No Computer Literacy, No Job

COMPUTER LITERACY CLASS IN GHANA
By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

Do you remember that common saying that’ “When persuasion fails force must apply?”

Ghana is gradually but steadily approaching a technological stage in her socio-economic development where the application of the tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can no longer be taken for granted.

On Thursday, September 16, 2006, Dr Alex Glover-Quartey, the Head of Ghana Civil, did not mince words at all when he told Chief Directors that anybody who was not computer literate would not be appointed Chief Director again in the Civil Service.

In fact, Dr Glover-Quartey, did not only make a mere statement in passing, but gave a fiat: “I have decided that all Chief Directors must endeavour to become computer literate by 31st December this year,” he ordered. (Observers are watching ooo; my pen no bi sword!)

Dr Glover-Quartey seems to be a smart Head of Civil Service in modern Ghana. Do you know the venue where he gave this technological marching order? At the plush Ghana-India Kofi Annan
Centre of Excellence in ICT. That is the only place in Ghana where no ICT-minded person can challenge you if you give such an order or directive.

And the occasion itself was a One-Day-Workshop organized by the Civil Service Headquarters in Accra to “Validate Agency-Specific ICT Policy Statements”. Participants for the event were made up of Chief Directors of all Ministries, Regional Co-coordinating Directors from all the ten regions of the country and IT Directors from the Ministries.

When Dr Glover-Quarter opened his mouth to address the powerful decision makers of the Service, he churned a quotation by Juan Somvia in Decent Work: “No Society can succeed in a globalised environment unless its people have adequate knowledge and skills.”

The truth of the matter is that the Government has come out with a policy document known as the Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy, which presents the Vision of Ghana in
the information age. The policy statement is said to have set out the road map for the development of Ghana’s information society and economy and provides a basis for driving and facilitating the socioeconomic prosperity of the country in the emerging information and knowledge-based world.

It came to light that under the ICT Policy agenda, a number of specific Information and Communications Technology strategies, initiatives and action plans were to be undertaken by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications to promote e-governance and greater use of ICT in the delivery of government services in the country.

Some of the strategies to be adopted include: 1- Modernisation of the Civil Service to improve its efficiency, effectiveness and service delivery through the department of ICT. 2- Implementation of e-government programme initiatives and action plans such as Government to Government (G2G), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Citizens (G2C) and Government to Development Partners (G2DP). 3- Improve basic computer skills of Civil Servants through in-service training; 4- Development and the enforcement of ICT standards, guidelines and best practices within the Civil Service. 5 -Reengineering of the business process within the Civil Service environment and finally 6- Implementation of NEPADs ICT initiatives and achieving the goals and targets on the UN millennium declaration.

How does the Civil Service intend to achieve these laudable
strategies, one may ask? Never forget the famous African proverb which says that, ”If a blind person threatens to throw a stone at you, then, you must know that his or her foot is already on the stone.”

According to Dr Glover-Quartey, the Civil Service ICT Vision and Plan of Action is to establish a Civil Service College of which the Civil Service Computer Centre would be an integrated part. Some enthusiastic Civil Servants are anxious and itching to know how soon the College and Computer Centre will into being. As a matter of fact, if that College and Computer Centre had been in existence before the Chief Directors were given the 31st December ultimatum computer literacy order, it would have been wonderful “paaa”.

In any case the Chief Directors don’t need a Civil Service College before going to learn how to use computers. The truth is that some of them, especially “the first generation” Chief Directors have
had computers sitting like decorative museum pieces on their desktops from the day Adam was created in the Eden Garden. And most of them are just battling with a disease called “Computer
phobia”, which prevents them from using the tip of their index finger to boot the computer.

Whatever be the case, the concept of the Civil Service College is most laudable and can be said to be long overdue. It’s Vision and Mission, as were enumerated on that occasion by its ‘Commander-in-Chief,’ Dr Glover-Quarter is heartwarming and soul moving to say the least.

The College, it is learnt, among other things is to facilitate continuous improvement and development of global competitiveness, skills and competencies of Civil Servant to enable them to provide world class services to citizens and the private sector. This continuous education and training for all citizens, especially for government employees is known as e-learning for life in Singapore. The acquisition of this type of skills, competencies, ideas and information is referred to as intangible capital in digital economy being run in Singapore.

If a country like Singapore is leading in E-Government services delivery in the world it is because that country’s entire Civil Service has been the first sector to be computerized when it started its
journey on digital economy. And what Singapore did was to educate its citizens in general and public servants in particular by providing ICT training for Government employees. That is what is known as Government to Employees (G2E) in the scope of E-Government strategies. Whether Ghanaians like it or not, ICT has come to remold the entire globe into an e-World.

And a time will soon arrive where you can be a PhD holder in mathematics from the “University of Heaven”, but, if you are not a computer literate, it is not the Head of the Civil Service who will not appoint you as a Chief Director, but the system itself will flush out all computer illiterate employees like a Water Closet (WC).