Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
• The upcoming 2022 budget will entail details of the Cybersecurity Fund
• The fund will provide resources for the strengthening of Ghana’s cybersecurity space
• Ghana is seeking to combat the increasing rate of cybercrime
Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has disclosed the establishment of a Cybersecurity Fund which will be contained in the government’s upcoming 2022 budget statement.
This comes after the newly instituted Cyber Security Authority was given the mandate to boost and strengthen the country’s cybersecurity space.
Making remarks at a workshop held for cybersecurity stakeholders in Accra, the minister said, the Fund will also provide financial resources to combat cybercrime.
“The law itself enjoins the Authority to set up a Cybersecurity Fund and has designated the areas we should look at, so we are working with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that it is set up.
“Since 2017, we have been soliciting funds from other agencies, particularly the NCA, to support their activities. But now that they have been set up as an Authority and launched, we need to make budgetary provision for them; and I know for a fact that the next budget will provide significantly for infrastructure and governance needs of the Authority,” Ursula Owusu-Ekuful explained.
Meanwhile, the move to establish a Cybersecurity Fund is in compliance with provisions contained in Section 29 of the Cybersecurity Act 2020.
Already, cybercrime is estimated to have cost US$6 trillion globally in 2021 and is expected to reach US$10.5 trillion by 2025.