A stakeholders’ consultation meeting has been held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to discuss Ghana’s AI Consultation Strategy after the British government had declared that it was ready to assist Ghana in advancing AI for economic growth.
In his virtual opening remark at the event, the Science and Technology Network (STN) Manager at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office at the British High Commission, in Accra, Mr. Johnson Masagotin Singir, indicated that the Government of the United Kingdom (U.K.) was ready to provide assistance to Ghana on A.I strategy consultation for economic growth.
According to Masagotin Singir, the British government was ready for synergies with stakeholders such as GIZ and other partners to assist Ghana adopt AI strategy because it has numerous potentials for the Ghanaian economy.
“As we deliberate today, I will encourage that we look at what the AI strategy – the draft – and then we also look at what has been the changes and the need of the people to be able to make inputs that are very critical, feasible and will drive economic growth in Ghana,” he said.
In her welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, described the event as timely for important discussion, emphasising that Ghana cannot be left out in development and training of AI ready workforce.
Prof. Dickson said her outfit appreciates the might of AI and hence ready to support the national AI strategy.
“As a university, we recognise and appreciate the transformative power of AI when applied responsibly. To this end, the academic board of the university recently adopted a policy to guide how we integrate AI in our teaching and learning in a more responsible way.
“We are committed as a university to supporting this review process of the draft strategy with the academic resources, experts and the energy that we can lay hands on – all in the name of ensuring that it becomes successful.”
Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson announced that from October 2025, the university would be organising a summer school on AI. She, therefore, called on stakeholders to support the consultation process.
“Let us work together to create a National AI Strategy that is not only progressive, but also deeply rooted in our values as a nation. One that ensures equity, checks the rights of all manner of persons and a lot of opportunities for everyone.”
Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, Principal Investigator of the Responsible AI Lab (RAIL), presented the draft of Ghana’s AI strategy in three thematic areas namely; Introduction to AI, Mission and Vision, Opportunities and Risks, and Diagnostics Assessment, Recommendations and Implementations amongst others, as far as AI strategy is concerned.
Prof. Kponyo was of the view that AI’s potential to accelerate Ghana’s economic growth and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) was not in doubt.
Quoting Mr Darlington Akogo, CEO of Mino Health AI Labs, Prof. Kponyo mentioned that Ghana has the capacity to unearth economic potentials in AI.
“We have the capacity of getting as much as twenty million U.S Dollars into the Ghanaian economy if we pay particular attention to artificial intelligence. The figures show that if, indeed, we pay attention to this, we can make significant progress,” he said.
Prof. Kponyo underscored that Ghana was working on her AI strategy because technological evolution placed the country as a leader in the League of Nations.
“AI, because it positions Ghana as a trailblazer in Africa’s Al ecosystem, many times that we have interacted with our colleagues globally, especially within the Africa contest, a lot of them consider us as front runners and leaders that they look up to and that goodwill is there and so we definitely can leverage on that”, he told the gathering.
Touching on the Mission and Vision of AI strategy, Jerry John Kponyo stated that Ghana’s mission, as far as her AI was concerned, was harnessing it for inclusive growth across all sectors and to improve the lives of people in Ghana.
“AI requires leadership, it requires example, it requires people that others can look up to and Ghana wants to position herself as a trail blazer as far as AI is concerned, and we are not looking at any impact just within the Africa contest, but we want to be able to lead, as far as beyond the shores of Africa is concerned,” he noted.
He, therefore, called for inclusivity as Ghana attempts to have an AI strategy for economic transformation.
“Obviously, we need to be ethical as far as the application of AI is concerned. One other thing that we are championing is the need for us to be inclusive in the application for the deployment of AI and so our mission requires we leave no one behind in our quest to push the frontiers of AI.
“We have consistently talked about the need not to leave anyone behind and making sure that in making AI solutions, we are not creating a system where it is only the preserve of the rich.
“The bigger mission as far as the draft is concerned, is Ghana’s 2035 strategy so the expectation is that by 2035, we have an AI powered society, which means the bus driver is using AI, the mason is using AI, many others are using AI”, he said.
Per Ghana’s AI Consultative Draft, the country seeks to achieve an all-inclusive AI powered economy by 2035. The event brought together stakeholders like academia, Civil Society Organisations and government representatives among others, who shared their views on Ghana’s AI consultation strategy.
At the event, a section of the stakeholders welcomed the strategy as good and timely, whilst others called for inclusivity and infrastructure development. Also leading the conversation was data generation since data is difficult to come by in Ghana.
