2003: GCG Year In Review

We have come to the end of a difficult but constructive 2003 and the beginning of a promising year. GCG wishes you a productive new year as we review milestones in 2003.

The months preceding the summer festival in ’03 was dominated by the launching of a capital raising initiative to help rebuild Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye hospitals. In the second half of the year, we focused on the Ghana Technology Park proposal, slated for a site near the six-square-mile campus of the University of Science & Technology.

http://www.ghanacybergroup.com/techpark.htm The United Nations Task Force on Technology Parks may visit the UST in March 2004 in response to invitation to Ghana by Dr. Walter Alhassan and Yaw Owusu, Ghanaian panelists at the 2003 UN Forum on Science & Technology Parks in Philadelphia. http://www.cbcglobelink.org/cbcglobelink/publications/cd/content/CD%20pdfs/Ghana%20Cyber.pdf

JANUARY 2003

Charles Mensah of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, leads GCG Committee on Education to complete the 4th shipment of medical books to Ghana. The consignment is donated to the School of Medical Sciences, UST. The first three shipments were delivered to the University of Ghana, Legon. Michael Nkrumah, Nelly Awoonor-Williams, Ama Fordjour and Nana Benneh begin work on the 2003 Ghana Conference on Health & Development at Harvard and Columbia.

FEBRUARY 2003

Dr. Nsiah Asare, the CEO of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital; Margaret Amakye Maafo, Director Of Nurses Services at Komfo Anokye; Ofei Gyimah, KATH Chief Administrator, and Richard Danquah Boateng also of Komfo Anokye, arrive in the United States for the health conference.

MARCH 2003

Harvard University host the 1st Ghana Conference on Health & Development on March 1. Keynote Speakers: (i) Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, MD, Director of Comprehensive Sicke Cell Center, Philadelpia and (ii) A. Nsiah Asare, MD, Chief Executive of KATH. The event is organized and co-sponsored by GCG and the Ghana Medical School Alumni Association. The second conference ends successfully at Columbia University on March 15. GCG Africa hosts a similar health conference in Pretoria, South Africa and commit to help (1) Renovate Children's and Maternity Wards (one floor each) at the Komfo Anokye and Korle Bu Teaching Hospitals. (2) Enroll three biomedical technicians from Ghana in internship programs in South African companies working on medical equipment maintenance and operations. (3) Sponsor a six-month advanced medical training program in South Africa for four Ghanaian physicians at a time.

APRIL 2003

Next Stop: UPenn. The Ghana Conference on Health & Development, co-sponsored by GCG and the Ghana Network at Penn, attracts an international crowd at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The forum host, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a third year student at the university, is congratulated by colleagues.

MAY 2003

Work begins on a draft of the Ghana Technology Park proposal. The Park will provide an incubation and acceleration for start-ups, especially those in information technology, biotechnology and advanced materials.

JUNE 2003

GCG sponsors the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) on its second medical mission to Ghana. The SNMA team spends two weeks in the Eastern Region, delivering medical supplies, conducting health education workshops and training community Health Educators on HIV/AIDs transmission and prevention in the Ada area. The SNMA is made up of students of African descent (Black Americans, Caribbeans, Ghanaians, Nigerians, etc) enrolled in medical schools across the United States.

JULY 2003

The 2003 Ghana Festival (trade fair, business conference, fashion show, etc) ends in Fair Lakes, Virginia. The conference delegates exchange ideas on technology, education and health issues affecting Ghana. Special guests include Isaac Aggrey, Interim Ambassador of Ghana to the United States; Kwasi Abeasi, CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Center; Steve Asamoah-Boateng, Deputy Minister of Information; Kwabena Antwi, the GIPC Public Relations Manager; and Ghanaweb Executive Francis Akoto. Nana Akosua Dwemoh Benneh of the University of Maryland Medical School and Nana Adwoa Abeasi, an engineer and a former contestant in the Miss Lux Pageant, host the 2003 Fashion Show at the Ghana Festival. Kojo Antwi entertains 600 Ghanafest participants at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC.

AUGUST 2003

The London-based Commonwealth Business Council invites GCG leaders to attend the 6th Commonwealth Business Forum in Abuja, Nigeria on December 2-4, 2003. The Commonwealth publishes GCG’s 1,500-word overview of the Ghana Technology Park proposal as part of its Modernizing Government Report: http://www.cbcglobelink.org/cbcglobelink/publications/cd/content/digital%20divide.htm Hard copies of the report are distributed to Commonwealth member nation’s finance ministers, economic ministers, international aid agencies, procurement officers, and executive mayors.

SEPTEMBER 2003

GCG hosts a reception and the 1st Ghana Conference on Technology & Outsourcing immediately after the 2003 World Leaders Forum at Columbia University. At the invitation of Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, President John Kufuor, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and other international leaders speak on development issues influencing their respective regions at the World Leaders Forum. Download video of Kufuor’s speech: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/vforum/03/world_leaders/index.html

OCTOBER 2003

The United Nations invites Dr. Walter Alhassan and Yaw Owusu to speak at the 2003 UN Forum on Science & Technology Parks in Philadelphia. The UN sets up a task force to choose an African country to build the first UN-financed technology park.

NOVEMBER 2003

The UN Forum on Science & Technology Parks kicks off on November 30 with a reception at the French Sofitel Hotel in Philadelphia.

DECEMBER 2003

UN Forum ends in Philadelphia.
Dr. Walter Alhassan discusses Ghana government’s initiative on technology and industrial complex to encourage growth of modern factories and IT firms while Yaw Owusu outlines a 45-page presentation on a proposal to establish a technology park near the campus of the University of Science & Technology. The Ghanaians present an organized, focused and more executable proposal than similar initiatives from their Senegalese, Malawian, Kenyan and Cameroonian colleagues. The Alhassan-Owusu presentations help strengthen Ghana’s candidacy for the first UN-sponsored technology park in Africa. To bolster Ghana's chances on being selected, the Ghanaian representatives invite three leading members of the UN task force to visit Ghana in March 2004 to learn more about ICT development in the country.