By Angella Nabwowe

WSIS Africa Agenda asks: What does this conference mean to the people gathered here at Accra International Conference Centre?
Grace Ngban from the northern part of Ghana says that “before I came to this conference, I did not know the difference between soft and hardware. Now I know. I have seen some of the software products by Personal Systems and it is very interesting and amazing”.
Ngban, who is a graduate of Ghana University in Legon, says the conference is an opportunity for people to get to know what is happening in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector and understand the language. “I wonder why we have some of these things in place and yet we are not developing,” she concluded.
Ssemboga Ann Ritah is an economist working with the Uganda Communications Commission. Ssemboga says the conference is an opportunity to share experiences in ICTs with the rest of Africa in the struggle to eliminate the digital divide and put Africa at the forefront of development. “I will take back with me to Uganda, the need and quickness to implement our ICT policy that was passed in 2004 and emphasize the need to develop a coordination centre for ICT implementation.” She said.
“It is a pool of ideas for the African continent to have a place in the changing ICT world,” said Bunmi Idowu from Nigeria.
Mbougueng Valentine is from Cameroon and heads the association of Africa-Asia newspapers in France. According to Mbougueng, “as media people we have to find solutions to reduce the gap between the north and south as well as the gap between the media in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the media in the developed nations.”
Ben Marzouk Mohamed Elyes from Tunisian civil society said that this conference is important because it has given the people working with community projects a chance to be heard. “I hope that stakeholders can work together to promote ICTs. Including the civil society in the deliberations means building a stronger task force to bridge the digital divide,” he said.
The security guards we spoke to at the conference centre preferred to remain anonymous but nevertheless, sent out a strong message. “We are supposed to know what is going on, but it is a pity we are ill informed because we are on duty. We have not been to the conference halls, all we know is that there is a conference taking place here but we have not the slightest idea what it is all about.”
The security guards lamented that they were not the only ones left out, as most ordinary people are rarely prepared for such happenings.