Accra, Ghana//- Ghana’s government through its Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MOCD) is consulting with stakeholders to finalise the Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for Ghana.
The Digital Economy Policy is the successor to the ICT4AD policy and will be expected to move Ghana’s digital agenda to the next level and drive all the needed initiatives and programs to accelerate Ghana’s development.
The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation (MOCD), Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, disclosed this at this year’s National Information Technology Agency (NITA) ICT Stakeholders Forum held in Accra.
According to her: “The era of a digitalised economy has come to stay. We will have to organise ourselves as a community to ensure a stable and reliable ecosystem with enough opportunities for all.
The ecosystem should grow at a sustainable rate and contribute its quota to the total transformation of our economy”.
Conducting a gap analysis
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful also disclosed that her ministry as part of its effort to position the ICT sector well, is currently conducting a gap analysis of all their laws and regulations to determine whether their existing laws and regulations are still relevant and adequate for the maturity of their ecosystem in the ensuing years.
“We will then work to develop additional laws and regulations if the study identifies any such gaps”.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful who was the keynote speaker at the forum attended by the ICT key players in the country noted that as the ICT sector grows, it comes with its associated risk and hazards that requires proper management to prevent loss of resources for citizens, businesses, and the economy at large.
It is therefore imperative that the government partners with the private sector to ensure that systems are standardized to withstand attacks.
Sanctions
“Act 771 requires that all ICT service providers and practitioners register with NITA and must be in good standing to qualify to do business. There will be a database of such businesses and practitioners who are in good standing with the regulator”, the sector minister said.
This database, she explained, would be made available to businesses online to confirm ICT service providers and practitioners who are in good standing to reduce occupational risk to businesses. Those who fail to register will be sanctioned, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful warned.
Form alliances
For NITA to succeed, it is critical that it forms alliances with stakeholders within the ICT industry, which is a fast-paced industry in terms of knowledge, innovation, skill set and resources.
NITA will have to adopt a consultative approach in regulating this industry to ensure that laws, regulations, or guidelines are enriched with input from both the industry and academia and are acceptable to all. You will agree that enforcing such regulations are much easier as there will be ownership of the entire process.
Tap into the rich skillset of the industry
She encouraged NITA to tap into the rich skillset of the industry by forming working groups to periodically review standards and regulations and provide some advisory and valuable inputs on government policies.
I expect to see such partnerships churning out webinars, workshops, training programs on technology in 2023.
Partner with academia and industry
NITA partnering with academia and industry is the surest way of providing tailored solutions that address our peculiar problems as a nation and saving the nation of much needed forex and export of some of the Ghanaian made solutions.
The ICT sector is playing a major role in the socioeconomic development of the country, according to her.
She admitted that the private sector has also stepped up to the plate and effectively matched these developments with innovation and technology in their service delivery as well and all these are fast tracking our development.
Benefits
The benefits of these initiatives to the citizens cannot be quantified. The ICT sector therefore requires a strong regulator ensuring that businesses thrive, and consumers receive value for money on products, solutions and services rendered by the ICT industry.
The ministry realised there was a gap in the implementation of NITA’s regulatory mandate, and directed the leadership of NITA to refocus its attention on its core mandate of regulating the ICT space whilst the operational aspect of its activities is handled by a technical partner.
Measures to build NITA’s capacity
The ministry is putting in place measures to build NITA’s capacity, provide them with the needed resources and executive support to ensure it provides the much-needed cutting edge and international best practice regulatory services to the sector.
The focus is for NITA not to be a profit-oriented or heavy-handed regulator but one that enables, promotes, and ensures a vibrant and competitive ICT ecosystem with opportunities for businesses and citizens, she said.
NITA as a regulator, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful explained would focus on: protection of consumer interest within the ecosystem; monitoring compliance with contractual obligation to the government, users, and other legal and regulatory requirements; and establishing technical, safety and quality standards and monitoring their compliance.
The regulation will cut across the ICT industry from service providers, practitioners, ICT infrastructure and its operations, eCommerce, public sector ICT and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
Working on accreditation of service providers
This means NITA will be working on accreditation of service providers and practitioners alike and they will be doing this in close collaboration with agencies like the Cyber Security Authority, Data Protection Commission, National Communications Authority and other government regulators.
“We will build regulatory systems and platforms to make regulations more efficient, transparent, and practical and as much as possible, eliminate multiple regulatory burdens on businesses and practitioners”.
Approach
In a speech read for the Director-General of NITA, Richard Okyere-Fosu admitted that regulating the ICT sector is not going to be an easy task considering how broad and dynamic the sector is.
“Our approach will be to identify what we call specific regulatory verticals within the sector and develop specific regulations, guidelines, and standards for each identified regulatory vertical”.
Some of the regulatory verticals Mr Okeyere-Fosu and his team have so far identified are ICT Vendors or Service Providers; ICT Professionals; Commercial Data Center Providers; Commercial Cloud Infrastructure Providers; eCommerce Providers; Public Sector ICT; and Public Key Infrastructure.
To this end, he revealed: “NITA is currently working with different consultants and partners (such as Smart Africa, GIZ, World Bank Sponsored eTransform Project) under different projects in the development of the regulations for the above-mentioned verticals”.
At different stages of the development of specific regulations, we will engage the needed stakeholders within the sector to get their input. This will improve on the acceptability and adherence when these regulations are rolled out. We will therefore entreat members of the community to stay in touch and be informed accordingly”.
Collaborations
“For NITA, collaborative regulation is our approach to regulating the ICT industry. Collaboration within government (other regulators), with the industry, academia, developing partners and the international community.
We hope our effort to regulate the ICT sector will enable more opportunities, promote fair play, promote quality and standards, and help grow the sector for the benefit of all stakeholders”.
From 2023, he said NITA would have specific engagements even outside of the ICT sector. ICT cuts across all sectors of the economy and every sector is now employing ICT to deliver its services.
In an overview of the ICT sector, the Women’s Lead for Institute of IT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH), Mrs Juliana Ametorwogo disclosed that the institute has trained over 10,000 professionals and students in web development, data science, cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoTs), artificial intelligence, data protection, among others within five years.
She said the institute, which was set up five years ago, focuses among other things to train and certify ICT professionals and students.
The institute Mrs Ametorwogo added also provides opportunities through networking and educating the public on the ICT sector.
The NITA ICT Stakeholders Forum which was organised in collaboration with the Institute of IT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH), engaged and educated ICT industry players on its regulatory activities and solicited feedback to fine tune its implementation strategy.
It was on the ‘Regulating ICT Businesses and Practitioners in Ghana: Opportunities and Challenges’.