President Mahama Inaugurates 18-Member Joint National Cyber Security Committee
On 1 October 2025, President John Dramani Mahama officially inaugurated an eighteen-member Joint National Cyber Security Committee (JCC) at Burma Camp in Accra, marking the beginning of Ghana’s National Cyber Security Awareness Month. The committee brings together representatives from key security, intelligence, and regulatory agencies to strengthen coordination and coherence in Ghana’s cyber defence framework. At the ceremony, President Mahama emphasized that cybersecurity must not be treated as a fragmented issue, but as a shared national responsibility requiring unified strategy, technical collaboration, and public awareness. He cautioned that cyber threats have no borders, noting that “a hacker in one country can breach systems halfway across the world within seconds, and that is why Ghana cannot act alone. We must collaborate with the rest of the world.”
The President reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to global cooperation by highlighting that the country is already a signatory to both the Malabo and Budapest Conventions on cybercrime and announced plans to ratify the upcoming United Nations Convention on Cybercrime. This move, he said, would strengthen Ghana’s legal tools for tackling transnational cyber offences and ensure consistency with international standards on digital security, data protection, and online privacy.
During the event, the Minister for Communications and Digital Technology, Hon. Samuel Nartey George, outlined the government’s strategic direction for cybersecurity management. He announced the establishment of a dedicated Cyber Security Fund under the Cybersecurity Act to provide sustainable financing for national cyber initiatives, the protection of critical information infrastructure, and continuous capacity-building across both the public and private sectors. The minister noted that many cyber incidents in Ghana stem from human error rather than technical failure and urged citizens to practice responsible online behaviour—verifying information before sharing, avoiding suspicious links, and reporting cyber threats promptly.
President Mahama further stated that beyond technical defences, cybersecurity is a human and developmental issue. He disclosed that the government intends to integrate cybersecurity education into school curricula and community training programmes to build a digitally conscious citizenry capable of identifying and mitigating risks. The broader vision, he explained, is to create a culture of cyber hygiene that will complement state-led defence mechanisms.
The inauguration of the Joint National Cyber Security Committee represents a major step toward consolidating cyber governance within Ghana’s national security structure. The committee is expected to coordinate policy implementation, incident response, intelligence sharing, and inter-agency collaboration among institutions such as the National Security Secretariat, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ghana Police Service, the National Communications Authority, and the National Information Technology Agency. Analysts view this as a critical milestone in building institutional capacity to address threats such as online fraud, cyber espionage, and misinformation.
Observers have, however, cautioned that the success of the initiative will depend on how effectively the government defines legal mandates, oversight mechanisms, and accountability structures for the committee’s operations. Sustainable funding, transparency, and citizen participation were also cited as essential to ensuring that cybersecurity efforts do not infringe on individual privacy rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the Data Protection Act.
By inaugurating the committee at the start of Cyber Security Awareness Month, Ghana’s government signalled a renewed national commitment to digital safety, resilience, and collaboration. The Joint National Cyber Security Committee is therefore expected to serve as the nerve centre for policy coordination, law enforcement support, and international partnerships in the fight against cybercrime, reaffirming Ghana’s position as one of West Africa’s emerging leaders in cybersecurity governance.
