Paul Boateng to commission MTN ICT Centre

Accra, Aug. 9, GNA - The Right Hon. Lord Boateng, and a member of the British House of Lords is in Ghana to commission the first of the 10 MTN ICT Centres of Learning on August 10, 2011 in the Ningo community, in the Greater Accra region.

A statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Mrs Mawuena Adzo Trebarh, Corporate Services Executive said, the project is being implemented in partnership with the UNDP.

After commissioning the project, which is one of the flagship projects of the Foundation, Lord Boateng, who is a Patron of the MTN Ghana Foundation and a former British High Commissioner to South Africa, will also be visiting Tamale in the Northern Region, where he will launch the Tamale Secondary School Project. The school project comprises the refurbishment of the school's Science Laboratory and Library and the provision of street lights for the school. He will also visit other new projects yet to be launched. Mr Paul Boateng has the enviable record of being the first person of African descent to be elected to the British Parliament and the first African to serve in a British Cabinet.

Lord Boateng is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following his departure from the House of Commons, he served as the British High Commissioner to South Africa from March 2005 to May 2009. He was introduced as a member of the House of Lords on 1 July 2010. The MTN Foundation was established by the MTN Group Board, as the vehicle for effectively administering MTN's Corporate Social Responsibility contributions.

Since its establishment in November 2007, the MTN Foundation has been involved in different social development projects, including the launch of two flagship projects.

These are the refurbishment of the 2nd floor Maternity block of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and establishment of 10 MTN ICT Learning Centres in all regions of Ghana. Several projects have also been implemented across the country.