Government to transform IT infrastructure – Minister

Ms Victoria Hammah, Deputy Minister of Communication, said the Ministry is facilitating the vision of Government to develop policies, regulations and programmes to transform Ghana.

She said the transformation would make the country self sufficient, cost-effective and accessible to Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to propel the appropriate use of technological applications and innovations to enhance socio-economic development.

Ms Hammah was speaking at the Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA) IT Audit Information Security and Risk Insight Africa 2013 Summit in Accra.

She said Government is committed to use modern technologies that would contribute massively to the country’s economic development and support stakeholders to develop and use the globally accepted industry-practices for information systems.

Ms Hammah said Government is having short, medium and long term plans to streamline the regulatory and enforcement regime for IT Governance, ICT system security and management.

She said Government has also set the minimum guidelines for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and other Agencies, to prepare adequately to meet exigencies of IT usage.

She said to attain these goals, the National Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Communication has set up a Computer Emergency Response Team, to help deal with emergencies and cyber attacks.

Ms Hammah said ICT is acknowledged globally as the agents of change, reform and innovation and it is fundamentally important that  Ghana continue to highlight its role in the business development processes.

She said Information Security and Risk Insight is the most current topic in the world of business because of the impact IT has on the day-to-day running of an organisation

Ms Hammah said, to promote an enabling legal environment in support of the IT industry, the Ministry is facilitating IT-enabled business investments to sustain growth and transform critical areas of national organisations.

“Government recognise the critical dependence of many business processes on IT, and the need to keep up with the ever changing trends and also to comply with the benefits of managing risk effectively,” she said.

She noted that even though a lot of progress has been made in the ICT regulatory regime in Ghana, there are gaps such as cyber security and cyber crimes and plans are advance by the Ministry to address the issue.

She commended ISACA, Accra Chapter, for its effort in ensuring the best practices regarding information risks, and IT governance.

Source: GNA