The National Information
Technology Agency (NITA), is holding a brainstorming ICT stakeholder conference
to review the draft content of two Legislative Instruments (LIs) for the NITA
Act, 2008 (Act 771) and the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772) which
are being prepared to be put before Parliament. The conference is meant to take
the input of players in the ICT space to finetune the draft LIs.
The consultative
conference will take place from Wednesday 5th July to 7th July 2023 at
Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence (KACE), and the time is 11 am – 4:30 pm each day.
The
two statutes, Act 771 and Act 772, are primary legislations whose corresponding
operational subsidiary legal frameworks have not yet been passed.
These
operational legal framework documents are critical for the effective operationalization
/implementation of the primary legislation. The combined legal ecosystem of the
primary and the subsidiary legislation are critical for the effective development
of the Government digital ecosystem, and the private sector and the non-governmental digital ecosystem. These are also vital for the citizen
digital ecosystem and change management orientations across the three
ecosystems for policy goal attainment.
This
would provide the certainty of planning, assurance and support for innovation
and the growth of digital entrepreneurs and digital products in a manner which
assures the transformation impact realization as a product of digitalization.
The Director General of NITA,
Mr. Richard Okyere-Fosu expressed how important this exercise is, not only to
the Agency and the government but also to all players and consumers in the ICT
sector. He said, “NITA has existed for 15 years without these key legislative
instruments (LIs)., which are considered essential operational tools needed for
NITA to function fully and effectively”.
He reiterated the importance
of regulating ICT properly. He highlighted the huge opportunities and benefits
that the nation will derive from the completion of the exercise. He said, “This
is a journey we started with our stakeholders and it is important to seek their
inputs to make the LI industry-friendly and industry-relevant”, Mr. Okyere-Fosu
said.
The consultative workshop is
open to all stakeholders in the ICT ecosystem (professionals, businesses,
lecturers, students, etc.).