By Haru Mutasa

Ghanaian president John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday called on Africans to unite and present a common front on issues affecting the continent at PrepCom II in Geneva later this month.
Addressing delegates at the official opening of the second African Regional Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Kufuor said the gathering should urgently spell out, and develop ICT structures and policies to facilitate ICT access in communities.
“Africa cannot continue to exist as a poor relation of the rest of the world and as an embarrassment to itself,” he said, “The mastery and exploitation of the science and technology of information communication are hastening the transformation of societies all over the world for the better. Africa of this century is very much awake to this reality, and is determined to join in this heritage to improve the quality of life of its people.”
The road to human development is not easy and Kufuor gave some reasons why it is difficult to broaden ICT usage in societies across the continent. These problems include a lack of financing mechanisms and inadequate telecommunications structures.
“We appear to be prisoners of our colonial past with each little country clinging to its telecommunications network,” said Kufuor, “Let’s harmonise telecom infrastructure usage under a common regulatory environment on all sub regions of Africa under the NEPAD arrangements and come out with an African ICT infrastructure backbone plan that will run across the whole continent and beyond.”
The president encouraged delegates to make brave decisions and critically assess how their nations are doing in terms of ICT access. This means agreeing on a clear vision on how the continent can take full advantage of the benefits of ICTs which will empower people with the necessary skills needed to put Africa on the road to development.
“We do not have a lot of time. Future generations will not forgive us if we should lack the will to take these decisions,” he said, “Africa should not, and need not be a scar on the conscience of the world. It is time for us to take our place as proud members of the world community.”