The Minister described the initiative as part of the government’s broader plan to build a digitally skilled workforce to support Ghana’s transition into an innovation-driven economy.
‎
‎He noted that the One Million Coders Programme aims to produce internationally certified professionals in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity, Data Forensics, and Cloud Computing through collaborations with leading technology firms including Google, Huawei, Microsoft and AWS.
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‎He further announced plans to establish digital hubs in all 276 constituencies, each equipped with about 50 computers, to ensure that young people in rural communities have access to devices and internet connectivity for training.
‎
‎The Minister welcomed Cisco’s commitment, urging them to submit a formal proposal and expression of interest to formalise the partnership.

He emphasised that the government’s digital transformation drive is designed to make “the whole of government AI-enabled”, ensuring that every region in Ghana benefits equally from emerging digital opportunities.
‎

Also present at the meeting was the Deputy Communications Minister, Adams Mohammed Sukparu.

The committee announced that key officials, including the Chief Director and Head of Finance, will be summoned to present all documents related to certain disputed payments.

The hearing, chaired by Abena Osei Asare, MP for Atiwa East, with Samuel Atta Mills, MP for Komenda as Ranking Member, allowed lawmakers to scrutinise the ministry’s operations in full view of the public.

The session followed the legislative process after the Auditor-General’s report was laid before Parliament and referred to the Committee for detailed examination.

Such hearings allow government entities to clarify their positions while enabling the committee to interrogate issues thoroughly.

The PAC emphasised its focus on ensuring value for every cedi authorised by Parliament in 2024 and boosting public confidence in Ghana’s financial management systems.

Officials present from the Ministry of Communications included Alfred Nortey, Director-General of Administration; Dr. Mark Oliver Kevor, Acting Deputy Director-General of NITA; and Mohammed Adams Sukparu, Deputy Minister for Communications and Digitalisation.

During the session, a member of the committee, Manhyia North MP Akwasi Konadu, asked about the non-payment of government-advised yearly advances.

He noted that the government of Ghana, through the ministry, entered into a contract with Lebara Ghana Limited, later transferred to Smart Afraco Limited, for the e-government infrastructure project operational since 2020.

The contract stipulated advance payments of $2 million in 2020 and $2 million annually from 2021 to 2024, amounting to a total of $6 million.

None of these payments has been made to date.

Dr. Mark Oliver Kevor responded, saying, “Straight to your answer, for now none or nothing has been covered. In terms of action we have taken since I took over in March 2025, we have written a letter, number NITA/SIL/25/04/15, on April 15, 2025, requesting all the arrears, including this year’s obligation so far.

“They responded, refuting this amount, and we referred the matter to the ministry. The ministry agrees with us and has referred the matter to the Attorney-General. Thank you.”

After a series of unsatisfactory responses, Ranking Member Samuel Atta Mills said, “Clerk, let’s flag this one. We will invite the Chief Director and Head of Finance to come and meet this Committee, and they need to bring all relevant documents from the time of the payments. So we will move on with this.”

Source: Myjoyonline

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Read the full statement below:

The move is against their unlawful fee demands as TV Channel fees and engagement in the collection of illegal fees for their so-called Contribution Link Services.

This legal action underscores a commitment to protecting public interests and ensuring regulatory compliance.

As you may recall in August 2023, GIBA on behalf of its members filed a suit at the High Court against the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) and KNet Ghana Limited to the effect that;

1. The MoCD had unilaterally mandated KNet Ghana Ltd to exclusively provide what they refer to as “Contribution link services” and charge arbitrary fees they refer to as “Contribution Links Fees” to itself, with the added authority of disconnecting broadcasters from the National DTT Transmissions platform on account of nonpayment of the fees, without any legal basis or Parliamentary approval.

• The MoCD established and charges arbitrary fees to be paid into a CENTRAL DIGITAL TRANSMISSION COMPANY LTD as DTT channel hosting fees by broadcasters, without the approval of the fees from Parliament.

This case at the High Court therefore arises from growing concerns that these unapproved fees imposed on broadcasters have bypassed proper channels of review and approval, potentially violating statutory requirements and regulatory standards.

That in spite of the lack of legal and contractual basis for the claims, KNet, with the mandate from the now former Minister for Communications and Digitalization, continues to block media outlets on the National DTT Broadcasting platform for being accessed by the viewing public until they have paid what it has arbitrarily decided to charge as a fee and this portends a great danger for members of the broadcast media who are unable to pay the unlawful fee or have not paid on a matter of principle.

GIBA is seeking redress from the court as it believes that, the demands and claims for arbitrary fees imposed on authorized broadcasting services by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization for TV Channel fees and those charged by KNet Ghana Ltd, backed by the Minister of Communications and Digitalization, lack any legal foundation.

It believes that KNet’s outrageous actions to unlawfully shut down nationwide broadcasting entities for their own narrow interests, by exploiting their control over the State Broadcasting Infrastructure, are highly detrimental to the rights of the broadcasting press media as a whole.

These actions represent a dangerous development for electronic media services operating on the National DTT platform and constitute an affront to the freedom of the media as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.

By seeking this injunction, GIBA aims to highlight and address practices that could undermine trust, fairness, and equity in the broadcast media sector.

The President of GIBA stresses the point that “the media’s role as watchdogs of society obligates us to bring attention to issues that could harm stakeholders and the public”. He further noted that “this case is about more than fees; it is about restoring accountability and ensuring that every institution adheres to the rule of law.”

The key concerns raised include the lack of consultation and authorization, where evidence that exist suggests that the fees in question were implemented without requisite approval from regulatory bodies and more importantly, Parliament, noting also the consequential impact on consumers of broadcast services in Ghana in relation to fairness and affordability.

In addition, the lack of clarity surrounding these charges undermines public trust, as they violate the principles of informed consent.

The motion filed speaks to the fact that currently the National Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Platform, being a critical national asset and the only gateway to nationwide broadcast communication for the Free-To-Air DTT operations in the country, it would be wrong for the Minister in charge of the sector to use letters to establish fees as that would lead to indirect control of the media by the Government which may set exorbitant fees leading to the folding up or blocking of many media outlets in the country.

GIBA’s legal initiative is also aimed to compel immediate compliance with established regulations in order to safeguard the broadcast sector and the Ghanaian public from further harm.
The mandatory injunction filed at the High Court is therefore necessary to;

1. Stop the collection of any such unlawful fees where no contract exists between parties;
2. To restore unto the national DTT platform, all media broadcast companies that have been disconnected and blocked from the platform on the basis of not paying the supposed arbitrary contribution link fee to KNet Ltd or have refused to pay as a matter of principle and;
3. To prevent KNet Ghana Limited from blocking any broadcaster on the national DTT platform from being accessed by the general public on account of non-payment of any non contractual or unlawful fees until the final determination of the case.

This action also serves as a reminder that both public and private institutions are equally accountable under the law.

Through this action, GIBA reaffirms its commitment to championing justice, promoting transparency, and protecting the interests of broadcasters in particular, all citizens and the general public as a whole.

Background

In 2006, the Government of Ghana signed the Geneva 2006 (GE 06) Agreement of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (“the GE 06 Agreement”).

The GE 06 Agreement established the Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Bands 174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHZ at the Regional Telecommunications Conference.

The essence of the agreement was to ensure that signatory countries, including Ghana, change from the old way of transmitting television broadcast signals known as analogue to a new digital technology known as Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) by June 17, 2015. The transition from analogue to digital broadcasting is often called “Digital Migration”.

That as part of the Digital Migration process, the Government sponsored and built what is now referred to as the National DTT Transmissions platform which is designed to receive, host and transmit all television content from all authorized free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters including members of the GIBA (The Plaintiff/Applicant).

That per the migration process all broadcasters on the DTT Transmissions platform, broadcasters who hitherto had applied for and obtained specific spectrum from the National Communications Authority (NCA) in accordance with their media rights guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution, and some of which had operated over two decades (with their own transmissions installations across the country) were issued with newly paid for digital channel authorizations as replacement for their analogue service authorizations called “Digital Replacement Authorizations” by the National Communications Authority.

This was in compliance with the 2010 Cabinet approved Analogue to Digital Broadcasting Migration policy and program of the country, requiring all analogue television broadcasting stations to relinquish their authorized frequencies back to the National Communications Authority, as harvested spectrum for reallocation to other providers of telecommunication services in the country, for all of them including newly authorized FTA broadcasters to be hosted on the single National Free-To-Air DTT Transmissions platform.

That the effect of being hosted on the DTT Transmissions platform, pursuant to the policy, is that one had no more controls and use of their previously acquired broadcasting spectrum which was assigned to them by the NCA for their analogue operations and so any draconian rules introduced, whether under law or otherwise that seeks to adversely impact broadcasters would be a direct attack on their media freedoms as it is the case in the present matter.

That upon the completion of the DTT Transmissions platform, members of the Plaintiff/Applicant were hosted on same in line with the digital migration policy and it came to the attention of the members that KNet Ghana Ltd (the 2^nd Defendant/Respondent in this case) was the entity that was managing the said platform.

That by the nature of their authorizations from the NCA, Plaintiff/Applicant’s members were required to digitally transport/link their programs to the head-end of the national platform located at Kanda and indeed all the coordinates were given to the members by the regulator, NCA, to ensure such transmission.

That all the Digital TV broadcasting authorizations issued by the NCA and indeed the official publication of the regulator titled “KEY CONDITIONS TO NOTE IN YOUR TV AUTHORISATION” also contained this fact as directives and instructions to the DTT operating stations/authorization holders, to make their programmes available to the DTT headend, in the prescribed digital format, just as directed in the authorizations that all broadcasters hold, which included the additions of the GPS Coordinates for the Kanda headend location, in aid of their installations.

That, in the year 2015 into 2016, the Ministry of Communications negotiated and concluded arrangements with existing analogue broadcasters to obtain their program contents for the testing of the newly-built Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform at the time as a crashed program, and offered to install microwave link systems free of charge to facilitate the carriage of the contents, in order for the platform to be switched on.

These facts are attested to even by KNet (the Defendants), in their letter to GIBA dated 29^th October, 2020, confirming the installation of links paid for by the government to facilitate the crash program.

That the 2^nd Defendant, the entity that was contracted to build the platform, sometime in the year 2020 served invoices on all TV broadcast members of the Plaintiff/Applicant, claiming fees it refers to as Contribution Link Fees. GIBA states in their motion that the contribution link as a recurring service was strangely crafted and created by the 2^nd Defendant, outside of the scope of their original contract with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization without the knowledge of the Plaintiff/Applicant and its members.

The newly purported service and the associated fees which were arbitrarily charged in United States Dollars, were unilaterally decided by the 2^nd Defendant, with the claim that they were authorized by the Minister of Communications and Digitalization, acting as the sector minister for the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (the 1^st Defendant/Respondent in this case), to start the collection of the payments from broadcasters commencing from 1^st May, 2020.

That members of the Plaintiff/Applicant have refused to pay the 2^nd Defendant’s invoices, insisting that there is no service known as “contribution link service” that warrants monthly recurring payments.

And that broadcasters have been authorized by the NCA to send their feeds to the DTT headend by themselves, without the need for intermediaries like the 2^nd Defendant.

Moreover, there are numerous NCA-approved services and technologies available for broadcasters to use in sending their digitally formatted program links to the national platform.

Members argue that it should be their prerogative to enter into contracts with the 2^nd Defendant if their services are required by any broadcaster who wants them to do so on their behalf, rather than being subjected to arbitrary billing and claims for a service for which they have not contracted.

The members stated that if Knet Ltd (the 2^nd Defendant) is asserting ownership over the government’s link systems, as suggested in paragraph 2 of their letter dated August 23, 2019, or if they are attempting to commercially exploit the microwave links that the Ministry willingly paid for and installed for the analogue broadcast stations in order to obtain their program content for the initial testing of the newly built National DTT platform at the time, then broadcasters who are desirous to provide their contribution links to the DTT headend by themselves as instructed by the NCA, should be allowed to do so as they are able to do that through many other technologically approved methods of the NCA, just as they have regularly and successfully been providing for the carriage of digital broadcast signals from remote locations such as the Parliament house, local and global conference centers and even from international sporting events across the world, which they broadcast throughout the nation for the viewing pleasure of all consumers without any involvement of KNet (the 2^nd Defendant).

That KNet (the 2^nd Defendant) on the basis of the vague and unlawful mandate granted to them by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (the 1^st Defendant) went ahead to disconnect broadcast stations on the National DTT platform that refused to comply with their illegal demands.

They executed this disconnection by severing the contribution links equipment that the government negotiated and freely installed for the analogue broadcasters to acquire their programs to kick-start the operations of the national DTT infrastructure.

GIBA states that these links equipment are not owned or financed by KNet (the 2^nd Defendant), yet they were circuitously claiming ownership of, as indicated in their letter dated August 23, 2019.

That despite that the government-installed link equipment were functioning properly and without any quality-of-service issues, the 2^nd Defendant unilaterally disabled these links, selectively preventing broadcasters from connecting their program content to viewers nationwide on the national DTT platform, solely because those stations refused to acquiesce to their demands.

According to KNet’s (the 2^nd Defendant’s) letter to the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (1^st Defendant) dated 24^th November, 2022, and their letters dated 9^th December, 2022, addressed to various stakeholders, they explicitly stated that the service disconnections were not due to any quality-of-service issues. In their own words, they indicated that: “these service stops are not due to any network failure issues,” and that the disconnections were “not due to quality-of-service issues but rather because of non-payment of fees and non-compliance with the Ministry’s directives regarding same.”

Thus, the reasons given for disconnecting the Plaintiff/Applicant member stations from the National DTT platform were solely related to fees for a service that the broadcasters had not contracted KNet (the 2^nd Defendant) to provide, as well as non-compliance with the directives of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (the 1^st Defendant), which were instituted without legal foundation.

GIBA states that KNet (the 2^nd Defendant), emboldened by their control over the national DTT infrastructure as platform managers and misusing the discretionary power granted by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (1^st Defendant), acted with impunity to arbitrarily shut down some broadcasting services sitting on the national platform across Ghana.

And that out of sheer show of power for holding total technical controls over the national DTT infrastructure, KNet (the 2^nd Defendant) went ahead and disconnected stations that resisted their unlawful demands, resulting in a total shutdown of those legitimately established broadcasting services on the National DTT Network platform from being terrestrially accessed nationwide by viewers.

GIBA says the obvious fact that KNet (2^nd Defendant) has the unlimited authority and backing of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (1^st Defendant) and the Minister, to do unto any broadcaster sitting on the national broadcasting platform as they so wished regarding contribution links even unlawfully, they (the 2^nd Defendant) went ahead with their disconnections of broadcast services and would not heed any advice regarding same, except to receive payment of their bills or to cut-off broadcasters who refuse to accept their services.

Out of fear and imminent losses to their businesses, some members of GIBA (the Plaintiff/Applicant) went ahead and made payment to them (the 2^nd Defendant) to escape their wrath, whilst those who disagreed with their claims and patronage, by refusing to pay them, had their National DTT platform channels blocked from being accessed nationwide by the general viewing public.

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Mr George claims the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has secretely engaged the telecommunications networks not to block the unregistered SIMs since she could not meet her deadline.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, Mr George, who doubles as the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Communications Committee, disclosed the telcos have turned down the Minister’s proposal.

He explained they are demanding Mrs Owusu-Ekuful comes to make a public announcement before they can carry out any order.

“She has called the telcos quietly asking them not to block any SIM but they have also told her they can’t do it. She should come out with a press conference. They are demanding she puts the directive in writing but this is not surprising to me,” he said.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful announced at a press briefing on Sunday, July 31, that she has reluctantly extended the deadline for the exercise to September 30, 2022.

“Upon consultation with the industry and in view of the challenges enumerated above, I have very reluctantly decided to grant a conditional extension. The programme will be extended to 30th September to end on the anniversary of its commencement,” she announced.

Additionally, any SIM that has not yet been completely registered will be unable to use voice and Internet services. “Afterwards, using unregistered SIMs will be more expensive.”

Mr George stressed blocking the SIMS will not augur well for the government’s negotiations with the IMF for support as the country’s revenue which Communication Service Tax (CST) forms part will be accessed.

A similar training has just been completed in Bono East and Bono regions.

Two thousand more girls from Savannah and Northern Region will also benefit from the program by the end of this year.

This forms part of efforts to encourage young girls to take up careers in the ICT Industry as well as bridge the gender digital divide.

“In each Region, our objective is to train 1,000 young girls and 100 ICT/STEM teachers in basic computing, coding, scratch HTML etc. and at the end of the year, we would have trained 5000 girls and 500 ICT/ STEM teachers.

“These girls are selected from schools in all districts in the beneficiary regions so every district will feel the impact of these digital maidens. What a difference this will make!! There is no doubt that digitalisation is the game changer and with our additional function of “Digitalisation”, we are determined to grow our digital economy,” Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said.

The training in coding will give the girls the opportunity to explore the world of technology, through the creation of websites, computer games, interactive arts, mobile apps, and animation stories, using various programming languages.

As part of strategies to both ensure that Ghana achieves the Sustainable Development Goal, (SDG) 5, and Ghana’s ICT4 AD Policy on bridging the gender digital divide, the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, through its agencies – GIFEC, NCA and the Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence, has expanded the scope of the GIICT event.

After their training, which also introduces them to basic structures of programming, the girls participate in a competition.

This competition is expected to test the knowledge and ICT skills acquired during the training period. The girls will compete in website design, development of games, coding and simple ICT applications, among others.

Prizes such as laptops, modems, etc, are awarded to girls who excel in the competition and ICT labs are also established in the schools of the girls who excelled.

Interestingly, over 60 percent of the girls trained, have no prior knowledge or experience in the use of computers.

The Girls in ICT programme, was introduced in 2012 by the International Telecommunications Union to empower and encourage girls and young women to acquire digital skills and consider studies and careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies.

Ghana has adopted this initiative and observed it on a regional basis. It has already been celebrated in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Northern, Volta, Western, Western North, North East, Central and Oti Regions.

The program involves the Training of Trainers who in turn train the girls.

It also includes the training of 1,000 girls from districts within the selected region and mentorship sessions that provide a platform for women working in the ICT field to share personal life stories and professional experiences with the young girls.

The girls are given an “Open Day” experience, where the best 100 girls are brought to Accra for a week to tour Mobile Network Operators (MNO)’s, ICT firms and interact with women in the work space to see the practical application of what they learnt in a live work environment.

This is to encourage and guide the girls in their future career choices.

The Ministry has also trained 300 teachers in Bono East, Bono and Ahafo regions to sustain the program in their various schools.

The exercise, according to her, forms part of moves to clamp down on cybercriminals hiding behind the anonymity of digital systems to commit antisocial acts.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful has explained it will be a six-month-long exercise expected to end in December 2021, adding all un-registered sims will be blocked after the deadline.

She also added plans are far advanced to make the National Identification Card (Ghana Card) the only national identity card for all identification and business purposes.

Speaking at the 5th Ghana Chief Executive Officer’s summit, she said that digitisation is the only way to ensure free trade across the continent and create an enabling system for trade financing using electronic means. “We are poised to deliver,” she said.

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The Ablekuma West Member of Parliament, among other things, touted the efforts of the ministry in delivering on its mandate.

“My ministry is also working to improve access to connectivity across the country with rural telephony and digital inclusion projects which will see the construction of 2016 solar powered cell sites in unserved and underserved rural communities,” she said.

 The re-registration is expected to reduce mobile phone-related crimes such as prank calls, cyber-crime, mobile money fraud and its related issues to improve general security in Ghana.

This is to update members of the Committee, especially the new ones, on the activities of the Ministry.

The event brought together the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) and Deputy Minister-Designate, Ms Ama Pomaa Boateng.

Others include the Chief Director, Mrs Magdalene Apenteng, Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee, the Heads of Agencies of the Ministry and their staff, and staff of MoCD.

The NCA, GIFEC, NITA, KAICE, GMet, ADC, PCRSC, Gh Post, CSA, GDNR, DPC and the E Transform project were also present at the meeting.

Opening the programme, the Minister noted that it was imperative for the Ministry and its agencies to meet the members of the Committee regularly to keep them up to date on their activities.

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She stressed that such meetings afford leadership the opportunity to take a retrospective look at the previous year’s performance, put mechanisms in place to address challenges that the Ministry faced and plan ahead.

The Minister in her remarks enumerated some priority projects for the Ministry.

They include Rural Telephony Projects, Central Equipment Identity Registry, Sim card registration, Girls- in- ICT, IT Audit, cybersecurity, National Roaming and Shared Digital Infrastructure among others.

The Minister thanked the committee for it’s immense support over the years that has enhanced the work of the Ministry and called on members of the Committee to continue supporting activities of the Ministry.

All Agencies of the Ministry are expected to make presentations detailing their activities and progammes.

The new policies, according to the reports, are due to MTN’s huge market share in the telecommunication industry almost making it a monopolist situation in the sector and creating an uncompetitive and unprofitable environment for the less dominant telecom companies like AirtelTigo and Vodafone.

MTN Ghana, reacting to the media reports, noted the company had not been formally notified of the new policies to be implemented by the NCA, hence will refrain from making statements on the matter.

Backgorund

The NCA, per a directive of the Communications Ministry, is, in the coming days, expected to put in place certain policies aimed at breaking MTN’s monopoly in the country’s telecommunication industry.

The directive, according to the Communications Ministry, is to address the disparities in market and revenue shares as well as check the creation of a monopoly by telecom giant, MTN.

The new directives, according to the Communications Ministry, will create a level-playing field for all telecommunication companies in the country.

Read full details of press release below:

MEDIA RELEASE

SCANCOM PLC. (MTN GHANA) RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT’S NOTICE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW POLICIES IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKET

Scancom Plc. (MTN Ghana) has noted media reports concerning a decision by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to implement specific policies to ensure a level-playing field for all network operators within the telecommunications industry.

MTN Ghana respects the NCA’s purview to regulate the telecommunication sector in Ghana based on legislation and best practices. However, MTN Ghana has not yet received the formal notification from the regulator and awaits this to assess the details.  

Until then, MTN Ghana will refrain from making any public statements or comments on this matter.

We would like to reassure our cherished shareholders and customers that our commitment to the delivery of a bold new digital world in Ghana remains intact and they can count on our continued investment in infrastructure and innovative products and services. MTN Ghana is focused on providing the enabling technology to support Ghana’s digital economy and drive productivity, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MTN Ghana is a responsible market leader in a highly competitive market. We remain an ethical business committed to its regulatory obligations while striving to deliver on its belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life.

Media Contacts:

Samuel Koranteng

Samuel.Koranteng@mtn.com

Tel: 024 4300 000

Gina Fiagbenu

Georgina.AsareFiabgenu@mtn.com

Tel: 0244300000