The Ministry for Communication through the Data Protection Commission has launched a new data registry and compliance software to improve data collection in the country.
With the implementation of this software, Ghana will be leading the continent in the quest to harmonize data of businesses operating within the continent of free trade markets.
Speaking at the launch, Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful disclosed that the country is getting closer to achieving its aim of digitalizing the economy.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful further noted that Ghana will be ahead of its counterparts in the African continent with regards to protecting data of citizens.
“The UN has also selected Ghana as a case study nation to research and monitor the ethics of artificial intelligence in the processing of personal data for the Africa region. The knowledge gained will be used to set best practice standards for the entire region.
“We are also piloting the implementation of requirement for a harmonized data protection law for Africa. The benefit of this will be a standardized and consistent approach to handling data across the region.
“And as we gear up to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area, African interstate and international trade will not only benefit from the harmonized data protection regime but cross border processing of data should also be easier and smoother”.
The communications minister in similar vein announced amnesty period to all data controllers who couldn’t register to do so.
The move to launch the new registry is largely influenced by the increasing number of non-compliance with the data protection act. This act seeks to bring all data and companies under one law, however, out of the over 60,000 businesses registered at the Registry General’s department, only about 2,000 have been certified and licensed as data collection institutions.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the Data Protection Commission, Patricia Adusei-Poku expressed worry that many companies have still not registered with the commission despite several engagements.
“We have only 2,000 registered data controller, approximately, so, that should tell you the gap between where we are and we ought to move to as a nation.
“So, we have a lot of work to do for many fronts and with the media support, you challenging them when they come to use your studio to make their announcement, [and] you challenging them on status of compliance and how you collect and process data; more and more institutions will be registering with the Commission so that we can have a list of them to engage with and to support to implement privacy program so that this time next year, we will move more closer to that sixty thousand than where we are now”.
