Ministry to introduce four bills to protect ICT use

Accra, May 17, GNA - The Ministry of Communications would be presenting four bills including the Electronic Transaction and Electronic Communications Bills to Parliament for consideration. The bills forms part of the measures being put in place to ensure security in the use of Information, Communication, Technology (ICT) in the country.

This was contained in a statement read on the floor of the house by the Deputy Communications Minister Dr Benjamin Aggrey-Ntim, to mark World Telecommunications and Information Society Day. He said, "While the Ministry of Communications is incorporating regulatory and other policy frameworks to protect children and young people from abuse and other exploitation, the support of Honourable Members will be sought in the course of the year to pass specific legislations".

Dr Aggrey-Ntim said this would ensure security in the use of ICT and also provide confidence in their use in the country. The Deputy Minister said other Bills to be brought before the House are the National Information Technology and National Communications Authority Bills.

"The passage of these enabling legislations would go a long way to protect the communications sector and also establish Ghana as a safe place for ICT to flourish and enable our people to take full advantage of the opportunities for development." Dr Ntim said at the end of 2006, Ghana had achieved a telephone penetration of 25 per cent representing 5,595,942 subscriptions, adding that from all indications, Ghana was certain to achieve a penetration level of 50 per cent by 2010.

This he said would exceed the target of the World Summit on the Information Society, which would be well ahead of the 2015 deadline. On the celebration of the day, which is under the theme, "connecting the young: the opportunities of ICT", he said governments and the private sectors were being called upon to work together to "extend the benefits of ICT to leaders of tomorrow." ."Ghana has a relatively young population with close to 60 per cent of the population under the age of 25 years.

"The failure to turn the youthful population into a skilled human resource asset may translate into a high unemployment population", he added. 17 May 07