IMANI Africa Vice President Bright Simons has raised concerns about the feasibility of Ghana’s proposed artificial intelligence (AI) compute centre, citing high electricity costs, water supply challenges and past difficulties with locally developed technology projects.
Speaking at JoyNews’ Digital Economy Forum on AI and the Ghana Economy on Wednesday, October 21, Mr Simons urged Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations Minister Samuel Nartey George to demonstrate how the government intends to overcome these challenges.
He argued that the cost of electricity would be a major factor in determining the centre’s efficiency, noting that AI computing facilities typically require relatively cheap power to operate competitively.
According to him, electricity prices of between three and five US cents per unit would be necessary for efficient operations, warning that Ghana could struggle if power costs remained between 10 and 12 cents.
Mr Simons explained that the high cost of electricity could force the facility to charge customers more for its services or rely on government subsidies to remain operational.
He further stressed that affordable electricity alone would not guarantee success, insisting that the government must also ensure a reliable and consistent power supply, given Ghana’s previous challenges with electricity generation capacity.
The IMANI Africa executive also questioned whether the country could provide the substantial quantities of water required to operate a large-scale data centre. He cited Ghana’s experience with managing a desalination plant as an example of the difficulties associated with major infrastructure projects.
Beyond the infrastructure concerns, Mr Simons challenged the government to explain why the proposed AI initiative would succeed where previous efforts to establish locally developed technology solutions had struggled.
He referred to past attempts to introduce locally developed government email services and payroll management software, highlighting the experience of Ghanaian technology entrepreneur Herman Chinery-Hesse, who had advocated the adoption of homegrown software solutions.
Mr Simons questioned what had changed in Ghana’s technology ecosystem to give Minister Samuel Nartey George a better chance of delivering the proposed project successfully.
He called on the government to adopt a more evidence-based approach by inviting think tanks and other relevant stakeholders to examine the proposal, submit recommendations and participate in rigorous discussions before final decisions are made.
He also criticised what he described as the tendency to applaud government initiatives without adequately examining their practicality, arguing that major technology investments must be supported by thorough research and realistic assessments.
Mr Simons maintained that his concerns were not driven by pessimism but by a desire to ensure that the project was properly evaluated before implementation.
“I’m empirical, I’m pragmatic, and I’m a realist,” he said.
