George Andah, Deputy Minister of Communications
A Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah, has reiterated that government will not shutdown internet connectivity in the country before, during and after the December general elections.
He said the government will continue to engage stakeholders to put in place measures to ensure a comprehensive usage of internet in respect of human rights of the citizenry.
“Internet shutdown is not an option for Ghana. We are working, and will continue to work, with all the stakeholders to put in place human rights-centered protection policies,” said the Deputy Minister
He made the announcement in his closing remarks at the two-day Freedom Online Coalition, held in Accra on Thursday and Friday last week.
The Deputy Minister acknowledged that there is the need to deploy effective solutions to minimise interference in elections, saying this can done through fact-checking, digital literacy programmes and product-level innovations.
Moderation
He also said there is the need to prevent the spread of misinformation and disinformation as well as understand the scope through the use of artificial intelligence in relation to protecting human rights.
Mr Andah is convinced that the issues of content moderation of online challenges have been amicably resolved. He disclosed that the resolution has met the expectations of all participating member countries, adding that it will be enforced to bring sanity in the cyber space across the globe through the Freedom Online Coalition.
He said the human right impacts of cybersecurity laws, practice and policies, social media, conflict and violence, data protection and digital identification systems and the architecture of global internet governance have been organised to collectively seek to identify and address critical issues pertaining to social media and data privacy of individuals.
Cybersecurity Bill
He noted that the drafting of a comprehensive new cybersecurity bill by the government of Ghana is expected to address gaps in the legal framework through government’s commitment to human rights online to avert arising concerns.
He called on other member states to also show similar commitment through legislation in other to ensure respect for human rights and curb restrictions of freedom online expression.
He said the government is poised to offer child online protection and resolve emerging issues, including online grooming and live streaming and the risks of legitimate material being removed from the internet in an automated process through organisations that manage illegal content around the world.
The Deputy Minister also stated that efforts are being put in place to mitigate such issues on social media platforms to ensure drastic increase of transparency over content moderation as well as invest more in people and technology and engage with a broader range of stakeholders to develop the policies.
