Ghana has been re-elected
to the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the 2023
to 2026 term. The elections for the Council membership were held Monday, October
3, 2022, at the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 in Bucharest,
Romania.
The ITU Council acts as the
Union’s governing body in the interval between Plenipotentiary Conferences,
held every four years. Its role is to consider broad telecommunication policy
issues to ensure that the Union's activities, policies, and strategies fully
respond to today's dynamic, rapidly changing telecommunications environment.
The Council is also
responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the Union,
coordinating work programmes, approving budgets, and controlling finances and
expenditures. Ghana has been serving as a member of the Executive Council since
2002 and has also played various leadership roles in Study Groups as well as
actively taking part in other ITU activities.
According to the Minister
for Communications and Digitalization, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who led
Ghana’s electoral campaign, the Republic of Ghana, will keep up with her
sterling contribution to the ITU Council while ensuring that it carries its
service to the telecommunication world in a resourceful, transparent, and
forward-looking manner.
The Hon. Minister
reiterated the Government’s commitment to ensuring that its citizens get connected. She explained that Government has already done a lot
through initiatives such as the innovative Rural Telephony project and Sectoral
Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTS) to secure our cyberspace amongst
others. Ghana secured 145 votes and ranked 2nd among the 13 countries elected
to the Council from Region D (Africa). This is the highest number of votes that
Ghana has secured at an ITU Council election. ITU's five administrative regions are entitled to a specific number of Council seats. So far, Forty-eight (48) ITU Member States were elected to the Council.
ITU
Radio Regulations Board (RRB)
In a related development,
Rev. Ing. Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, the Acting Director of Engineering at the
National Communications Authority (NCA), was elected to ITU’s Radio Regulations
Board (RRB) for the 2023-2026 term.
Rev. Ing. Fianko is one
of the three RRB members representing Africa on the twelve-member Board with
the responsibility to approve the Rules of Procedure for the application of the
Radio and Regulations and adjudicating on matters brought before the Board.
Rev. Ing. Fianko is an electronic
communications engineer with in-depth experience in radio frequency spectrum
management, telecom, broadcasting regulation, and policy formulation
at the national, regional, and international levels.
By: Kanto Okanta
