from smoking and by driving businesses to raise the price of cigarettes. As the mobile sector is associated with overwhelmingly positive externalities, the same rationale cannot and should not apply.
In Tanzania, for example, 46% of mobile money users are below the poverty line. The negative impact of taxing mobile money transactions is likely to fall most heavily on these individuals.

Tax Impact for Uganda

Officials from the Bank of Uganda, this week have called the tax discriminative following their engagement with the Finance Committee on Parliament to update legislators on the performance of the mobile money tax.

The officials explained that the mobile money tax, within the first two weeks of implementation has recorded a decline in mobile money transactions with an associated value loss of $182million.

Director of statistics at the Bank of Uganda, Mr. Charles Abuka explained that comparing June against July performance speaks to the loss impact they have recorded in monetary terms. He further proposed that the tax policy, in general, be reviewed by making it broad-based to encourage sectors that are growth points like mobile money.

“It is not always the case that high taxes helps to generate revenue; it might be the case that when you lower them, you get more advantages that can have positive impacts on government revenue,” Mr Abuka said.

Mobile Network operators and mobile money agents have kicked against the policy since March 2018, citing that the tax will make their business extinct. The CEO of MTN Uganda, Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte has said “the MTN business dropped by 30% following the tax introduction on Mobile Money. Our estimations are that if the existing tax regime remains unchanged, we will continue going down further maybe even 35 per cent or even 40 per cent by the end of the year.”

MTN Uganda has said mobile money agents who number about 150,000 in the country are getting 40% less of what they used to earn, and that they now have to pay a 10% withholding tax, which was not the case before.

Financial experts have said, taxing the movement of money discourages trade and commerce, it discourages the formalization of the economy and it interferes with financial intermediation.

Francis Kamulegeya, a UK trained Chartered Tax Adviser and Certified Public Accountant, has said that the Mobile Money tax undermines the progress and successes made in the country in respect of financial inclusion. It hurts the poorest most, and this is already evident on the basis of the impact the tax has had in just five days. It will result in massive loss of employment, both direct and indirect employment in the mobile money sector, it will discourage people from using mobile money services and it will increase the cost of doing business in Uganda

Conclusion

Lessons from Uganda clearly show consumers have lost trust in the mobile money system and are reverting to banks, or heavy use of cash transactions, which once again deepens the informal economy while discounting gains to enhance financial inclusion.

Mobile Money in many markets in Africa is at a nascent stage despite huge volumes and values recorded by Central Banks. Taxing any of these markets undermines the investment case at a time when mobile operators are already under significant cost pressure to expand networks, improve service quality, and address new regulatory requirements.

Governments will have to explore broad-based alternatives to mobile money taxation as it rather stands to deliver better results. For us in Ghana, this holds great of lessons for us. This is why Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has always advocated caution, that as a people we need to be extremely careful and strategic when it comes to imposing new taxes on these digital services! It validates our school of thought that we should not focus on front-loading taxation but rather on encouraging the use of Mobile Financial Services to engender production and in the long term to grow revenues. It is good that the Ghanaian Government has resisted the temptation to impose taxation on mobile money, OTT or other data services.

I pray that we never end up here where Uganda, Shs672 billion in two weeks, and sacrifice all the hard work that the industry and its regulator Bank of Ghana have built, including Ghana moving to the joint third position with Tanzania who were previously way ahead of Ghana, (World Bank Findex report). If Uganda does not take steps to correct this taxation anomaly Ghana will overtake them in the near future.

It is important that we point to those fixated on taxation of MoMo and other Digital Services to see the Telecom sector rather as a Cash Horse pulling the cart of the economy up the steep hill of development that needs caring for and grooming to unleash its maximum sustainable potential, than a Cash Cow that has to be unsustainably milked to death.
Source: Article written by Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications
http://telecomschamber.com/

Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communication has reiterated government's resolve to extend mobile telephone services to all rural communities across the Country.
She said Ghanaians living in remote communities also deserved to be part of the digitized global community, and that, extending telecommunications infrastructure to those areas was therefore necessary.
Mrs. Ekuful made the observation at Amantia in the Asante-Akim South Municipality, as part of her working visit to the Ashanti Region.
The Minister is in the region to inspect project sites of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) under the Rural Telephony Project (RTP).
She would also acquaint herself with the Community Information Centres (CICs) as well as the School Connectivity Projects, in eight districts in the region.
The Asante-Akim South Municipality has four of the RTPs sites at Amantia, Banka, Bankame-Sunkwa and Gyadam with two CICs at Banso and Obogu.
The Communication Minister said the Ministry through GIFEC was extending mobile telephone services to areas of the country where access were not adequately available.
She said there were areas where licensed operators were unwilling or unable to expand their networks to due to its low commercial viability, adding that, it was the responsibility of government to fill such gaps.
The objective of the RTP, she noted, was to achieve 100 per cent mobile telephone service coverage throughout the country and to increase telephone subscribership to as many citizens as possible.
She said the provision of computers under the School Connectivity Project would facilitate Information Communication Technology (ICT) studies, which was critical to quality education.
Hopeful that the project would help raise standard of education in the area, she urged beneficiary schools to arrange with schools in surrounding communities to also use the facility as a means of reaching out to more pupils.
Mr. Abraham Kofi Asante, the Administrator of GIFEC, said a total of 100 RTP sites had been completed across the country with 29 located in the Ashanti Region.
He said the second phase would see the construction of 200 sites, out of which 30 would be in the Ashanti Region.
Osabarima Tweampomah III, Chief of Banka, commended government for the project, which he said, was a laudable intervention that had addressed many years of communication challenges.

Source: GNA

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey has called on the government to include coding as a subject in the school curricula.
According to him, coding, which is the language of technology has become the order of the new digital age; hence the need for the people to know about it at an early stage in life.
Mr. Ashigbey made the call in an interview after the launch of the Vodafone National Coding Programme in Accra last Friday.
The programme is to provide hands-on training for 10,000 young people in coding across the country.
Mr. Ashigbey said companies and individuals who did not have the basic understanding of the language for the future-coding—risked losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT) and robotics.
He added that it was not enough to be able to read and write, just as the various curricula in the primary schools have been providing. Instead, there was the need to equip young people with the basic knowledge in coding which would enable the country to have young brains that would be able to build and develop applications that were relevant in solving social problems.
“Being able to read and write is no more enough. You need to be able to code; no matter the roles you play, you would need the ability to know some level of coding to be able to say viable,” he said.
He therefore called the young people to register with the Vodafone coding programme and equip themselves to be able to stay relevant in what he described as “a very complex yet transformative digital world”.
Transformational Agenda
Earlier during the launch, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr. Vincent Sowah Odotei, said in a bid to place the country on a digital roadmap, the government, through the ministry, had partnered the World Bank Group to build an impact hub at the Accra Digital Centre (ADC).
He added that the ministry had also built other Enhanced Community Information Centres (ECICs) in deprived communities across the country. The centres, he said, were aimed at sending technology closer to the people, especially those who had been left out in digital experiences.
Mr. Odotei indicated that aside from equipping young people with skills in technology, the centres also provided capacity building for people with practical training on how to use the new technologies that were coming up.
“The ECICs are also aimed at creating a converging point for those in the community to go there and try their hands on electronic gadgets to feel the exciting digital experience, in addition to the children being taught how to code,” he said.
He stated that the ministry was building ICT centres in the various second cycle institutions in a bid to promote the digital transformation programme.
The programme
The Vodafone National Coding Programme is a nationwide digital programme which seeks to train young people in coding languages to prepare them for the future. The programme is also aimed at preparing people to be able to participate in building applications, websites and other social enhanced technological devices and add on to the growth of the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, Ms Yolanda Cuba, said: “if we have young people who do not have interest in coding, which is a basic language in order to partake in the new technology world, we will fall short in igniting Ghana’s digital revolution.”
She therefore called for dialogue to discuss the pragmatic ways to ensure that the country had an efficient narrative of being the digital hub of West Africa.

Source: graphic.com.gh

Accra, 24 August 2018 - Government has endorsed a National Coding Programme recently launched by Vodafone Ghana to benefit 10,000 Ghanaian youth in the next five years.

The telecommunications company on Friday August 24th, announced that the coding programme is part of a unique strategy to ignite Ghana’s digital revolution.
Globally, digital coders are reshaping the world – disrupting and demystifying previously existing myths in technology and innovation. It has become an empowerment tool; changing the way businesses operate. Vodafone, through the Foundation, is bringing this closer to the Ghanaian youth in every corner of the country in order to equip them to be competitive in the changing global world of technology.

Deputy Communications Minister, Honourable Vincent Sowah-Odotei, speaking at the launch of the programme, said:

“When we can transform the lives of the Ghanaian youth through coding; our future world of technology as a country is in safe hands. It is fulfilling that our youth can get this opportunity to become change makers with coding. Inasmuch as it is comforting for us that Vodafone is taking the lead in this, we want to also pledge that we are committed to ensuring that they will be given flexible room to operate efficiently; imbibing the latest technology and innovation to succeed whilst bringing immense benefits to our youth.”

Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana said:

“We are confident that this initiative will start a revolution that will elevate Ghana from our current normal technological status to a force to be reckoned with in the future. There’s so much coders can do to change the world and today, right here, we are developing the next generation of world changers inspired by Vodafone.”

The programme, which uses Vodafone’s employees as trainers, is targeted at Ghanaian youth aged between 14 and 18 years who have a passion for technological innovation and will typically last for five days in each region.
The Central Region is the next stop for the initiative; beginning on Monday August 27th to 31st at Adisadel College. A total of 50 youth are expected to take part. Interested participants should call 0503635266 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: vodafone.com.gh.

This story from Uganda holds great lessons for Ghana that I believe culling it from the Monitor of Uganda and relating it to the progress we have made in Ghana is very important
Over the last 18months, there has been a consistent attempt by many Governments within Sub Saharan Africa to tax mobile money and other ICT related programs and services.

Well some governments have put their tax thirst into action by the introduction of excise taxes as we have seen imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and the most recent one is Uganda. President Museveni signed into law on June 21st 2018, the Excise Duty Amendement Act 2018, which brought in the place the mobile money tax and an determined extension to social media, also called Over the Top (OTT) tax.

The law passed by the Ugandan parliament, imposed a 1 per cent tax on mobile-money transactions, including depositing, sending, receiving and withdrawal, as well as a daily Ush200 ($0.05) over-the-top tax on social media services.

After pressure from consumers, Kampala dropped three of the four levies it had imposed on mobile money transactions, and now maintains only a 0.5 per cent charge on cash withdrawals.
Impact of Mobile Money
Mobile money contributes to financial inclusion and East Africa is one of the largest mobile money markets, accounting for 56.4 per cent of total users in Sub-Saharan Africa. The service enables more efficient payments for goods and services, reduces the informal economy, creates employment and protects vulnerable segments of society from financial shocks.

The positive externalities of mobile money also drive other sectors, such as agriculture, healthcare and education and many more. In short, there are strong incentives for the Governments to support the growth of mobile money, which is the opposite of what an excise duty is typically designed to achieve. Mobile money has increased financial inclusion, particularly amongst the marginalized segments of society.

The Excise Tax (Taxation)

Excise taxes, such as those imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are typically used to address negative externalities. They are, for example, imposed on tobacco sales to discourage people from smoking and by driving businesses to raise the price of cigarettes. As the mobile sector is associated with overwhelmingly positive externalities, the same rationale cannot and should not apply.
In Tanzania, for example, 46% of mobile money users are below the poverty line. The negative impact of taxing mobile money transactions is likely to fall most heavily on these individuals.

Tax Impact for Uganda

Officials from the Bank of Uganda, this week have called the tax discriminative following their engagement with the Finance Committee on Parliament to update legislators on the performance of the mobile money tax.

The officials explained that the mobile money tax, within the first two weeks of implementation has recorded a decline in mobile money transactions with an associated value loss of $182million.

Director of statistics at the Bank of Uganda, Mr. Charles Abuka explained that comparing June against July performance speaks to the loss impact they have recorded in monetary terms. He further proposed that the tax policy, in general, be reviewed by making it broad-based to encourage sectors that are growth points like mobile money.

“It is not always the case that high taxes helps to generate revenue; it might be the case that when you lower them, you get more advantages that can have positive impacts on government revenue,” Mr Abuka said.

Mobile Network operators and mobile money agents have kicked against the policy since March 2018, citing that the tax will make their business extinct. The CEO of MTN Uganda, Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte has said “the MTN business dropped by 30% following the tax introduction on Mobile Money. Our estimations are that if the existing tax regime remains unchanged, we will continue going down further maybe even 35 per cent or even 40 per cent by the end of the year.”

MTN Uganda has said mobile money agents who number about 150,000 in the country are getting 40% less of what they used to earn, and that they now have to pay a 10% withholding tax, which was not the case before.

Financial experts have said, taxing the movement of money discourages trade and commerce, it discourages the formalization of the economy and it interferes with financial intermediation.

Francis Kamulegeya, a UK trained Chartered Tax Adviser and Certified Public Accountant, has said that the Mobile Money tax undermines the progress and successes made in the country in respect of financial inclusion. It hurts the poorest most, and this is already evident on the basis of the impact the tax has had in just five days. It will result in massive loss of employment, both direct and indirect employment in the mobile money sector, it will discourage people from using mobile money services and it will increase the cost of doing business in Uganda

Conclusion

Lessons from Uganda clearly show consumers have lost trust in the mobile money system and are reverting to banks, or heavy use of cash transactions, which once again deepens the informal economy while discounting gains to enhance financial inclusion.

Mobile Money in many markets in Africa is at a nascent stage despite huge volumes and values recorded by Central Banks. Taxing any of these markets undermines the investment case at a time when mobile operators are already under significant cost pressure to expand networks, improve service quality, and address new regulatory requirements.

Governments will have to explore broad-based alternatives to mobile money taxation as it rather stands to deliver better results. For us in Ghana, this holds great of lessons for us. This is why Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has always advocated caution, that as a people we need to be extremely careful and strategic when it comes to imposing new taxes on these digital services! It validates our school of thought that we should not focus on front-loading taxation but rather on encouraging the use of Mobile Financial Services to engender production and in the long term to grow revenues. It is good that the Ghanaian Government has resisted the temptation to impose taxation on mobile money, OTT or other data services.

I pray that we never end up here where Uganda, Shs672 billion in two weeks, and sacrifice all the hard work that the industry and its regulator Bank of Ghana have built, including Ghana moving to the joint third position with Tanzania who were previously way ahead of Ghana, (World Bank Findex report). If Uganda does not take steps to correct this taxation anomaly Ghana will overtake them in the near future.

It is important that we point to those fixated on taxation of MoMo and other Digital Services to see the Telecom sector rather as a Cash Horse pulling the cart of the economy up the steep hill of development that needs caring for and grooming to unleash its maximum sustainable potential, than a Cash Cow that has to be unsustainably milked to death.
Source: Article written by Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications
http://telecomschamber.com/

Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communication has reiterated government's resolve to extend mobile telephone services to all rural communities across the Country.
She said Ghanaians living in remote communities also deserved to be part of the digitized global community, and that, extending telecommunications infrastructure to those areas was therefore necessary.
Mrs. Ekuful made the observation at Amantia in the Asante-Akim South Municipality, as part of her working visit to the Ashanti Region.
The Minister is in the region to inspect project sites of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) under the Rural Telephony Project (RTP).
She would also acquaint herself with the Community Information Centres (CICs) as well as the School Connectivity Projects, in eight districts in the region.
The Asante-Akim South Municipality has four of the RTPs sites at Amantia, Banka, Bankame-Sunkwa and Gyadam with two CICs at Banso and Obogu.
The Communication Minister said the Ministry through GIFEC was extending mobile telephone services to areas of the country where access were not adequately available.
She said there were areas where licensed operators were unwilling or unable to expand their networks to due to its low commercial viability, adding that, it was the responsibility of government to fill such gaps.
The objective of the RTP, she noted, was to achieve 100 per cent mobile telephone service coverage throughout the country and to increase telephone subscribership to as many citizens as possible.
She said the provision of computers under the School Connectivity Project would facilitate Information Communication Technology (ICT) studies, which was critical to quality education.
Hopeful that the project would help raise standard of education in the area, she urged beneficiary schools to arrange with schools in surrounding communities to also use the facility as a means of reaching out to more pupils.
Mr. Abraham Kofi Asante, the Administrator of GIFEC, said a total of 100 RTP sites had been completed across the country with 29 located in the Ashanti Region.
He said the second phase would see the construction of 200 sites, out of which 30 would be in the Ashanti Region.
Osabarima Tweampomah III, Chief of Banka, commended government for the project, which he said, was a laudable intervention that had addressed many years of communication challenges.

Source: GNA

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey has called on the government to include coding as a subject in the school curricula.
According to him, coding, which is the language of technology has become the order of the new digital age; hence the need for the people to know about it at an early stage in life.
Mr. Ashigbey made the call in an interview after the launch of the Vodafone National Coding Programme in Accra last Friday.
The programme is to provide hands-on training for 10,000 young people in coding across the country.
Mr. Ashigbey said companies and individuals who did not have the basic understanding of the language for the future-coding—risked losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT) and robotics.
He added that it was not enough to be able to read and write, just as the various curricula in the primary schools have been providing. Instead, there was the need to equip young people with the basic knowledge in coding which would enable the country to have young brains that would be able to build and develop applications that were relevant in solving social problems.
“Being able to read and write is no more enough. You need to be able to code; no matter the roles you play, you would need the ability to know some level of coding to be able to say viable,” he said.
He therefore called the young people to register with the Vodafone coding programme and equip themselves to be able to stay relevant in what he described as “a very complex yet transformative digital world”.
Transformational Agenda
Earlier during the launch, a Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr. Vincent Sowah Odotei, said in a bid to place the country on a digital roadmap, the government, through the ministry, had partnered the World Bank Group to build an impact hub at the Accra Digital Centre (ADC).
He added that the ministry had also built other Enhanced Community Information Centres (ECICs) in deprived communities across the country. The centres, he said, were aimed at sending technology closer to the people, especially those who had been left out in digital experiences.
Mr. Odotei indicated that aside from equipping young people with skills in technology, the centres also provided capacity building for people with practical training on how to use the new technologies that were coming up.
“The ECICs are also aimed at creating a converging point for those in the community to go there and try their hands on electronic gadgets to feel the exciting digital experience, in addition to the children being taught how to code,” he said.
He stated that the ministry was building ICT centres in the various second cycle institutions in a bid to promote the digital transformation programme.
The programme
The Vodafone National Coding Programme is a nationwide digital programme which seeks to train young people in coding languages to prepare them for the future. The programme is also aimed at preparing people to be able to participate in building applications, websites and other social enhanced technological devices and add on to the growth of the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, Ms Yolanda Cuba, said: “if we have young people who do not have interest in coding, which is a basic language in order to partake in the new technology world, we will fall short in igniting Ghana’s digital revolution.”
She therefore called for dialogue to discuss the pragmatic ways to ensure that the country had an efficient narrative of being the digital hub of West Africa.

Source: graphic.com.gh

Accra, 24 August 2018 - Government has endorsed a National Coding Programme recently launched by Vodafone Ghana to benefit 10,000 Ghanaian youth in the next five years.

The telecommunications company on Friday August 24th, announced that the coding programme is part of a unique strategy to ignite Ghana’s digital revolution.
Globally, digital coders are reshaping the world – disrupting and demystifying previously existing myths in technology and innovation. It has become an empowerment tool; changing the way businesses operate. Vodafone, through the Foundation, is bringing this closer to the Ghanaian youth in every corner of the country in order to equip them to be competitive in the changing global world of technology.

Deputy Communications Minister, Honourable Vincent Sowah-Odotei, speaking at the launch of the programme, said:

“When we can transform the lives of the Ghanaian youth through coding; our future world of technology as a country is in safe hands. It is fulfilling that our youth can get this opportunity to become change makers with coding. Inasmuch as it is comforting for us that Vodafone is taking the lead in this, we want to also pledge that we are committed to ensuring that they will be given flexible room to operate efficiently; imbibing the latest technology and innovation to succeed whilst bringing immense benefits to our youth.”

Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana said:

“We are confident that this initiative will start a revolution that will elevate Ghana from our current normal technological status to a force to be reckoned with in the future. There’s so much coders can do to change the world and today, right here, we are developing the next generation of world changers inspired by Vodafone.”

The programme, which uses Vodafone’s employees as trainers, is targeted at Ghanaian youth aged between 14 and 18 years who have a passion for technological innovation and will typically last for five days in each region.
The Central Region is the next stop for the initiative; beginning on Monday August 27th to 31st at Adisadel College. A total of 50 youth are expected to take part. Interested participants should call 0503635266 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Source: vodafone.com.gh.

This story from Uganda holds great lessons for Ghana that I believe culling it from the Monitor of Uganda and relating it to the progress we have made in Ghana is very important
Over the last 18months, there has been a consistent attempt by many Governments within Sub Saharan Africa to tax mobile money and other ICT related programs and services.

Well some governments have put their tax thirst into action by the introduction of excise taxes as we have seen imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and the most recent one is Uganda. President Museveni signed into law on June 21st 2018, the Excise Duty Amendement Act 2018, which brought in the place the mobile money tax and an determined extension to social media, also called Over the Top (OTT) tax.

The law passed by the Ugandan parliament, imposed a 1 per cent tax on mobile-money transactions, including depositing, sending, receiving and withdrawal, as well as a daily Ush200 ($0.05) over-the-top tax on social media services.

After pressure from consumers, Kampala dropped three of the four levies it had imposed on mobile money transactions, and now maintains only a 0.5 per cent charge on cash withdrawals.
Impact of Mobile Money
Mobile money contributes to financial inclusion and East Africa is one of the largest mobile money markets, accounting for 56.4 per cent of total users in Sub-Saharan Africa. The service enables more efficient payments for goods and services, reduces the informal economy, creates employment and protects vulnerable segments of society from financial shocks.

The positive externalities of mobile money also drive other sectors, such as agriculture, healthcare and education and many more. In short, there are strong incentives for the Governments to support the growth of mobile money, which is the opposite of what an excise duty is typically designed to achieve. Mobile money has increased financial inclusion, particularly amongst the marginalized segments of society.

The Excise Tax (Taxation)

Excise taxes, such as those imposed in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are typically used to address negative externalities. They are, for example, imposed on tobacco sales to discourage people from smoking and by driving businesses to raise the price of cigarettes. As the mobile sector is associated with overwhelmingly positive externalities, the same rationale cannot and should not apply.
In Tanzania, for example, 46% of mobile money users are below the poverty line. The negative impact of taxing mobile money transactions is likely to fall most heavily on these individuals.

Tax Impact for Uganda

Officials from the Bank of Uganda, this week have called the tax discriminative following their engagement with the Finance Committee on Parliament to update legislators on the performance of the mobile money tax.

The officials explained that the mobile money tax, within the first two weeks of implementation has recorded a decline in mobile money transactions with an associated value loss of $182million.

Director of statistics at the Bank of Uganda, Mr. Charles Abuka explained that comparing June against July performance speaks to the loss impact they have recorded in monetary terms. He further proposed that the tax policy, in general, be reviewed by making it broad-based to encourage sectors that are growth points like mobile money.

“It is not always the case that high taxes helps to generate revenue; it might be the case that when you lower them, you get more advantages that can have positive impacts on government revenue,” Mr Abuka said.

Mobile Network operators and mobile money agents have kicked against the policy since March 2018, citing that the tax will make their business extinct. The CEO of MTN Uganda, Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte has said “the MTN business dropped by 30% following the tax introduction on Mobile Money. Our estimations are that if the existing tax regime remains unchanged, we will continue going down further maybe even 35 per cent or even 40 per cent by the end of the year.”

MTN Uganda has said mobile money agents who number about 150,000 in the country are getting 40% less of what they used to earn, and that they now have to pay a 10% withholding tax, which was not the case before.

Financial experts have said, taxing the movement of money discourages trade and commerce, it discourages the formalization of the economy and it interferes with financial intermediation.

Francis Kamulegeya, a UK trained Chartered Tax Adviser and Certified Public Accountant, has said that the Mobile Money tax undermines the progress and successes made in the country in respect of financial inclusion. It hurts the poorest most, and this is already evident on the basis of the impact the tax has had in just five days. It will result in massive loss of employment, both direct and indirect employment in the mobile money sector, it will discourage people from using mobile money services and it will increase the cost of doing business in Uganda

Conclusion

Lessons from Uganda clearly show consumers have lost trust in the mobile money system and are reverting to banks, or heavy use of cash transactions, which once again deepens the informal economy while discounting gains to enhance financial inclusion.

Mobile Money in many markets in Africa is at a nascent stage despite huge volumes and values recorded by Central Banks. Taxing any of these markets undermines the investment case at a time when mobile operators are already under significant cost pressure to expand networks, improve service quality, and address new regulatory requirements.

Governments will have to explore broad-based alternatives to mobile money taxation as it rather stands to deliver better results. For us in Ghana, this holds great of lessons for us. This is why Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has always advocated caution, that as a people we need to be extremely careful and strategic when it comes to imposing new taxes on these digital services! It validates our school of thought that we should not focus on front-loading taxation but rather on encouraging the use of Mobile Financial Services to engender production and in the long term to grow revenues. It is good that the Ghanaian Government has resisted the temptation to impose taxation on mobile money, OTT or other data services.

I pray that we never end up here where Uganda, Shs672 billion in two weeks, and sacrifice all the hard work that the industry and its regulator Bank of Ghana have built, including Ghana moving to the joint third position with Tanzania who were previously way ahead of Ghana, (World Bank Findex report). If Uganda does not take steps to correct this taxation anomaly Ghana will overtake them in the near future.

It is important that we point to those fixated on taxation of MoMo and other Digital Services to see the Telecom sector rather as a Cash Horse pulling the cart of the economy up the steep hill of development that needs caring for and grooming to unleash its maximum sustainable potential, than a Cash Cow that has to be unsustainably milked to death.
Source: Article written by Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications
http://telecomschamber.com/