Accra, Ghana//-Ghana’s government has announced that the use of personal emails of public officials for government business will no longer be permitted by the end of this year.
Any government agency that has not yet been on boarded should contact NITA to be onboarded before close of the year.
The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful announced this at the first day of the two-day Technology Breakfast Meeting With Public Executives organised by NationalInformationTechnologyAgency (NITA) in collaboration with State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA).
“Please let me repeat, it will not be acceptable to use personal email to do official government business from next year”, she stressed.
According to her, the government has realised that the use of personal emails like Yahoo and Gmail do not create the impression of seriousness in running state duties.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful also noted that the use of personal emails exposes the entire critical information resources of the country to cyberattacks and cybercrimes, saying the need to protect the public information ecosystem is very important.
The government has partnered with Microsoft and ESolutions, its local partner to rollout the Smart Workplace™ platform. Smart Workplace™ is the virtual office for government workers. It provides the needed tools for staff communication, collaboration and meetings without participants being in the same space. With all these tools available, the use of personal emails is outlawed, she said.
Procure your internet services from NITA
Cabinet has also decided that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) must procure internet services from NITA and host their data and or disaster recovery sites at the National Data Centre, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful disclosed.
This she explained is because NITA and its technical partner have the capacity to provide high speed broadband services to its public sector clients.
“With support from the World Bank, we are about to roll out connectivity to all MMDAs, selected police stations, post offices and hospitals across the country.
This is a dawn of a new era, but we need to work with you to make it succeed. Just as you budget and pay for transport and utilities, you must do same for connectivity and data services from NITA in this digital age”.
Lesson from pandemic lockdowns
A key lesson learnt from the pandemic lockdowns around the world is that without utilizing digital solutions, the world as we know it will not survive. It kept us connected and working virtually and it is here to stay, the Minister said.
“We are also working on change management in the public sector as we introduce these ICT systems. Attitudes die hard but we must change with the times”.
ICT adoption to be included in performance appraisal
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful entreated the heads of NITA, SIGA and Office of Head of Civil Service (OHCS) to sit together to include ICT adoption indicators as part of the performance appraisal framework for all the Chief Directors and CEOs.
This will ensure that CEOs will be appraised on how much of ICT adoption has taken place in the delivery of their mandate.
“You Chief Directors and CEOs present here today are key stakeholders in achieving a digital public sector and by extension a digital Ghana. Your leadership and support in driving the needed reforms that come with introduction and use of digital initiatives are key. You will have to lead by example and set the right tone for your staff to understand and appreciate the reforms being rolled out”.
Objectives of the two-day breakfast meeting
In his welcome address, the Director-General of NITA, Richard Okyere-Fosu said NITA in collaboration with SIGA and OHCS has brought the Chief Directors, CEOs, and ICT/ technical staff of the public sector together as key stakeholders and decision makers in the Digital Ghana Agenda.
The objective of first today’s session is to introduce decision makers within the public service to highlights of Ghana’s Digitalization agenda, get the decision makers to appreciate their layer of the digitalisation framework and the role they play in its realisation, re-introduce the Smart WorkplaceTM (Government Virtual Office) to the executives and adoption strategies to ensure the institutions are on boarded and utilizing Smart Workplace, cessation of the use of private email for Government business
ICT Regulator
He explained: “Per government policy, NITA’s role as the operator of the eGovernment Infrastructure has been handed over to a private partner, Smart Infraco to maintain and operate the infrastructure on behalf of government.
This frees NITA to now concentrate on its mandate to regulate the ICT space. NITA through the NITA Act (Act 771) and the Electronic Transaction Act (Act 772) is empowered by an Act of Parliament to Regulate the ICT space, electronic transactions, electronic signature and electronic records”.
NITA is now focused on this role as a regulator and has started several stakeholder engagements in the drafting of the needed regulations, guidelines and standards for the sector. The public sector is a key area that requires regulations and we will work with the executives to do the right thing, Mr Okyere-Fosu said.
Tech can address mismanagement public sector
The Director-General of SIGA, Ambassador Edward Boateng in a short remark noted that mismanagement is a key driver that brings State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) down. However with the adoption of technology tools, mismanagement which is rampant in the country’s public sector could be addressed.
“Our role at SIGA is to improve productivity in the public sector. As SOEs all dots must be connected with technology tools”, he said.
The Head of the Civil Service in Ghana, Nana Kwasi Agyekum Dwamena revealed that over 2.5 million public records had been digitised by Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD). So for him, digitisation being championed by the government is yielding results.
He therefore appealed to all the executives and chief directors of the public sector institutions to embrace ICT and its tools to also enable them to cut waste and corruption in the country.
