Technology Consultant Warns Against Expansive Regulation in Proposed NITA Bill
A leading technology consultant has cautioned Ghana’s lawmakers against passing a bill that would significantly expand the regulatory reach of the National Information Technology Agency, warning that the legislation risks strangling the country’s fledgling digital economy before it matures.
Derek Laryea, speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme on Saturday, May 30, said the proposed NITA Bill has alarmed Ghana’s tech community because of provisions that would transform NITA from a coordinator of public-sector ICT development into a broad regulator of the entire digital ecosystem. At the centre of the backlash is a proposed levy of one per cent of top-line gross revenue on ICT businesses and companies — a measure that would hit startups and young entrepreneurs particularly hard.
“This industry is an industry where there are so many people in the space, and it is driven a lot by experimentation,” Mr Laryea said. “I always say that when it comes to tech, you see a lot of young people, they are enthused, and a lot of them are in the experimentation stage, trying to start up something, trying to raise funding. Digital entrepreneurship is a very, very wild-goose chase.”
The proposed bill, which has sparked widespread opposition across Ghana’s technology sector, would give NITA far-reaching powers to oversee, license, and regulate digital services. Proponents argue the legislation is necessary to bring order to a rapidly expanding sector and to ensure the government can collect revenue from an industry that has largely operated outside formal regulatory frameworks.
Mr Laryea acknowledged that some form of oversight is necessary but drew a sharp distinction between effective regulation and what he described as expansive overreach. “Nobody is against regulation. I think the focus for us is effective regulation, not expansive regulation,” he said, adding that the bill does contain positive provisions worth preserving.
The concerns raised by Mr Laryea mirror a broader unease among Ghana’s technology entrepreneurs, who fear that onerous compliance requirements and revenue-based levies could deter both domestic and foreign investment in the sector. The country’s digital economy has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by mobile money adoption, fintech startups, and a youthful population increasingly engaged in digital commerce.
Samuel Nartey George, the Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, has acknowledged the pushback from the tech community but insisted the government will not rewrite the rules wholesale. The minister has said he hears the industry’s concerns but argued the legislative process must move forward.
The debate over the NITA Bill highlights a tension common across Africa’s developing economies: the desire to formalise and tax a growing digital sector versus the need to nurture innovation in industries still finding their footing. For Ghana’s young tech entrepreneurs, the outcome of this legislative debate could determine whether the country’s digital economy continues to attract talent and capital or becomes mired in regulatory burdens it is not yet equipped to bear.
Image Source: MYJOYONLINE
