Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama launched the country’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy on Friday, committing to a 10-year implementation plan aimed at positioning the West African nation as a regional leader in AI adoption and governance.

The strategy includes the establishment of a Responsible Artificial Intelligence Office to coordinate policy execution and provide oversight across government agencies.

Mahama framed the initiative as a development imperative rather than a technological aspiration, saying, “AI is no longer the future, it is a development tool of our present.”

The government plans to invest in upskilling and reskilling the public sector workforce as part of a people-centered rollout designed to extend AI readiness beyond technical agencies to workers across all sectors of the economy.

Samuel Nartey George, Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, said the strategy would be backed by continued infrastructure investment, including ongoing 4G and 5G connectivity expansion. “Ghana steps forward, deliberately and confidently, into the Intelligence Age,” he said.

Mahama said the strategy reflects a deliberate choice to shape AI adoption in alignment with Ghana’s values and development priorities rather than absorb the technology passively.

He called for measurable, accountable outcomes and indicated that clear targets would govern the rollout across the decade-long horizon.

Ghana joins a growing group of African governments formalizing AI governance frameworks, as the continent seeks to regulate and leverage the technology in line with national and continental development goals, including those set under the African Union’s Agenda 2063.