The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has reiterated the clarion call made by the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, when he urged Ghanaians not to be spectators but citizens.
Adding that the posture of the youth in recent times to highlight national issues and demonstrate peacefully on developmental issues affecting all sectors of the country represent the call made by the President and such positive moves must be commended and not be condemned.
The Speaker made these remarks during the virtual launch of the 2021 Inter-School Public Speaking Competition under the theme “Digital Inclusion: promotion and protection of child rights online”.
He noted that the Inter-School Public Speaking Competition is making significant contribution towards shaping the future of the country by encouraging critical thinking.
Even though the Rt. Hon. Speaker was enthused about the progress the country is making towards the use of the cyber space in enhancing education, trade and commerce in the country, he was worried about the issue of difficulty in identifying fraudsters on the internet.
He noted that in the midst of the raging COVID-19 Pandemic, it was the cyberspace that came to the rescue and helped many industries to survive.
He was however quick to add that it comes with its unique challenges such as being difficult to control, promoting crimes, online fraud, difficult authenticity of third parties and vulnerability of children.
He indicated that Parliament has passed a number of laws to help deter criminals and minimize the challenges on the usage of the internet.
He mentioned the National Register Act 2008 (Act 750), Cyber Security Act 2020 (Act 1038), National Communication Authority Act 1996 (Act 524), National Information Technology Act Agency (Act 2008), Electronic Transaction Act 2008 (Act 772), Electronic Communication Act 2008 ( Act 775), Data Protection Act and the creation of Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), as the many laws Parliament has passed to ensure solution to the problems associated with cyber space.
Rt. Hon. Speaker later paid tribute to his predecessor Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye for adopting the competition as an annual event and wished that the competition would inculcate into the youth excellent communication skills that would go a long way to influence society.
On her part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DeeDee Global (organisers of the programme), Mad. Bertha Amanor, was of the view that the country is still riding on the benefits of COVID-19 as they launched the second semi-virtual edition of the Inter-School Public Speaking Competition (ISPSC2021).
She announced that Achimota School emerged as the winner for the last year’s competition.
