The new Board is also mandated to explore Software Development, Projects Incubation and innovation to expand the scope of the operations of GIFEC.The Board membership is chaired by Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communication, and includes Mr Kennedy Agyapong, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communication; and Mr Issa Yahaya, Chief Director, Ministry of Communication.

The rest are; Mr Abraham Kofi Asante, GIFEC Acting Administrator /CEO, Mr Joe Anokye, Acting Director General, National Communications Authority; Mr. Ken Gomado, Finance Director Vodafone, Mr William Tetteh, Head of Capital Project MTN and Mr Ernest Brown, President of GISPA.

Others are; Mr Emmanuel Adjei, Head of Legal, Airtel and Ms Sylvia Owusu Ankomah, Director Regulatory – TIGO. The Board was sworn in by Mr Justice George Boadi, a High Court Judge. Mrs Owusu-Ekuful described GIFEC as one of the important agencies under the Ministry of Communication and tasked GIFEC Board and Management to live up to its mandate as by law established and ensure that no community is left behind in its universal access programme.

She informed the Trustees that the Electronic Communications Act would be reviewed very soon to reflect the new mandate of GIFEC. She called on GIFEC to collaborate with National Information Technology Agency (NITA) and make use of the Broadband Infrastructure being deployed by NITA stressing that ‘as we share our resources we would be able to extend our reach.’

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said: “I am happy with the mix of competences on the Board, and very confident that they will provide the needed oversight for the management of GIFEC”. She congratulated the Trustees for being nominated to serve on the Board by their respective Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s).

On behalf of his colleagues, Mr William Tetteh thanked the Minister and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo for the honour to serve mother Ghana through the new mandate. Mr Asante, GIFEC Acting Administrator told the Ghana News Agency that the management will collaborate with the Minister, Board and other stakeholders to ensure the implementation of the Ghana Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD).

He said the ICT4AD also referred to as Ghana ICT Policy for Accelerated Development; and continue to work to bridge the digital divide between the served and unserved/underserved communities in Ghana.