Cybersecurity Amendment a ‘terrible draft’ – MFWA warns proposed bill could enable state overreach

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has criticised the draft of the Cybersecurity (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

He described it as “a terrible one” and warning that it could erode democratic safeguards by granting unchecked security powers to ministers and authorities.

Speaking this morning on Newsfile, Braimah asked why, as a democratic state, Ghana needs legislation that “basically grants discretionary powers to the minister, to the authority … to snoop on it, to basically intrude if they want, if they choose to.”

He argued that the bill’s current form poses a threat to digital rights and freedoms.

Mr Braimah called upon legislators to reconsider the bill’s sweeping provisions, particularly those that could empower state entities to monitor, investigate, or penalise online activity without sufficient oversight.

The Cybersecurity (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to strengthen Ghana’s digital defence and regulatory oversight, has already drawn concern from civil-society groups and human-rights advocates, who argue its language is vague and could be misused to stifle dissent and invade privacy.

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