Innovation hates constraints. AI policy framing in Ghana, as elsewhere in the world, is faced with the complexity of balancing widespread uncertainty with areas of certainty, calling for a human-centred and participatory approach, both uphill tasks.

Ghana’s attempt at policy development for the tech space started in the 1990s with the organisation of a Communication Policy (COMPOL) conference. It did not see the light of day. On 9th September 2001, another attempt was made with a two-day national conference, which saw the launch of “Framework for the development of a strategic national Information Technology policy.”

One of the outcomes of this policy was the establishment of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to coordinate the efficient and cost-effective implementation of IT-related government activities. In 2003, a pivotal tech policy known as ICT for accelerated development (ICT4D) was launched. It ran its course for many years and was recently replaced by the current.

Thus far, each of these policies has moved Ghana closer to a tech framework, laying the foundation for more coherent digital governance and future innovation. However, 24th April 2026, is going down in history as a milestone in Ghana’s tech space with the launch of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025 to 2035).

Launched by His Excellency, President John Mahama and themed “To harness AI for inclusive growth across all sectors and to improve the lives of people in Ghana, becoming a trailblazer in Africa and beyond”, it sets out national priorities, coordinates actors, anticipates technological change and creates a roadmap for building a responsible, human-centered AI ecosystem anchored by relevant governance, innovation, and capacity building frameworks.

A strategy is typically a long-term, coordinated plan which defines vision and objectives, aligns resources, institutions, and actions and provides a roadmap under uncertainty. In the case of Ghana’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2025 to 2035), the core vision is to enable the use of AI for inclusive economic growth and national development while positioning Ghana as a regional AI leader. The strategy plans to achieve this ambitious vision through 8 pillars, namely, Expansion of AI Education, Empowering youth for jobs of the future, Deepening digital infrastructure & inclusion, Facilitating data access & governance, Coordinating a robust AI community ecosystem, Accelerating AI adoption across sectors, Investing in Applied AI Research and Promoting AI Adoption in the Public Sector.

The policy comes with a lot of strengths, including human-centred and ethical framing, emphasis on responsible AI and national values and alignment to global best practices such as those enshrined in the OECD, UNESCO responsible AI guidelines. Also, it seeks to build public trust and participation, which is critical for adoption. Further, the strategy builds on prior ICT frameworks and policies, providing a framework for institutional coordination through alignment of the work of key actors such as government, academia, and the private sector, to reduce the common challenge of duplication, fragmentation and policy silos in Ghana. The strategy also has a strong focus on capacity building, recognising the need to build local AI talent using research to identify skills gaps and providing appropriate training.

Another strength worthy of mention is that the strategy positions AI as a tool for economic transformation by recognising it as a driver of growth and setting out an ambition for AI-related technologies to contribute 500 billion Ghanaian cedis to our GDP by 2035.

Although the strategy comes with many strengths, it is saddled with some weaknesses. The period of the strategy is very; 10 years. While setting a long-term goal is laudable, the strategy risks being overtaken by events.

AI evolves exponentially, not linearly; with technology cycles and changes happening sometimes within days. This means a 10-year fixed plan risks becoming obsolete quickly. The rapid Infrastructure change means a plan based on today’s tech may be irrelevant in a few years. Also, the policy suggests an over-centralised ambition with a heavy reliance on centralised government coordination, which risks significant bureaucratic slowdown coupled with weak implementation at sectorial level, especially the district and other subnational levels.

Though the strategy articulates a data strategy, there is a lack of clarity on data ownership, data infrastructure and access frameworks. Experience provides ample evidence that most polices in Ghana suffer from deficiencies in governance and oversight frameworks premised on unclear enforcement mechanisms, which creates the risks of “policy without teeth”.

Ghana's AI strategy outlines the establishment of a Responsible AI Authority; whether this will pan out remains to be seen. Other implementation challenges include Infrastructure constraints, such as uneven connectivity, low level of compute power, cloud access, data centres, and even reliable electricity.

Though the strategy recognises global dependency risk that is reliance on foreign AI models and external infrastructure which contributes to “Data colonialism” its proposed solution to this challenge is not far-reaching enough. Lastly, the strategy proposed a funding mechanism to be known as Ghana’s National AI Fund, with seed capital of 5 billion Ghanaian cedis, with plans to scale this to 15 billion cedis over time. This is all stated without indicating exactly where sustainable funding will come from to provide the huge capital investment required to drive AI evolution in Ghana.  

Overall, Ghana’s AI strategy is conceptually strong, development-oriented, and aligned with global norms. It provides a clear roadmap for integrating artificial intelligence into society to leverage it for poverty reduction and wealth creation.

The real challenge is adopting execution which takes into account adaptability (i.e. an adaptive governance model premised on a rolling strategy of 2–3 years with regular and mandatory revision to ensure the policy is aligned with the very dynamic nature of AI),  adopting a more decentralized approach to AI strategy implementation while providing a bigger role for the private sector including provision of extremely attractive incentives for startups, venture capitals etc. to stimulate greater AI integration across all sectors and regions of the country and providing funding.  

These fundamental challenges need addressing; if not, the strategy becomes aspirational rather than executable.

To conclude, the excitement of the launch has passed; what remains is the far more demanding task of translating ambition into measurable action. The road ahead will be long and complex, and success will depend less on vision than on disciplined implementation, sustained investment, and institutional coordination.

If effectively deployed, AI itself may help address some of the persistent challenges Ghana has historically faced in turning strategy into results.

Dr Kwami Ahiabenu is an AI and Tech consultant.  You can reach him at Kwami@mangokope.com