Purpose Nearly at the end of its lifespan, the Ghana ICT4AD policy is in a position for a holistic view, especially through the eyes of the intended beneficiaries. This paper aims to fill that gap. The paper measures the gap between what was intended and what has been realised and, based on that, makes recommendations for stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The research used the design reality gap analysis approach to numerically examine the deviation or otherwise of the ideals of the Ghana ICT4AD policy from or to the reality on the ground. It required the breaking down of the problem into dimensions and subdimensions and involved interviewing office holders, academics, practitioners and students over a three-year period. The recommendations include a review of the policy before it expires and an explicit designation of an agency responsible for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the various stages of the policy. Findings The chief finding is that Ghana’s ICT4AD policy might miss the targets totally, or might well be a partial failure unless action is taken to close the design–reality gaps identified by the research. As the policy is almost at the end of its lifespan, recommendations are even more useful when the recommended revision takes place. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of the is that it looks only at the implementation success or failure without a probe into the causal factors and/or the impact on society. Practical implications The policy runs full term at end 2022, with large gaps between the plans of the framers and the reality on the ground. An immediate revision of the policy is most recommended. Originality/value Besides this study, the authors have not come across any such comprehensive study of the Ghana ICT4AD policy, especially with the amount of data now available after two decades. There is a similarity with a Pakistani study, which has been acknowledged in this study, but the two works differ greatly in methodology, context and style.