Patricia Adusei-Poku, executive director, Data Protection Commission (DPC), says the Commission will scale up its operations to all the 16 regions of the country.
She said this would enable the Commission to bring its services closer to Ghanaians.
“We intend to increase the number of professionally trained private practitioners in our ecosystem,” Adusei-Poku stated at the launch of the annual global data protection week celebration in Accra on the theme: “Transparency, Trust and Transformation in a Digital Ghana”.
She said the DPC intended to accredit additional training institutions to assist with the training of professionals.
“Our accreditation process is to ensure that the quality and standard of training is maintained nationwide,” the executive director said.
Adusei-Poku said considering the impact of COVID-19, the government had granted an amnesty for six months from 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021 to allow defaulting data controllers to register with the Commission and pay just the current year’s amount; waving any applicable arrears.
“We entreat all defaulting institutions to take advantage of the amnesty period to be in good standing with the Commission. All entities which fail to regularise their operations with the Commission during this amnesty period will face full brunt of the law after 31 March, 2021,” she said.
Adusei-Poku said the DPC was engaging some critical stakeholders in a collaborative effort to step up public education on the need to protect personal data and monitor the compliance status of data controllers.
The institutions include; the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department, and the Electoral Commission (EC).
