Our maiden TechGh Personality of the Moment is the Head of Regulatory at the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Ing. Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor. who was recently adjudged the Eminent Telecom and ICT Pillar of the Decade at this year’s Lifetime in a Portrait Awards.
The awards scheme, organized by the Initiators of Change Foundation, under the auspices of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, was designed at part of the 10th anniversary of the Foundation, to honor Ghanaians who have contributed to the development of the country as public servants over the past 10 years.
Until this award, Kwame Nie, as he is affectionately called, had been largely off the public limelight, but very powerful and influencial behind the scenes as far as telecoms and ICT industry regulation and standards are concerned, both at the domestic, continental and global levels.
Kwame’s contribution to industry standards and regulation, which earned him the the ICT Pillar of the Decade Award makes him the perfect candidate for the maiden edition of the TechGh Personality of the Moment on your authoritative tech content platform.
Education
Kwame is a Kumasi boy, or if you like, a “Kumerican” to the core. He had his basic school education at Kings International School in Kumasi, Okomfo Anokye Basic School in Kumasi and also at Kufuor Experimental School in Nkawie all in the Ashanti Region. He then moved to Prempeh College in Kumasi for his secondary education.
From Prempeh College he still stayed in Kumasi for his university education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, majoring in Telecommunications and Electronics. He finally made a move to Accra and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Project Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Work at Home
Prior to going into telecoms as a full-time career, Kwame had love for radio. He worked in the media for quite a while. Between 1996 and 2000, he was the Morning Show Host and Studio Engineer Intern at Sky FM. Then in 2001, he became the first ever Morning Show Host at Invisible FM (now Nhyira FM), before joining Ghana Telecom (now Vodafone) that same year. Kwame stayed with Ghana Telecom till 2004 before choosing to go into public service, while his colleagues pursued lucrative jobs in the private sector.
Ing. Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor has today become one of Ghana’s first-class Telecommunications/ICT experts with twenty years’ experience in policy formulation, regulatory planning, monitoring and enforcement of technical obligations for communications services, implementation and operations of telecommunication networks, tender specification planning and evaluation.
For one, Ing. Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor is famous for policy advice on Communication Service Tax (CST), International Wholesale Carrier license, International Traffic Surcharges, Interconnect Exchange as well as Common Monitoring Platform for traffic and revenue assurance.
For many years, he has been representing Ghana at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in various capacities, including chairing committees and study groups that formulate standards for the telecoms and ICT industry globally.
Because of his expertise, the Telecoms/ICT expert par-excellence was seconded from the National Communications Authority, where he was Deputy Director of Regulatory Administration to NITA as Head of Regulatory.
Prior to going to NITA, he had served on Governing Board for the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET) and chaired the Training Quality Assurance Committee (TQAC)-COTVET, responsible for accreditation of technical and vocational institutions. Kwame was the National Communications Authority Representative on the National Payment Council-Bank of Ghana at the Bank of Ghana.
He is an Advisor to the Ghana Telecom Rural Connectivity 2016 sites Project with GIFEC, December, Advisor to the Ghana Digital Skills Literacy Project with GIFEC,
ITU
Kwame has held at least thirteen (13) leadership roles at the ITU since 2011 till date. Some of the roles include Focal Point and Councillor, ITU Council, December 2019 to date; Chairman, ITU-T Study Group 12 on Performance, Quality of Service, Quality of Experience, 2017 to 2020: Chair, Adhoc Group on Resolutions on Cybersecurity and Data Protection, ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, 2018; Vice Chair, Working Group of the Plenary, ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, 2018; Chair, Adhoc Group on Resolutions related to Cybersecurity, World Telecommunications Development Conference, 2017 (WTDC-17); Chairman, Committee on ITU-T Work Organisation and Programmes, World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly, 2016, Chairman of International Telecommunications Union Standardization (ITU-T) Study Group 12, 2013 to 2016
His other ITU leadership roles include Chair, Adhoc Group on Regional Initiatives at World Telecommunications Development Conference 2014 (WTDC-14), Chair, Adhoc Group on new Resolution on Periodic review of International Telecommunications Regulations at World Conference on International Telecomunications-2012 (WCIT-12), Chair, Adhoc Group on Merging ITU-T Resolutions 26 and 54 at World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly 2012 (WTSA-12), Chairman of ITU Study Group 12 Africa Regional Group, 2011 to 2012. Vice Chair, ITU-T Quality of Service Development Group, 2012 and Editor of ITU-T Recommendation E.803.
Through his main roles at the ITU, he has been involved in the development and approvals of over eighty (80) global telecommunications standards. Kwame is the current in his second term as Chairman of the ITU Study Group responsible for Performance, Quality of Service and Quality of Experience. He is the first African to hold that position. He still represents Ghana on the ITU Council.
Beside those, he has worked as Africa Region Lead on Regional Initiatives at World Telecommunications Development Conference 2017, Chaired the Africa Union Workshop on Policy Harmonization; Technical Advisor to the Co-Chair, European Union-Africa Union Digital Economy Taskforce, and has arbitrated resolutions on global cybersecurity.
He is currently the President of Rotary Club of Accra-West, a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow and Benefactor, a beginner on Toastmaster journey.
Kwame is the only male among two children of his mother and he is married with many children under his care.
