MTN CEO Stephen Blewett has highlighted Africa's potential to champion digital innovation.

He believes Africa is poised to drive the next wave of digital development.

Emphasising the continent's potential, he said Africa has a young population capable of becoming big technology entrepreneurs.

"The next great development in the digital world can and must come from Africa. There is no reason for it not to come from here. Why do we always have to get everything that comes from somewhere else? Why can't the next Instagram, Facebook, or whatever you want to think about come from here?" he asked.

Mr Blewett said this when he addressed journalists at this year's MTN Ghana Editors' Forum for the Savannah, Northern, North East and Upper East in Tamale.

The MTN Ghana Editors' Forum is an annual event that brings together media personnel and management of MTN to share ideas and gain insights into the company's operations. It also offers an opportunity for management to address critical questions from journalists in their areas of operation.

Mr Blewett said there is every opportunity for the next digital developer to come from Africa. He said that to make this work, people need to have the skills, adding that it's the reason MTN is supporting the government's 1000 codes project.

He said the project will help empower the youth with AI and coding experience, adding that Africa needs to believe in itself.

On network expansion, Mr Blewett revealed that MTN has invested 1 billion dollars over the past five years, continuing to aggressively grow its digital infrastructure to fuel connectivity and economic growth in the country, while 240 million dollars has been allocated for this year for its network infrastructure.

"For the country over the last five years, including this year, we have spent one billion dollars on the network. Now, often people ask us how you operate your network successfully. The secret is simple: you have to keep spending, and it's one of the challenges because you are always spending. The day you stop spending is the day you have challenges. This year alone, we will spend 240 million dollars, and we are planning to go beyond that," he said.

Mr Blewet said MTN had deployed over 5,000 new sites nationwide, with 87.5% of its data carried on 4G technology.

MTN has also invested in fibre infrastructure to boost network resilience and enhance 4G capacity.

He said this is aimed at delivering better services and improving connectivity.

However, the MTN CEO noted that fibre cuts are a significant challenge, with MTN experiencing an average of four fibre cuts per day nationwide.

"Fibre cuts are a massive plague on our business. We were in a meeting yesterday, and I was shocked that we have an average of 4 fibre cuts per day," he bemoaned.

Emphasising the disruption these cuts have on the nation's communication backbone, Mr Blewett
said that even though the Ministry of Communications was working to address the challenge, there was a need for Ghanaians to support this fight.

Karua served as Kenya's justice minister from 2005 to 2009, and was the running-mate of former Prime Minister Raila Odigna in his failed presidential bid in elections in 2022.

She launched her own opposition party, the People's Liberation Party, earlier this year.

Karua's spokesperson told AFP news agency that she was questioned for three hours at the airport in Tanzania's main city Dar es Salaam, and her passport was confiscated.

Karua said she was now awaiting deportation along with fellow Kenyan lawyer Gloria Kimani, and human rights campaigner Lynn Ngugi.

The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition condemned what it called the "arbitrary arrest" of the three, and said it had instructed its lawyers to try and secure their release.

It added that it was shocked by the detentions, as Karua had been allowed into Tanzania to observe proceedings when Lissu appeared in court on 15 April.

Human rights groups have been increasingly concerned about a crackdown on the opposition in Tanzania ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due in October.

Lissu, the leader of the main opposition Chadema party, cannot seek bail because he has been charged with treason, a crime for which the maximum sentence is death.

He survived an assassination attempt in 2017 after being shot 16 times.

The opposition leader was arrested in April after he held a rally under under the slogan "No Reforms, No Election".

He is demanding sweeping changes, saying Tanzania's current laws do not allow for free and fair elections. The government denies the allegation.

Since his arrest, his Chadema party has been barred from contesting the October poll after it refused to to comply with the electoral commission's requirement to sign a code of conduct.

The document requires parties and their supporters to "behave well", and to "maintain peace and harmony" during the elections.

Chadema sees the code of conduct as a ploy to contain the opposition, and for state repression to continue.

The CCM party, which has governed Tanzania since 1977, is expected to retain power following the latest developments.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to be its presidential candidate.

She was widely praised for giving Tanzanians greater political freedom when she took office in 2021 following the death of the incumbent, John Magufuli.

Her critics say Tanzania is once again seeing the repression that characterised Magufuli's rule. The government denies the allegation.