Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has said the Mahama administration is destroying the jobs of ICT professionals, Fintech operators and technology start-ups.
He says that the government is doing this by implementing a regime of licensing fees, registration charges, and certification requirements targeted at individual ICT professionals, technology startups, and fintech operators in Ghana.
A post on his X page said “President Mahama and the NDC government, through the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), are implementing a regime of licensing fees, registration charges, and certification requirements targeted at individual ICT professionals, technology startups, and fintech operators in Ghana.
“For a government that is not creating jobs, it should be the last to eliminate any job through its policy actions and inaction. Under the NPP, with President Akufo-Addo and Bawumia, great investments and attention were paid to that sector. Remember the name, Digital Bawumia? The sector boomed under NPP’s Akufo-Addo and Bawumia Administration . Instead of building on what he inherited, President Mahama and the NDC are building walls around a sector that does not require doors. JOB KILLERS.”
The government has however mounted a strong defence of the National Information Technology Agency’s enforcement of registration fees, certification requirements and compliance obligations for ICT firms, fintechs and digital service providers.
Some have accused NITA of attempting to enforce provisions of a proposed law that has not yet been passed by Parliament.
But the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George has rejected those allegations, insisting the Agency’s actions are fully grounded in existing legislation already in force.
“The Ministry is simply ENFORCING existing legislation that has been on our books since 2008, 2023 and 2025. The proposed new legislation has NOT even been laid before Parliament,” the Minister said in a strongly worded Facebook post.
The dispute has triggered growing concern within the ICT sector, particularly among startups, fintech operators and digital service providers worried about rising compliance costs and the broader implications for innovation and ease of doing business within Ghana’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
Sam George dismissed claims that NITA is acting outside its mandate as “spurious,” accusing some critics of jumping onto “bandwagon trends” without understanding the legal framework underpinning the Agency’s actions.
He cited the National Information Technology Agency Act, 2008 (Act 771), the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772), the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2481), and the 2025 amendment, L.I. 2512, as the legal basis for the Agency’s current enforcement regime.
The Minister further challenged critics to identify any specific enforcement action by NITA that falls outside the scope of existing law.
His comments follow a formal clarification issued by NITA itself after mounting criticism on social media over the Agency’s fee structures and registration requirements. In that statement, NITA argued that the current regulatory framework predates the proposed NITA Bill currently under stakeholder consultation and is already backed by matured Legislative Instruments passed through Parliament.
According to the Agency, L.I. 2481 already contains provisions covering the registration of ICT companies, ICT professionals, fintech entities and e-commerce providers.
“The suggestion that NITA ‘manufactured tomorrow’s powers today’ ignores the existence of these already operative legal instruments,” the Agency stated.
Source: 3news.com
