KOFI ANOKYE OWUSU-DARKO (BLOG 1)

  INTRODUCTION Ghana is on the verge of replacing its data protection legislation. The Data Protection Bill 2025, which proposes to repeal and replace the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843), is the most comprehensive overhaul of Ghana's data protection framework in over a decade. It is a serious and, in several respects, genuinely forward-looking piece of legislation. As a data protection statute , it is substantially stronger than what it replaces, with stronger rights protections, more robust institutional arrangements, clearer obligations, and greater technological awareness. The world Ghana is legislating into, however, has changed significantly since 2012. Artificial intelligence has transformed the relationship between data and economic value. Data is no longer simply a record of individual activity requiring protection from misuse; it is increasingly a strategic resource for training, refining, and deploying AI systems. How data is governed now shapes not only whethe...

  INTRODUCTION Ghana’s efforts to expand pension coverage have increasingly turned toward the informal sector , where the majority of the workforce remains outside formal retirement protection systems . Despite ongoing digital transformation across the financial sector , participation continues to lag behind expectations . The challenge is not simply one of access. It is also about designing systems that reflect the economic realities of informal sector workers , characterised by irregular incomes , limited financial buffers , and minimal engagement with structured savings mechanisms . At the same time, the rapid growth of digital financial services has introduced new possibilities . Mobile money platforms, digital identity systems, and platform-based economic activity are generating expanding streams of data . These can be harnessed to better understand user behaviour , tailor pension products, and improve system responsiveness . This data-driven environment offers a pathway ...

  INTRODUCTION In a previous article on the global race for AI governance, I argued that artificial intelligence is not merely a technological contest, but a struggle over power — over whose values, interests, and philosophies shape the systems that increasingly govern economies and societies. Africa has yet to clearly articulate its own governance philosophy , and that absence is not neutrality. It is vulnerability . In a subsequent analysis of continental efforts, particularly the Smart Africa AI Blueprint and the African Union's AI Strategy, I suggested that Africa is not without direction. An approach is emerging: development-driven, adoption-led, and capacity-focused . But it remains incomplete . It is clear on the uses of artificial intelligence , but less explicit on how it is to be governed as an instrument of power , and on whose terms that governance will rest. The question, then, is how this emerging approach translates at the national level. Ghana provides a parti...