See category of businesses to be affected by provisions of NITA bill

Read Article

Comments (6)

This article is closed for comments.

Read Comments Comments (6)

Truth Table 1 month ago

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) . , , ,
, , , ,

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) . , , ,
, , , ,
ANOTHER FOOLISH, ARROGANT AND CORRUP MINISTER 1 month ago

Why has President Mahama surrounded himself with so many corrupt and arrogant people. Sam George should be on his way out of Government. He is corrupt, arrogant and foolish.

He should go back to managing his constituency

Why has President Mahama surrounded himself with so many corrupt and arrogant people. Sam George should be on his way out of Government. He is corrupt, arrogant and foolish.

He should go back to managing his constituency
Oprege 1 month ago

Fraudulent Sam George

Fraudulent Sam George
Smooth-Rider1255 1 month ago

I respect the Minister’s clarification, but the problem is simple:

Verbal assurances do not become law. Written clauses do.

If the Minister says independent developers, app creators, website designers, SaaS founders, ...
read full comment

I respect the Minister’s clarification, but the problem is simple:

Verbal assurances do not become law. Written clauses do.

If the Minister says independent developers, app creators, website designers, SaaS founders, and private-sector tech builders are not affected, that is good to hear. But then the public draft must say that clearly.

Right now, the publicly available NITA Bill 2025 still contains language that goes far beyond “only companies serving government.” The article says the Minister stated that garage developers building apps for private companies have “nothing to do with NITA,” but the bill text available to the public says something broader.

The public draft still needs serious overhaul in these areas:

Section 35: Licensing requirement
This section says a person shall not engage in a business or related activity in the ICT sector unless licensed by NITA. It also includes the development or provision of ICT products and services. That is not narrow enough. If private developers and small tech businesses are exempt, the bill must say so clearly.

Section 36: Licence categories
The bill includes categories like SaaS Provider Licence, Cloud Hosting Service Licence, National Digital Platform Operator Licence, and “any other categories” NITA may determine. That “any other” language is too open-ended for a startup ecosystem.

Section 37: Qualification for licence
The bill appears to limit licence eligibility to citizens or entities wholly owned by citizens. That creates problems for diaspora founders, foreign-owned Ghana-registered companies, joint ventures, and serious investors who may employ and train Ghanaians.

Section 23: 1% gross revenue issue
The bill includes one percent of regulatory fees on gross revenue of all ICT businesses as part of NITA’s funding. Revenue is not profit. A startup can have revenue and still be bleeding cash. Taxing gross revenue punishes growth before sustainability.

Section 46: Certification of ICT professionals
The bill says a person shall not be appointed as an ICT professional in a public or private institution unless certified by NITA. If the Minister means only government-facing work, then “private institution” should not be there. That clause needs rewriting.

Section 49: Sales, mergers, amalgamation, and alteration of business
This is a major investor concern. If private ICT businesses need prior approval before sale, merger, restructuring, or alteration, that affects startup exits, venture capital, acquisitions, and investor confidence.

Inspection and enforcement powers
The bill gives NITA broad inspection and enforcement powers. If licensing scope is unclear, then enforcement becomes dangerous. A vague licensing regime plus strong enforcement powers is how normal business activity becomes regulatory risk.

Sandbox provisions
A sandbox can be useful, but only if there are strong protections for founder IP, trade secrets, data, workflows, models, and business methods. Otherwise founders may reasonably fear exposing their ideas before they are protected.

So respectfully, the Minister’s words are welcome, but they are not enough.

If the concern is based on an old draft, then publish the updated draft.

If private developers, freelancers, SaaS founders, website designers, app builders, and private-sector tech startups are not meant to be covered, then write that exemption directly into the bill.

Because Parliament will not vote on a TV interview.

Parliament will vote on text.

And the text currently available to the public still creates serious risks for Ghana’s tech ecosystem.
Aku 1 month ago

Wow, well written and elaborate

Wow, well written and elaborate

6 Comments

Welcome,

SIGN IN

Welcome,

RESET PASSWORD

Hello,

Terms and conditions

REGISTER

See category of businesses to be affected by provisions of NITA bill

Read Comments .st0{display:none;fill:#14BDD3;} .st1{display:none;} .st2{display:inline;fill:#FC0F0F;} .st3{display:inline;fill:#FFFFFF;} .st4{display:inline;fill:none;stroke:#000000;stroke-width:6;stroke-miterlimit:10;} Comments (6)

Read Comments Comments (6)