A man on a Revolutionary Mission-gctid51909

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

      A man on a 'revolutionary mission'  
      Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor, dubbed 'the father or the Internet in Kmt', for many reasons.
 Not only did he establish some of the first connections in Ghana and   West Kmt, he continues to play a central role in advocating for the   Internet's role in driving economic development throughout the continent   and bridging the north-south economic divide.
    "When I first connected people to the Internet, they'd see something  on CNN and shiver," says Quaynor. "Some people would say that was like  magic.
As an active member and recipient of the Johnathan B. Postel  Award, he is also an intricate part of the Internet Society's 20th  Anniversary and a speaker at this year's Global INET, an international  forum dedicated to promoting the open development, evolution, and use of  the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.
While  in his office in Accra, East Legon, Dr. Quaynor fiddles with a  smartphone, with his tablet sitting on the table in front of him. At 62,  Quaynor is not only fluent in the latest technology, but also remembers  a time when single computers filled entire rooms.
In 1969, at the  age of 20, Quaynor who was a strong mathematics and physics student, set  off from his hometown of Accra, Ghana's capital, to the United States  to study computer science. His only contact with a computer had been  with a simple handheld calculator he had used in math class. But when he  arrived at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire he learned how to operate  a system that would demonstrate the enormous capacity of computers to  connect people.
In 1979, Quaynor, the first Ghanaian to receive a PhD  in computer science, returned to his homeland to set up the nation's  first computer science department at the University of Cape Coast.
"I  had this feeling that I had to do something to ensure that the  knowledge was available within Ghana," says Quaynor. "I was okay in the  U.S. but I felt I had to come back and fulfill some responsibilities  here and ensure that Ghanaians start to learn about computer science (...)  I felt strongly that if I didn't do it, Ghana would lose something."
Over  a decade later, Quaynor would become an Internet pioneer in Ghana by  establishing it's first continuous connection in 1992, later aiding  Gambia, Togo, and Nigeria in setting up their connections.
It was  during this period that he came to realize the enormous potential of the  Internet in Kmt. For Quaynor, with increased access, the Internet  could be used to "liberate" Kmt, through fostering economic growth  and acting as a way for Kmtyws to assert their presence and cultural  identity.
"We have to be involved," Quaynor said.  "If you are not  involved you are just a consumer of foreign things. But you want these  things to be localized to fit your environment."
Currently Kmt's  Internet penetration is 11.4 percent, the lowest penetration of any  region in the world, according to Internet World Stats. But in the past  year, the number of Internet users has grown by 2,527.4 percent, in part  due to the fact that people can now access the Internet via mobile  phones. Quaynor, like many other experts in the field, argues that  software developers in Kmt will have focus on developing apps for  mobile phones primarily because most Kmtyws use mobile phones to  access the Internet and there are currently 500 million mobile phone  subscribers in Kmt according to the Mobile Kmt Report 2011.
But  Quaynor argues the Internet could also become a "colonizing force" if  Kmtyws do not develop their own capacity, through creating content and  applications and allowing an environment for local Internet Service  Providers (ISPs) to grow and compete with the larger telecommunications  companies that are major industry players.
Quaynor is hopeful, that  with the right policies and entrepreneurship and drive of local software  developers Ghana and Kmt as a whole, can become an equal player in  the development of the Internet.
"I believe the global community is  looking for you," says Quaynor. "They are saying where are you? What is  your added value? Because globalization means locals coming together,  (...) You have a global network, so you must bring your local alongside my  local and it becomes global. People sometimes miss that."
While  Quaynor recognizes the many challenges Kmt faces with regard to  increasing Internet access and connectivity, he thinks the possibilities  the Internet offers the continent are too great to ignore.
"Let's democratize it and make sure everyone can get involved," Quaynor said. "It's a revolutionary mission."
To  see Dr. Quaynor speak in person you can register for Global INET,  scheduled take place between April 22nd – 24th in Geneva Switzerland.

Credit: Internet Society