Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George, says Ghana is on the verge of its most ambitious legal overhaul in decades, with 15 new bills in the works to modernise the country’s outdated technology laws — and to set clear boundaries for media coverage of national tragedies.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, August 12, the minister said the sweeping reforms were long overdue.
“It’s the first time; when I told the Attorney General that I needed support from his ministry, he asked me, ‘What’s going on? what’s wrong with you?’ I’m working on 15 pieces of legislation at the same time,” he revealed.
According to him, most of the current laws in the technology sector belong in a museum rather than in active governance.
“When I took over the reins of the ministry in February, I realised that most of the legislation in the technology ministry is 18 years old; some were 23 years old. They are not fit for purpose. The current state of Ghana’s legislative framework for our technology sector is best placed in the Ghanaian Museum, not in the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation,” he said.
He cited the Data Protection Act of 2012 — which makes no mention of artificial intelligence — and the Electronic Communications Act of 2008 as examples of outdated laws that need urgent revision.
The plan, he explained, includes separating the National Communications Authority (NCA) Act from the Electronic Communications Act to create a more modern, targeted legal framework.
But the legislative push is not limited to technology. Sam George said one of the bills will focus on responsible media coverage during moments of national grief.
“This is ample time for us to ensure that we do not try to censure the media’s ability to publish. We’ll be able to set parameters that say, let’s not cross,” he stated.
“We’re going to be taking a lot of inspiration from the GJA’s own Code of Ethics, especially on respect for grieving families and intrusion into the privacy of people who are grieving. At times in legislation, you pick directly from the Constitution and put it in the legislation. I think that’s what we’re going to do when it comes to guiding broadcasts” He added.
He stressed this was not an attempt to control the press, but rather to legally reinforce ethical standards already embraced by the Ghana Journalists Association.
Asked how he intends to regulate social media platforms without crossing into censorship, the minister said the government was fully aware of the danger of overreach and was working with global tech companies to curb harmful content without violating press freedom.
“Take, for example, Meta. Meta has a content moderation team in-country. As soon as we reached out to them, the footage was not just shown or circulated on WhatsApp; it was also on Instagram and Facebook. On Instagram and Facebook, a lot of that content has been removed. If you go online today on META, on Facebook, and Instagram, you will hardly see the footage we’re talking about. Almost all of it has been taken off,” he said.
He acknowledged, however, that encrypted platforms such as WhatsApp present a tougher challenge.
“Meta’s policy is that they cannot block encrypted conversations between two people. At first, you could just send a video to hundreds of people in your contact list. Now, you can send to a maximum of about five at a time, and it has to be people who are encrypted end-to-end.
At the policy level, when we meet at the international forum, we’re still going to pick that up with the platform operators and say there are issues like this where the platform should be able to say, ‘We’re taking this off. Whether it’s encrypted or not, we will block this.’”
Sam George stressed that Ghana’s approach will be grounded in best practices, international cooperation, and local enforcement.
“When it comes to Ghana and our local legislation and what we can enforce — especially with our local media — we will do that using the GJA’s ethics,” he affirmed.
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