Benson😄

I write some code I don’t understand and companies give me money for it

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

22

[Sage Kenny 🐺🦍 | Digital Marketer @Donsarkcess]

At what age did you make your first 10,000 cedis?

[Prince Boadu @princeboadu]

Most Ghanaians don't know the legendary status of @pazunre. Let me share a short story. While working at Google, a colleague, whom I had just met that week, scheduled for us to have lunch to get to know more about what we each did at work.

During our conversation at lunch, I got to find out he was a team lead for some projects covering Google translate. He spoke of the complexity getting their AI engines to understand the nuances embedded in translating African languages.

Knowing the momentous work @pazunre is doing with @GhanaNLP and Khaya app, I mentioned that I had a friend who had built an app for Ghanaian languages, and was expanding to other countries; he went to MIT and had a PhD. My colleague interjected with, "is it Paul? With the Khaya App?".

My colleague then mentioned that indeed Khaya App had the best translation on the market for Ghanaian languages and that Paul is someone who has an incredible reputation amongst the AI, ML research scientists at Google.

They knew who he was. And had such reverence for him. This guy spoke of Dr. Pushkin and @moorekwesi like some legends in the game. That was a very proud Ghanaian moment for me.

Where am I going with all this? Let's leverage such brains as a country. Cos others have seen what they have to offer and are seriously considering of poaching them.There many like Dr. Pushkin n Dr. Moore out there who can help shape the future fortunes of Ghana.

#GhanaMoments

[Alfred @CallmeAlfredo]

My hypothesis is that he believes he is doing stakeholders a favour by engaging on such consequential legislation. Notice how he points to his predecessors and argues that they did not engage at all on other legislation. The implication seems to be that stakeholders should be grateful for the engagement, even if the quality of that engagement is lacking.

If you publish a poor first draft of a bill and subsequently make substantial changes to it, a genuine commitment to transparency requires that you publish the revised and more polished draft as well. That way, stakeholders can review the current provisions under consideration and provide informed feedback.

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

Active!

[DevCongress @DevCongress]

Ready to host you 🚀

[Nana B. @koboateng]

Yesterday, a stakeholder confirmed she has not seen any of the alleged newer drafts. The engagements have been verbal.

So we are discussing a bill that affects everyone, but the people being consulted have not even been given the updated text to read for themselves?

This is not how serious countries make law. We deserve better.

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

@MikelAsamoah Chale��� I check the comment section of the LinkedIn post and I’m embarrassed. People are bigging her up as if she has done the Lord’s work

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

@MikelAsamoah Thanks bro

[Stephen Frimpong @FrimpongTd]

A simple story 😀

NITA:
“We are transparent. Share your thoughts.”

Tech ecosystem:
“Okay. Here are our concerns about innovation, startups, freelancing, and barriers for young builders.”

NITA:
“The law already existed.”

Tech ecosystem:
“Okay… but the fact that something existed does not automatically mean implementation today is the best direction. Technology has changed. 2008? That was when WhatsApp was only gaining momentum. Lean startup methodology was not even mainstream.”

NITA:
“Noted. Let’s have a Space and continue.”

Then a date is announced.

Maybe they realize they still need answers.

Then NITA postpones.

Postpones again.

Then finally:

“Let’s meet Tuesday.”

Tuesday comes.

People expect an open Space.

Instead NITA controls the conversation and it feels more like a briefing.

Then NITA says:

“The draft you saw was version zero. We are already on version 5.”

Tech ecosystem:
“Oh okay… then can we see versions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 so we understand what changed and how concerns were addressed?”

NITA:
“No, not yet. That is not how it is done.”

Tech ecosystem:
“But the EU did exactly that with major policies like the AI Act and GDPR. Different drafts and amendments were publicly traceable.”

😀

NITA:
“It was a great Space. We made data cheap. If you researched enough, you would know there are different versions… even though we didn’t publish them.”

Tech ecosystem:
“We are ethical. Were we supposed to hack the system and find the documents ourselves or what?”

😀

That is like a student telling a lecturer:

“Sir, I corrected everything.”

Lecturer:
“Great. Let me see.”

Student:
“I left it home.”

Lecturer:
“So what exactly did you correct?”

Student:
“Everything.”

Lecturer:
“Can I see version 1 to version 5?”

Student:
“No… but trust me. I’ll submit later.”

Respectfully…

if the claim is transparency, then the versions should speak for themselves.

You made data cheaper, fair enough.

But surely enough data was left to upload the updated drafts too 😄

No visible draft trail… but somehow we are all expected to just believe it on vim 😀

At the very least, many of us will keep pushing for the bill not to move forward in its current form until the ecosystem can clearly see what changed and engage it properly.

That is all we are asking.
@koboateng @pazunre @TheDumbTechGuy @MacJordaN @seth_doe22

[Bright Simons @BBSimons]

Despite a very full plate, I have been needled by a Ghanaian business journo friend of mine based in NYC to have a go at the debate that has taken Ghana's tech community by storm: the draft NITA bill.

My short essay effectively aligns with what everyone else is saying: shred the bill and come back with something more aligned with modern tech reality!

But in the tradition of the Scarab, I try to go into a bit more detail than most mainstream pieces.

I also point out something that seems missing in the debate. With the rapid surge of technologies like AI, everyone is or will soon be doing stuff previously considered "ICT professional stuff."

Licensing ICT professionals is akin to licensing bloggers in today's rowdy information environment: trying to stop a hurricane by blowing fumes from one's mouth.

https://t.co/hrmLM6SKtE

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

@0xEbaf Hm

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

Let’s go!!

[pythonxi @python_xi]

I’m happy to say that Openreel video is finally on the AppStore.
The free professional video editor for the web is now on mobile.
Go ahead and create something great

Link in reply

[Benson😄 @webdevbenson]

That’s St. George’s cross
He is the patron saint of Barcelona and Catalonia as a whole

[BackroadGee @BackroadGee_]

I have always wanted to ask, why do we have the England badge inside our Badge?🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

Emirates Islamic financial firm becomes FC Barcelona’s new sponsor in the United Arab Emirates

🤝 @emiratesislamic | #EmiratesIslamicxFCBarcelona

🔗 More info: https://t.co/XPJ1YFuh8D

[Transfer News Live @DeadlineDayLive]

🚨 NEGREIRA CASE. 🇪🇸⚖️

Spanish tax authorities claim they have found NO evidence of sporting corruption by Barcelona in the Negreira case. ❌

NO payments to referees and NO influence over match results have been proven. 👀

(Source: MiguelGalanCNFE)

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

Our future is secured.

[Reshad Rahman @ReshadRahman]

🚨 OFFICIAL: The Tax Agency has issued a report in which it concluded that Barcelona's payments to Negreira were NOT for the purpose of buying off referees or influencing sporting results. #FCB ⚖️🔵🔴❌

[Ecobank Ghana PLC @EcobankGhanaPLC]

PSA - For the attention of the public.

[Robert Lewandowski @lewy_official]

After four years full of challenges and hard work, it's time to move on.

I leave with the feeling that the mission is complete. 4 seasons, 3 championships.

I will never forget the love I received from the fans from my very first days.
Catalonia is my place on earth.

Thank you to everyone I met along the way during these beautiful four years.
A special thank you to President Laporta for giving me the chance to live the most incredible chapter of my career.

Barça is back where it belongs.
Visca el Barça. Visca Catalunya 💙❤️

@fcbarcelona

[Kwadwo Sheldon @kwadwosheldon]

Alidu!!!!