Cybersecurity expert David Gyedu has cautioned that Ghana risks being left behind in the global technology landscape if urgent structural changes are not made. he said that although the country’s tech sector is seeing some growth, its pace is significantly slower than that of major innovation-driven nations.

Gyedu stressed that Ghana should not measure progress against struggling economies, but rather against leading nations when setting benchmarks.

“Countries like Singapore, and even closer to home Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa are advancing quickly. When you look at Ghana’s connectivity level and technological output, we should be far ahead of where we are now,” he said.

He highlighted a persistent “brain drain” as one of Ghana’s most critical challenges. According to him, many of the country’s skilled professionals—including engineers, doctors and technologists—continue to relocate abroad in search of better prospects, leaving Ghana with a shallow pool of expertise needed to drive innovation.

“The few technocrats we have are leaving,” he noted. “And that weakens our ability to build and sustain our own technological systems.”

Gyedu also pointed to inadequate access to essential resources. He explained that Ghanaian developers often struggle to obtain hardware for building or testing locally developed solutions.

“I develop software here, but I have to travel just to find hardware to support it,” he said. “We don’t have enough hardware labs or manufacturing facilities. We rely heavily on Western technology.”

He further criticised the trend of introducing sophisticated digital systems without properly preparing the population to use them.

“We are implementing technologies for people who haven’t been prepared from the basics. We are using third-party AI tools without understanding the logic behind them,” he warned.

Gyedu argued that the lack of serious investment in tech innovation—both from the government and wealthy individuals in the private sector—is stifling Ghana’s potential. Many innovators, he said, are left to self-fund their projects and even manufacture hardware abroad.

“How many big men in Ghana support tech?” he asked. “We can’t rely on government alone.”

The expert concluded that if Ghana intends to compete internationally, it must prioritise technical education, invest in research and infrastructure, support local innovators, and reduce dependence on imported technology.