[governance] Effective participation ....

[kwasi boakye-akyeampong]

Thanks Milton. 
   
  While I'm not too proud of painting such a bleak picture of the situation in my country, that's what it is. All the good stories about the strides Ghana is making with regards to ICT, can be likened to the one-eyed man being King in the land of the blind.
   
  I believe for us to get to where we want to be a lot has got to be done in the area of promoting and strengthening ICT institutions, effective ICT manpower and academic curricula development, and above all ICT policy development and implementation. As we are speaking the mailing list of the only IT professional organisation is so dead quiet. We don't make any attempt to contribute to and affect policy decisions. 
   
  May be if these professional institutions could receive some funding and staffing of some sort, things will change. I have been thinking a lot about this. What do you think?
   
  Kwasi
   
  

Milton Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:
  Kwasi:
Thanks for your realistic if bleak appraisal of the situation. Makes for
an interesting contrast with McTim's...
--MM

>>> kboakye1 at yahoo.co.uk 10/07/06 2:09 AM >>>
Howzit Anriette,

On 10/6/06, Anriette Esterhuysen wrote:

>
> Why are there so few participants from national IG communities in this
> space, and it appears, going to the IGF?
####################

The problem of participation from developing countries goes beyond
funding. There a number of issues involved, among which are:

1. Very few people know about IG, ISOC, ICANN, etc. and most of those
who know about them (including government officials, IT professionals,
academics, those working or doing business in the IT industry, etc.)
don't even understand them or the issues involved.

2. They don't know about these conferences, discussions, meetings,
cyberspaces, etc. and they don't even know they can attend.

3. Local Chapters of ISOC exist on web pages, when you even send an
e-mail enquiry you don't get response

4. Those who are supposed to know don't even know and/ or understand
ccTLDs. Some company claims to be sponsoring ccTLDs but doesn't even
respond to e-mail enquiries. dot gh for instance is far more expensive
than a dot uk and you ask yourself why. Besides no one seems to care.

5. Most of the folks who get to attend these IG related conferences
and meetings and represent developing countries probably don't
understand the issues - some of them are businessmen and government
officials who stand to gain by the status quo.

2. The average person can't get visa to attend these meetings; we are
living in a situation where being allowed to travel depends on the whims
and caprices of some entry clearance official who doesn't even know
about ICANN and probably doesn't even care.

3. The average person can't even afford to fully participate in these
online spaces; he cannot afford Internet connection at home and can't
pay for a decent Internet access. Internet access is more expensive in
developing countries; universities, colleges, schools, can't afford
them. Academics as a result don't have them.

5. I have come to live in the UK for 5 years and I'm dreading going
back because of Internet access. In the UK regardless of how low your
income is you can afford it, in Ghana, it is a luxury and sometimes a
status symbol. I work 15 hours a week (my visa allows me to work a max.
of 20 hours, as an International student) but I can afford broadband
Internet access.

6. Government officials can afford this luxury so why bother

7. ICANN held a general meeting in 2001 in Ghana and local IT
professionals didn't know about it; those who knew didn't understand
what was going on neither were they aware they could participate.

These, in my opinion, are just a few of the issues we are plagued
with.

...Kwasi




"In the END, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Visit me at: www.boakye-akyeampong.zoomshare.com
   

 		
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