WELCOME SPEECH DELIVERED DURING THE OPENING SESSION OF THE 2020 GHANA SCHOOL ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE (GHANASIG), 11TH NOVEMBER 2020 AT THE SSNIT GUEST

Our special invited guests - 'Gbenga Sesan, the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiatives; and Seun Ojedeji the AFRALO Chair and board member of AFRINIC. Our able and supportive Advisory Board Members, colleague team EGIGFA members, pioneer Fellows of GhanaSIG, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of team EGIGFA, the organizers of the 2020 GhanaSIG, I welcome you all to the opening ceremony of the face to face session of the first ever GhanaSIG fellowship event.

We started the E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa (EGIGFA) initiative a year ago. One of our motivations for this initiative is to see an Africa that is more engaged in the internet governance and e-governance ecosystems than we are presently doing. Among our planned activities to achieve our goals, we decided to introduce the Ghana School on Internet Governance (GhanaSIG) event. The result of this is what we are seeing today i.e. producing 26 solid Fellows of the school.

Ladies and gentlemen, internet Governance is a multi-stakeholder engagement and we as team EGIGFA are just playing our part in this arduous process. Frankly, internet governance is not a bonafide preserve for any entity or individuals, but rather everyone must play their roles without feeling intimidated about what others are doing. Just as the baobab tree is too huge for a single hand to go around it so is internet governance. Let us all do our part in seeing an internet that is free and safe for all of us. It’s a one world and one internet.

To our Fellows, some of you are already engaged in the internet governance ecosystem, while others are now getting to start. No matter the stage in which you are, don’t get deterred, relax and learn. Getting engaged in the internet governance ecosystem is a lot of work but it also provides an opportunity to network with people from all over the world. No matter how stressful it gets, just take consolation that you are playing your part in making the internet safe and secured. One of the Fellows asked me recently on which sessions he should join in the just ended ICANN 69 virtual meeting. I was going to give him few suggestions but upon a second thought, I told him to just freely join any session. I, however, assured him that though the sessions will be a bit confusing, he should relax and enjoy the sweet confusions. This is the same advice to you all Fellows. From the onset of your engagements, it will appear confusing, but relax and enjoy the sweet confusion. Soon everything will make meaning. We all went through it and still enjoying the sweet confusion.

Fellows, Siranush Vardanyan, the ICANN Fellowship Programs Manager recently said in one of our sessions during ICANN 69 that she’s still learning. If such a lady of her capacity is still learning, this should tell us that we still have a lot to learn in this ecosystem. Relax and keep learning something new. Rest assured that team EGIGFA is ready to give you the needed support in this journey as you onboard your engagement in the internet governance ecosystem.

Ladies and gentlemen, help me to honour the other members of the team EGIGFA Sarata Omane Vice President (VP) for Admin and Strategy, Jake Odame-Baiden VP for Legal and Engagement, and Sedem Seakomo who is the VP for IT and Innovations.

Ladies and gentlemen, we thank everyone who has provided team EGIGFA the needed support so far, this is just the beginning. Thank you to all our board members and various partners for the supports. To our special guests we are grateful for your presence. Most importantly, thank you to our Fellows to, it’s because of you that we are all gathered here today.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s watch out for the exploits of EGIGFA in the ecosystem. God got our back. Our Fellows, enjoy your 3 days sessions. More vim!

RAYMOND SELORM MAMATTAH, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT EGIGFA

Notes:

a) GhanaSIG is an event organized by EGIGFA E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa this first edition was done this year (2020) where 26 Fellows were produced.

b) “More Vim” is gradually becoming a slogan among the Fellows. More vim is Ghanaian cheers words used to encourage someone to do more of what he or she is doing.

c) The 3 days face-to-face session was recorded live on Facebook and can be seen on our page @ghanasig