The Data Protection Commission(DPC), has been tasked by the Ministry of Communications, to step up public education on the need to protect personal data.

"I have directed the Commission to engage the Ghana National Data Center, the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications the Cyber Security Secretariat and other critical stake-holders, in a collaborative effort to step up public education on the need to protect personal data, how to do so and also monitor the compliance status of Data Controllers.

Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister for Communications, said this in Accra on Thursday, when she launched a new registration software by the DPC.
Dubbed, the "DP-Reg5ys", the software offers a six month amnesty period, from October 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021.

The Minister said with the current scenario of a largely borderless digitized economy, international cooperation on safe trans-border processing of data and digital identification of people using appropriate tools and technology was critical.

She observed that Ghana, like several others, had adopted the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for accelerated national development.

"This process is backed by our Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development Policy (ICTAAD), which emphasises the importance of safeguarding data by ensuring that the development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the economy and society and related legal and regulatory provisions, will balance and protect community and individual interests, including; privacy and data protection issues," the Minister said.

Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful commended the DPC and said the work of the Commission had been recognised globally, resulting in the Commission being invited to participate in several international fora as the regional trailblazer for the African Region and developing countries.

She gave the assurance that the Ministry of Communications together with its agencies, would continue to work towards closing the digital gap, towards ensuring transparency, efficiency and trust in public and private institutions, for a transformed Ghana.

Madam Patricia Adusei-Poku, Executive Director, DPC, said the Commission had worked tirelessly to improve its capacity to ensure transparency in data processing, in order to build trust for data subject institutions and all other entities that process personal data.

"We want to manage the organisational and institutional culture, the mindset of people, and implement the necessary institutional change that is required to achieving the national transformation agenda, as far as safeguarding personal data and respecting the privacy of individuals as a fundamental human right is concerned," she said.

The new software is highly interactive and ensures that Applicant Data Controllers now have a login to a profile area that provides them visibility into their registration record.

The system also automatically assesses an institution's state of compliance, and provides a percentage score against a 100 percent weighted state of compliance.

An applicant receives a roadmap of milestones to achieve as the next set of steps, following registration, and the systems allow the upload of photos, videos and other documents as evidence the applicant's accountability to his/her data subjects and the DPC.

The software also enables the Commission to share letters and messages with the applicant in the applicant's profile space, among a number of others.

The DPC was established by Act 843 in 2002 to train data protection professionals, educate the public to reduce the skills and knowledge deficit, support entities in the public and private sector with good governance of digitised data, and keep abreast with international best practices for protecting data and the privacy of individuals.