ISOC Ghana gets new executive committee
A four-member executive committee of the Internet Society Ghana Chapter (ISOC Ghana) has been inaugurated in Accra to steer the affairs of the Society for the next two years.
Mr Francis Acquah Amaning, a Systems Administrator at the Domain Name Registry, is the President of the executive committee.
Members include Mrs Maud Ashong Elliot, Vice President, Madam Patricia Adafienu, Financial Controller, and Mr Derrick Kpakpo Addo, Secretary.
Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, Chairman, ISOC Ghana Chapter, who inducted the four-member executive committee into office, tasked it to focus on how to reach out to the community by educating the public and influencing policy.
He said the internet was evolving with more adoption, hence the need for public policies to either enhance the good initiatives or curb the not-so-good ones.
He noted that those issues came as and when the need arose and as such part of the Internet Society’s role was to be familiar with all the technologies and its impact to participate in the process in a way to ensure that policies were grounded in “technical evidence”.
Prof Quaynor said many of the emerging technologies actually rode on top of the internet, whether it was artificial intelligence or block chain, and that implied ISOC had a unique role regarding public policies.
Mr Amaning, on behalf of committee members, pledged to work hard to move the Chapter to the next level of recognition within the global internet community.
He said ISOC Ghana faced many challenges but the most pressing one was the restoration of trust of members, saying the topics for the presidential debate for the election provided a list of critical challenges, which his administration would like to start addressing immediately.
These include visibility and communication in the Chapter, membership drive, connecting the unconnected in the last mile, and funding.
He said the Executive Committee had prepared and shared its 2020 action plan with members of the Society for their comments and feedback and would soon share its strategic plan for the 2020-2021 tenure in office for their input.
He said a call for membership for the various committees of the Society had already been made and that vetting and interviews would be conducted with appointment of committee heads and selection of members to be announced soon.
Mr Amaning said two other issues his administration would give utmost attention to were Conflict Mitigation and Resolution Committee, and platform to harness the experience of senior members and past executive council.
He acknowledged the great initiatives that were undertaken by the Association’s Chairman and past leaders, saying: “Indeed, you are an inspiration and an avenue for us to continue doing great works that you began, I am certain that with your support, this team will do much better”.
ISOC Ghana is a chartered chapter of the Internet Society, which is a non-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in internet related standards, education, and policy.
It is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the internet for the benefit Ghanaians and the world at large.
Source: GNA