The event came about whilst researching an article on telecoms in Ghana,it became clear to me there was no opportunity for Industry, regulators and government to discuss issues with other stakeholders in a public forum.

The summit is in its second year and has managed to capture the attention of all the key players in the sector. I will write a full update of the summit to be published in the next edition of Mobile World Magazine.

The one thing that struck me this year was the impact of Government policy, three years ago Ghana didn’t have a “tower” industry, thanks to legislation by the government there are three major tower companies making healthy profits, contributing to the economy and creating jobs for Ghanaians.

This little example illustrates the effect of what a thinking and sensible Government can achieve. To read more about the Ghana Telecom Summit & Awards, get the next copy of Mobile World Magazine.

Tony Burkson(Former Editor-Mobile World Magazine), Hon. Haruna Iddrissu(Min. Of Communications- Ghana, & Akin Naphtal (Publisher- Mobile World Magazine)

Ghanaian’s all over the world have taken to social media platforms and radio shows to talk about their pride in Ghana and to celebrate some of its greatest achievements since independence, but herein lies the question..what exactly has Ghana achieved in the last 55 years?

One of the most mentioned achievements of Ghana is the fact it remains one of the few African countries to enjoy successful and peaceful democratic transfer of power from one party to another, that this is celebrated as an achievement says a lot about where Ghana is decade’s after independence.

Being the most democratic country in Africa shouldn’t be an achievement, compared to the dismal record of democratic transition in Africa Ghana stands tall, having managed to change governments peacefully five times, this however seems like such a low bar to judge a country in the 21st Century

Ghanaian’s have somehow been convinced that the fact they have democracy is an achievement in itself, however look deeper and suddenly the benefits of this is not so clear ,has democracy improved the livelihoods of the average Ghanaian? Has democracy increased the life expectancy of Ghanaian’s, has democracy improved the health outcomes of Ghanaian’s, has democracy meant an increase in literacy rates in Ghana.

The realization that the answers to the questions above are either a flat out No, or not very much suddenly makes celebration of Ghana’s democratic credentials rather hollow. In 1957 when Ghana obtained independence from Britain, its economy and prospects where very similar to South Korea, fifty-five years on the difference between the two countries is stark .

From the Marxism of Nkrumah to the confusion of the Rawlings era to the current mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy, the country has moved from one crisis to another, relying on bail outs from the Russians, then the Americans, the World Bank, IMF and now the Chinese.

Graph comparing Life Expectancy between South Korea and Ghana since 1957
The table above speaks for it self, South Korea which had a life expectancy of around 50 years at the time of independence has managed to increase it to 80 years, Ghana on the other hand only managed to increase its life expectancy from 45 years at independence to about 60 years now, the reasons for this are easy to fathom, a chronic lack of investment in Health infrastructure. The three main hospitals were all built in the 1960’s.

Korle-Bu hospital built by Ghana’s first president still remains the main hospital in the capital Accra, in the last 55 years Ghana has been unable to build any new major hospitals, the few private hospitals that have cropped up will at the first sign of trouble refer patients to the main hospital at Korle-Bu. As a result the ruling elites and the wealthy always end up in London, the US or South Africa when they need serious medical intervention, a sad indictment on those who run the country.

On other health indicators the difference is much more marked, when comparing maternal deaths,child mortality rates etc Ghana is is woefully behind South Korea. Why did the paths of these two seemingly similar countries diverge so much in the last 55 years.

The Economy

Graph comparing GDP/percapita – South Korea & Ghana since 1957

The table clearly shows both Ghana and South Korea had comparable levels of GDP/per capita and similar growth prospects in 1957, however whilst South Korea went on to pursue free market economics and liberalized it economy,Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah and later several military leaders pursued Socialist & Marxist policies which inevitably failed.

Leading to many bailouts and bankruptcy’s until the final humiliation, the country was forced to sign up for debt relief under the “Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative” (HIPC). How can a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources still need development aid five decades after achieving self rule?

Ghana has had some successes in reducing child mortality, HIV prevalence and improving educational standards. However on the whole I fail to see what exactly there is to celebrate.

Anybody who follows the politics of Ghana will agree with me on the low level of discourse and the lack of any real policy discussion, Ghanaian politics has been reduced to personal insults with daily radio call in shows where people call in to slate each others views, on a recent business trip to Ghana, a Nigerian friend remarked “Do Ghanaian’s not have anything else to do other than calling radio shows to insult each others’ political parties?”

This is a country that has been badly let down by its ruling elite, this once proud nation has been run to the ground and deprived of its identity. Ghanaian presidents are reduced to traveling to capitals in the West and China with begging bowls to raise money, whilst multinational companies flout basic environmental rules, abuse the tax system and pay hardly any royalties to the state.

I fail to see what there is to celebrate,so much blood was shed in the battle for independence only for it to be wasted so a few people can amass huge wealth and deposit it abroad.

Only when we have a country where every child has access to good quality education till they are 18, pregnant mothers are not dying needlessly, an economy that’s working for everybody and not just the rich, should we celebrate our independence.

Until then, as my mother used to say “Shut-up and go back to work”.

Corruption is a human condition and can be found in most places when one person is buying or selling to another.

Some of the biggest corruption scandals have happened in the West, the Abramoff  lobbying Scandal in the US, The BAE/Saudi bribery scandal and many more.

“ One mans bribery is another mans Consultancy fee”

Economists far cleverer than myself have difficulty agreeing on whether Corruption has a positive or negative impact on countries, there are those like  Leff(1964), Huntington(1968), Frederich(1972) and Nye(1967) who argue that corruption has the effect of greasing the wheels of Business and Commerce thereby facilitating Economic growth and Investment, this is sometimes referred to as “The efficiency enhancing approach”

Other Economists suggest Corruption has an “efficiency reducing impact” on the Economy, McMullan(1961),Shliefer & Vishny(1993), Tanzi & Davoodi(1997) argue that Corruption hinders economic growth and distorts the allocation of resources, thereby having a negative impact on the Economy.

The Economist recently produced a interesting a graph plotting Transparency Internationals’ Corruption index against the UN’s Human Development Index..

Here is what the Economist had to say :

Comparing the corruption index with the UN’s Human Development Index (a measure combining health, wealth and education), demonstrates an interesting connection. When the corruption index is between approximately 2.0 and 4.0 there appears to be little relationship with the human development index, but as it rises beyond 4.0 a stronger connection can be seen. Outliers include small but well-run poorer countries such as Bhutan and Cape Verde, while Greece and Italy stand out among the richer countries

What exactly does the Corruption perception index cover?  Transparency International  says :

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories according to their perceived levels of public sector corruption. It is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption, making it possible to compare countries.
The 2011 index draws on assessments and opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions. These surveys and assessments include questions related to the bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, and the effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption efforts. Perceptions are used because corruption is to a great extent a hidden activity that is difficult to measure. Over time, perceptions have proved to be a reliable estimate of corruption.

Would this index change if Transparency International included the impact of lobbying in decision making by Governments. In the US and much of the West  Government Policy is driven by lobbyists. Companies spend billions of dollars hiring lobbying firms to influence policy in their favor.

In the US, Congressmen, Senators and even the President rely on contributions from Private companies in order to get elected, do these contributions have any impact on the decisions these officials make once in Government?

An anecdote :

A British company  wanted the Energy  Minister of an African country to authorize  the State run Electricity company to collaborate with the company to  introduce a broadband service that would run along the power-lines owned by the State, there was no cost to the state whatsoever, however the Minister insisted on $50,000 before he would act. The company rightly refused and took their business to another country.

A British company working in the developing world contributed almost £40,000 to the office/campaign of the UK minister in charge of International Development, when this company found themselves in trouble in one of the African Countries they operated in they contacted the minister. The company had been banned because its agents had been caught breaking the laws of the host country, however after the UK Minister had a quiet word with the Vice President of the host country, the ban was immediately rescinded.

Both of these anecdotes are true,  Is the second scenario any less corrupt than the first one?

Nelson Mandela may not have been President for a long time, but what he represents to all Africans is greater than any other leader on the so called  Dark Continent.

I remember watching the TV in  1994 as an 11 yer old, after he won the election, this song brings back strong memories from that that era, and I’m grateful for the chance to go back to what was a great moment in the battle against Colonialism & Racism

I’m reminded of the great saying “One mans’ Freedom Fighter is another mans’ Terrorist”  after all British Prime Minister at the time Margaret Thatcher described Nelson Mandela as a Terrorist.

Enjoy!!!

Why TDD and why now? For far too long the debate on how to move the so called Third world into middle income status has been monopolised by those working in the Development Industrial Complex.

Whilst these actors may have genuine belief in the work they do, their successes over the last 60 years is  difficult to pin down, however looking at the likes of China, India and Brazil  the role of technology in changing their fortunes is well documented.

For those of us interested in Technology espeacially Mobile Technology this is an exciting time to be alive, and as an African there’s probably only one field where one can confidently say the continent is slightly ahead of the rest of the world -innovation in the mobile space is happening at break neck speed and I have to confess its great to be involved in this space.

Whether its in the field of Health, Agriculture, Finance or Entertainment, African mobile developers are building real and relevant applications for people on the continent.

Thanks to Esoko farmers in many African Countries are able to find out the market prices of food & commodities before deciding whether to take their products to market.

In Nigeria fake drugs cause over 100,000 deaths every year- a simple mobile application created by an African company called Sproxil allows consumers to check whether the drugs they have bought is counterfeit or not.

Kenyan  developers have built the Ushahidi platform to allow the collection and mapping of information from a wide range of sources, this application is particularly relevant in distaster situations, political elections etc. There are many other great applications being built by developers on the continent.

This bodes well for the continent, as most economists agree that Technology is arguably the best predictor of Long Term Economic growth, which is why the over-excitement about Africas’ economic growth is misplaced, because currently a lot of that growth comes from the unsustainable commodity boom rather than technological advances.

Unless we see Africans making and selling things to the world whether its expertise in Mobile Application development or some other technology inspired product the reliance on commodities will continue to hamper real development.

I have been involved in organising Africa focused Tech events for a while now, and I’m always amazed by the ingenuity and sheer brilliance of some of the  projects I’ve come across, but more often than not the people involved in these projects lack the nous or contacts to make their projects commercially viable.

Lets take for example M-Pesa which remains the most succesful M-Commerce application not just in Africa but probably in the world, journalists always use M-Pesa to talk up the African technology space however this is simply not right. M-Pesa was initiated and built by British developers in Cambride with the backing of DFID & Vodafone, the $15million dollars per annum  that M-Pesa generates goes directly to Vodafone/Safaricom coffers, so whilst we may celebrate M-Pesa as an African achievement the figures tell a totally different story.

Where are the real “African” success stories? Commercially viable and profitable Technology companies run by Africans? Where are the Zuckerbergs, the Dorseys and so on of Africa?

Whilst moderating the recent Mobile Apps Ghana Showcase, one thing which stood out to me was the need for  business mentoring amongst the young developers and Entrepreneurs, some of these kids have great ideas and have managed to build fantastic applications, but the last bit of the puzzle -commercialising and actually making money out of their work is where a lot of them are found to be wanting.

The need for already established Technologists and Entrepreneurs in Africa to actively involve themselves in the many Incubators springing up across the African continent can not be overestimated, also Governments across the continent need to take a serious look at their ICT policies, a succesful ICT policy will involve more than giving a laptop to each student in school.

The future is bright for the next generation of Africans,as more people get access to technology we will see a radical improvement of the fortunes of the people on the Continent

Do you know of a commercially succesful African technology company  ? Share a link on here and perhaps we can start a directory of these companies and help promote their work to the rest of the world. I would love to hear the opinions of those on the ground, have I got it wrong? How can we push and drive Technology as means to  drive growth and Development in Africa?

The inaugural Mobile Apps Ghana Showcase(#MAGS2011), scheduled for Accra in a months time, has attracted large international and African companies making it one of the biggest Information Communication Technology (ICT) events in West Africa.

Managing Director for organisers Mobile Consortium Ghana,Josiakh K. Eyison told Mobile World Magazine that global giants such as InMobi, Tigo, and many more yet to be announced would participate.

Eyison said among other top local and international mobile and IT company representatives to grace the event are officials from NandiMobile, Hutspace, Esoko, Dealeazy and many more

“The event is gathering a lot of momentum,” said Eyison.

Speakers lined up for the event include InMobi Mobile Evangelist Ankit Rawal ,Monty Munford a Mobile Content and Strategy Consultant who also writes for publications such as The Telegraph and TechCrunch, and Dorothy K Gordon the Director General of the Kofi Annan Centre of ICT – an ICT hub that trains technologists in Ghana

Mobile Apps Ghana Showcase(#MAGS2011) is expected to witness over six and a half hours of presentations and networking.The event will be held on 24th of September

This is a must-attend for anyone working in or looking to do business in West Africas’ Mobile Industry

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The hope amongst the 100 or so delegates at the 4th Africa Gathering event held at the offices of the Guardian Newspaper was that Technology & Social Media can play a role in fixing the issues and problems that blights the continent.Some might argue that this is unbridled Idealism of the Wilsonian sort, I for one believe that Technology Driven Development coupled with strong leadership, good governance and pro-business policies is the only hope that Africa has to achieve its aims of moving its people from poverty to an acceptable standard of living.

Currently in its fourth year Africa Gathering is the brainchild of Ed Scotcher and Mariemme Jamme, with their passion for Africa and development the event has gone from strength to strength, with events taking place in Washington, Accra,Nairobi and London.

Marieme Jamme, Emmanuel Jal & Ed Scotcher

Deviating from previous events where the agenda has been driven by people from all over the world sharing their Africa focused projects, yesterday’s event focused mainly around the impact of Social Media on
Development and Governance in Africa. As a regular at these kind of conferences I’m used to usually being
the only other African in the room or one of a few,however on this occasion there was a good representation of Africans in the Diaspora,however the majority of  delegates as always were Europeans working for NGO’s, Consultancies and others parts of  the “Development Industrial Complex”.

Africans and Europeans Gathered

Discussions centred around  amongst other things the need to help Africans generate their own content, the role that Social Media is playing in bringing forward the voices of the previously unheard through mediums such as  Twitter,Facebook and free blogging platforms.There were presentations from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The BBC Africa Have Your Say Team, the All Africa News website and a host of other interesting organisations all using the latest new media tools to promote interaction  with a young African audience keen for their voice to be heard.

What made this particular gathering stand out from previous ones I have attended was the passion demonstrated by the delegates (mostly the Africans in the hall), led by the talented, formidable and sometimes rambunctious Marieme Jamme. This educated, articulate and well reasoned group werent going to sit down and accept whatever  was being put forward by the speakers, they constantly challenged some of the notions and ideas that were being spouted.

One such intervention which I found quite interesting was a gentleman who called out the Panel and some of the speakers for talking about Africa as if it was one country, his point which I couldnt agree with more, was that different eco-systems existed in Africa and the idea we could all sit in a cozy office in London and put together plans to help Africans use social media was rather naieve.

The Guardian Global Development platform which hosted the event was also called out for its one sided coverage on the Development/Aid debate, with the Community Manager agreeing on the need for  other views to be shared on the platform, one looks forward to reading pieces from the likes of Douglas Carswell MP, Dambisa Moyo, Bill Easterly, Prof. Stephen Booth  and others who have different views on the Development debate than  those espoused by the likes of Madeline Bunting and Jonathan Glennie who happen to be regulars on the Guardian Global Development blog.

The climax of of the event however was the ambush of the  Communications Director from the Africa Progress Panel, having been invited to share with delegates how the Africa Progress Panel was using Digital media to promote its work in Africa, she met a rather hostile reception from sections of the audience led once again by Mariem Jamme. They made their views on “Panels” (e.g Africa Progress Panel, The Elders etc etc)very clear, put succintly; They are waste of time and hardly achieve anything. It was interesting to see Kofi Annan, the darling of most Africans being criticized for his role on the African Progress Panel, Bob Geldof, Tony Blair and others also came in for harsh criticisms for their role in  Africa.

Delegates at Conference

The anger amongst Africans in the Diaspora and even young Africans on the continent at their leaders is very palpable, people feel let down by their leadership and its rare to hear anybody say a good word about an African President or Prime Minister. Most Africans it seems now blame their leaders for their plight not Colonialism or Slavery or any other made-up reasons that African leaders like to parrot. This anger can be felt on Twitter,Facebook and numerous blogs springing up all over the web. This generation of Africans are not going to make the mistakes of their parents who accepted wholeheartedly the assertions cast by the African leaders of the time, that all their problems could be traced to the Whiteman. There is an element of armchair-revolutionarism about all of this, however the revolution has to start somewhere.

Events like Africa Gathering help to reinforce the belief that Africans should hold their leadership to account, I interacted with many Africans during the event who all shared very similar views i.e the problems facing the continent will not and cannot be solved by Aid or money from the West but a radical reform in the way Africa is governed. This new state of mind bodes well for the development of the Continent, and with the help of Technology, Mobiles and Social Media a growing mass of Africans are making huge strides towards a successful future.

The next Africa Gathering events are as follows Tanzania : October 2011,Washington: Sept 2011,
Uganda: December 2011,Kenya: Sept 2011