Partnerships between private and public sector players are needed to deepen synergies toward combatting cybercrime and money laundering activities in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region, Deputy Attorney-General Alfred Tuah-Yeboah has said.
He said though Ghana is making significant strides in fighting cybercrime and its related activities, these efforts will not be sufficient without collaboration with external agencies having expertise in similar areas.
Speaking at the Attorney-General Alliance Africa (AGA-Africa) Annual Conference in Accra yesterday, Mr. Tuah-Yeboah indicated that the fight against transnational crimes will require sophisticated and risk mitigation factors to deal with them.
Last year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) rated Ghana number-three in Africa on its Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI).
The country’s current score of 86.69 percent on the metric shows major progress from the previous ratings in 2017 and 2018, of 32.6 percent and 43.7 percent respectively.
This, the deputy justice minister said, calls for additional efforts to ensure that cybercrime is reduced to its barest minimum, adding: “It is not a surprise that Ghana has been chosen for the Annual AGA-Africa Conference. It speaks to our shared values and commitment to fight transnational crimes like cybercrime, human trafficking and money laundering, among others”.
The two-day conference, on the theme ‘Exploring New Frontiers for Cybersecurity and Africa’s Digital Future’, brought together Chief Justices, CEOs and Attorney Generals from the USA and government officials among other dignitaries.
Executive Director of the Attorney General Alliance, Ms. Karen White, admitted that there is no doubt the past two years have been challenging for many economies.
“While the pandemic imposed on us a momentary pause as a result of reduced movement around the world, transnational crime continued – and in some cases, increased,” she said.
Indeed, the AGA has said the COVID-19 pandemic prompted about 60 percent more businesses to transact operations online. This, it said, also led to a resultant increase in cybercrime-related activities.
Ms. White said AGA will in the coming days share insights from the conference with government leaders in Ghana, and also have meetings with other African counterparts on how to further mitigate the effects of cybercrime and related transnational crimes.
Current interventions toward tackling cybercrime
Ghana has enacted a number of laws – including the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA), 2008, Data Protection Act (DPA), 2012, Economic and Organised Crime Act, 2010 (EOCA) – and redrafted the 2019 National Cyber Security Policy to fight the menace.
In 2020, President Akufo- Addo also assented into law the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), as well as creation of the Cybercrime Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.
At the regional and continental level, the country has ratified relevant cybercrime and cybersecurity international conventions and treaties: such as the Convention on Cybercrime, also known as the Budapest Convention.
Other measures include the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, also known as the Malabo Convention; the ECOWAS’ Regional Cybersecurity Cybercrime Strategy; and the Regional Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Protection Policy.
