Sustained funding support paved the way for aggressive cyber-based initiatives

Chief Legal Advisor to the National Security Secretariat and Coordinator of the Security Governance Initiative (SGI), Osei Bonsu Dickson, has said Ghana moved from a period of less dedication to progressive funding and also improved capacity building of cyber security.

According to him, the President Akufo-Addo led government in its quest to curtail cyber crimes has dedicated funding for cyber security in the 2020 budget.

He said “Ghana has moved from an era of less dedication to a point of progressive funding for Cybersecurity initiatives.”

Mr. Dickson said this during his address at the just ended third Civil Society Cyber Security workshop organized by the Africa Cybersecurity and Digital Rights Organisation (ACDRO), in Accra. It was held on the theme: “Making Our National Cyber Security Policy and Strategy citizen-centric.”

The workshop was attended by CSOs from across Ghana, security agencies, Ghana Army, Immigration and several others to learn about the present national cyber security policy draft document and to contribute to the future ultimate document.

According to him, financial and human capacity constraints which used to be biggest challenges were now a thing of the past, as far as the fight against cyber crime in Ghana is concerned.

Mr. Dickson explained, “In the past, most public prosecutors, defence lawyers and even judges lacked the capacity to adequately prosecute cybercrime, whilst inefficient processes in validating identification documents contribute to high incidence of identity theft or what I call cyber-galamsey.”

Reiterating some of the initiatives, he said the draft National Cyber Security Policy and Strategy simultaneously advances Ghana’s obligations under the United Nation’s 9th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which requires amongst other things, the development of resilient ICT infrastructure towards economic development.

“In the age of instant messaging where ‘fake news’ and damaging content spreads at a viral rate, you as CSOs have a duty to discover your voice so we can uphold rule of law in cyberspace”, he added.

He called for coordination from both public and private sector actors in the quest to build a healthier and resilient cyber space.

According to him, “We must ponder the role of CSOs in cyberspace; we must ask how best CSOs can contribute in coalition building global, regional and national capacity

“Accra remains the political Mecca of Africa, and so in the sphere of digital rights, cyber law and cyber norms, Ghanaian civil society organizations can offer a directional role in norms development, implementation, and enforcement,” he said.

Source: tigpost.co | Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei