GHANA COULD be transformed, within a relatively short time, into a middle-income earning economy if she can position herself as the leading ICT centre within the West African sub-Region.

With a population of over 200 million that is growing at three per cent per annum, demand within the sub-Region exists to make it economically feasible and sustainable.

However, to attain this, there must be the political will and right leadership, for, no amount of wishful thinking can turn the country into the African "Silicon Valley"

Indeed, we do not have to re-invent the wheel to be able to move forward. Historical examples exist to show us the way ahead: Take Singapore. Dr. Lee Kuan Yew, the father-founder of the tiny nation, actually a city-state, made the development of their human resources base as the most important factor and within two decades, was able to transform Singapore into a middle-income economy.

Another example is Malaysia , where Tunku Abdul Rahman and his successor, Dr. Mahathir Mohammed together have been able to make that country the envy of its post-independence peers - Ghana included!

These leaders did not use any magic wands. All they did was to create the enabling environments: investment in education, institutional changes in all sectors and the attitudinal changes that made the people proud of who they are, a patriotic citizenry!

To achieve a leading role as the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre for the West Africa sub-region, the government needs to make a sea change in its approach to the issue.

It needs to make a massive investment into technical education. Curricular changes must be made so that the youth can appreciate the importance of ICTs in the future of this country and the world at large.

As an IT expert recently observed, it is not as if Indians were any smarter than Ghanaians to be able to become the leading exporters of computer programming in the world. Simply put, the government has created the structures that have made it easy for Indians to push the limits of their creativity and thus make Bangalore an IT centre that now rivals California's Silicon Valley.

The Chronicle believes that if the NPP government is serious about making the private sector the engine of growth, then incentives must be given to make venture capitalism attractive. Young men and women with promise must be able to source cheap capital to make them creatively adventurous; to enable them take risks that can help us leap frog into the 21st century. Money is too expensive in Ghana!

Again, the institutional changes that need to be made to attract capital must be put in place, especially in the case of ICTs.

Until these problems are tackled, we will only be behaving like beggars wishing horses. In a situation where 45 per cent or more of our budget depends on donor support, we will forever remain at the fringes of development, never able to break through the debilitating chains of poverty that encircle us.

Ghana can make it, yes we all agree. But how? What our political leadership must realize is that, if they don't make the right decision, history will not forgive them.

The Chronicle believes, now is the time for the NPP government to be proactive to save the future of our youth. Already, a whole generation has gone to waste in the past 20 years. Can we afford to waste the next generation too?