Mrs Owusu Ekuful suggested that Africa needed to institute robust measures now to harness the benefits of existing and emerging digital technologies, and stated that “digitisation should be a priority for the economic development of the African continent but it must be done without compromising the integrity and privacy of our valuable data and the cyber security of our states”.

She said utilising technology for economic development would face resistance if existing systems became susceptible to cyber-attacks, which would also lead to significant losses to the continent’s economy.

Addressing a cybersecurity session at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, she expressed concerned that despite the adoption of the Malabo Convention in 2014, only five African countries had so far ratified the treaty.

Ghana has ratified both the Malabo Convention and the Budapest Convention, along with only Mauritius and Senegal.

Instruments

Mrs Owusu Ekuful urged African governments to ratify those international instruments, as a matter of urgency, to facilitate effective international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime, stressing that it was a borderless crime and its effective response required collaboration among all countries.

She said not only was Ghana in the process of completing her cybersecurity legal and regulatory framework, “we have established computer emergency response centres, both at the national level and in critical sectors such as telecommunications and finance, and set up the national cybersecurity centre with its technical working group”.

The Communications Minister said in recognition of Ghana’s commitment to cybersecurity development both domestically and internationally, the World Economic Forum had indicated its preparedness to foster deeper collaboration with Ghana.

In this regard, the Cybersecurity Centre of the World Economic Forum will engage with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the Ministry of Communications on initiatives to promote cybersecurity in the region, especially in the area of public-private cooperation on cybersecurity.

Contingent

The minister was accompanied by the National Cyber security Advisor, Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako, and the Chief Director of the Ministry of Communications, Mrs Magdalene Apenteng.

The World Economic Forum on Africa aims at tackling global issues affecting Africa by focusing on how to scale up the transformation of regional architecture related to innovation, cooperation, growth and stability.

Organised on “Shaping Inclusive Growth and Shared Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the 28th World Economic Forum on Africa attracted more than 1,000 regional and global leaders from politics, business, civil society and academia to shape regional and industry agendas in the year ahead.