The United States is positioning emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, drone logistics, and rural 5G connectivity as the next frontier in its bilateral relationship with Ghana.

The move signals a strategic shift from traditional aid toward investment-driven partnership, Chargé d’Affaires Rolf Olson has announced.

Speaking at a celebratory event marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, Olson declared that the U.S.-Ghana relationship is entering a new phase defined by “not dependence, but resilience” and “a two-way exchange of investment, innovation, and expertise.”

While acknowledging ongoing changes to the US foreign assistance framework, he emphasized that America remains the largest financial contributor to health emergencies across Africa — including $200 million to the current Ebola response — but pointed to commercial technology ventures as the model for future collaboration.

“As we greet this next phase of our partnership, we see enormous potential for U.S.-Ghana collaboration and commerce in emerging sectors – from digital technology to artificial intelligence, from advanced agriculture to cutting-edge energy techniques,” Olson told an audience of government officials, diplomats, and business leaders in Accra. “Ghana’s young innovators are positioned well to seize these types of opportunities.”

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The Chargé d’Affaires highlighted concrete examples of technology-driven partnerships already underway.

He cited Zipline’s drone delivery network, which has completed 800,000 medical deliveries in Ghana since 2019, saving an estimated 10,000 lives, including 1,600 through emergency transport of snake anti-venom alone.

He also revealed US support for deploying “cutting-edge wireless technology at hundreds of base stations across Ghana,” aimed at expanding rural connectivity and bridging the digital divide across West Africa.

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Olson framed the vision within a broader narrative of economic self-sufficiency, noting that more than 100 American companies are active in Ghana across energy, technology, and agriculture.

He pointed to Newmont, the single largest taxpayer in Ghana, where 99% of the workforce, including the Country Manager, is Ghanaian. Bilateral trade in goods and services reached approximately $4 billion last year, a figure Olson said “can grow.”

The diplomatic push comes alongside deepened security cooperation. Olson confirmed that just this week, US law enforcement handed over Sedina Tamakloe Attionu to Ghanaian authorities, fulfilling an extradition request, while Ghana has extradited multiple individuals wanted in the US for cyber-related fraud that has stolen tens of millions of dollars from American victims.

Reflecting on the historical ties that bind the two nations, from Richard Nixon meeting Martin Luther King Jr. in Accra in 1957 to Ghana being the first country to welcome Peace Corps volunteers in 1961, Olson concluded that the relationship is now mature enough to pivot toward technology, trade, and mutual resilience.

“Two hundred and fifty years into America’s independence and nearly 70 years into Ghana’s, we look to the future with optimism, confidence, and renewed purpose,” he said.

ACCRA – The Bank of Ghana has intervened to stop a proposed 0.75 percent fee on direct wallet-to-bank transfers, directing Mobile Money Fintech Limited to suspend the charge just days before it was set to take effect.

The fee, which had been scheduled to come into force on June 1, 2026, will now not be implemented until further consultations are completed, the central bank announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The directive means millions of Ghanaians who rely on mobile money for daily transactions—including paying utility bills, sending remittances, and moving funds to bank accounts—will not face the additional cost for the foreseeable future.

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In its statement, the Bank of Ghana said the decision reflects its commitment to ensuring that any changes to charges within the mobile financial services ecosystem are introduced fairly.

“The Bank of Ghana is committed to ensuring that any changes to charges within the mobile financial services ecosystem are introduced in a manner that is fair, protects consumers, and supports their financial wellbeing,” the central bank said.

Mobile Money Fintech Limited had not publicly announced the planned fee, and it is unclear how widely customers were informed ahead of the proposed 1 June rollout. The 0.75 percent charge would have applied to every direct transfer from a mobile money wallet to a bank account, potentially adding up to significant costs for frequent users.

The central bank’s last-minute halt is likely to come as a relief to consumer advocacy groups and ordinary users, many of whom had raised concerns about the cumulative burden of multiple charges within the mobile money ecosystem.

Bank of Ghana Balances on a Knife Edge

Industry observers noted that while fintech companies face mounting operational costs, the lack of prior consultation appeared to be the central bank’s primary concern.

The Bank of Ghana did not specify a timeline for the consultation process or indicate whether the fee could be reintroduced in a modified form. It also did not disclose whether any other mobile money operators are considering similar charges.

Mobile Money Fintech Limited had not issued a response to the central bank’s directive as of Tuesday evening.

For now, wallet-to-bank transfers remain free of the proposed 0.75 percent charge, though customers and industry stakeholders will be watching closely to see what emerges from the mandated consultations.

A draft bill being considered by Ghana’s Ministry of Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovations would transform the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) into a powerful digital-sector regulator with authority to imprison individuals who operate unlicensed ICT businesses, potentially including freelance web developers, phone repairers, software programmers, and even self-taught AI users.

Section 35 of the draft NITA Bill states that no person may “engage in a business or related activity in the ICT sector” without a licence from NITA, expressly including the installation of ICT infrastructure, development or provision of ICT products and services, and activities requiring licensing or certification . Violators face fines of 2,000 to 5,000 penalty units and up to two years in prison.

Technology policy analyst Bright Simons, vice president of IMANI Africa, warns that the bill’s sweeping language would criminalize everyday digital work.

“Is the government of Ghana going to insist on licensing every single person who builds a website, uses Microsoft Power BI to create charts for a company, or deploys AI to craft flyers?” Simons writes in a detailed critique.

The penalties extend further. Section 46 of the bill would prohibit any public or private institution from appointing an “ICT professional” unless certified by NITA. Section 90 makes providing ICT services without a license, or falsely claiming certified status, equally punishable.

The Draft NITA Bill Should be Shredded

“The Real Threat Picture”

The proposed law has drawn sharp condemnation from technology professionals, startup founders, and policy analysts who describe it as a potential “digital command economy” that could cripple Ghana’s nascent tech sector.

In a detailed analysis widely circulated on social media, a commentator writing as BlackStarPatriot warned that Parliament is considering “a bill that decides who can build Ghana’s digital future, who can work in it, and who can go to prison for touching a keyboard without permission.”

The post added: “We are not talking about fraud or cybercrime. We are talking about writing code and shipping products without a government permission slip.”

Technology blogger and digital policy commentator MacJordan Degadjor focused particular criticism on Sections 35 to 37, warning that provisions limiting licenses to companies wholly owned by Ghanaian citizens would deter foreign investment and venture capital.

“This directly threatens the foreign capital, partnerships, and expertise that fuel Ghanaian success stories,” he said, citing homegrown firms Hubtel and mPharma as examples of what is at stake.

Data scientist Alfred, posting on X, warned that Ghana risked undoing years of digital sector progress. He specifically criticized proposals requiring technology professionals to obtain NITA certification before working in either the public or private sector.

The Legal Foundation Dispute

The government has pushed back forcefully against the criticism. Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George insists that NITA is simply enforcing existing legislation, not proposing new powers.

“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,” George said in a Facebook post.

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 NITA’s current enforcement regime . George challenged critics to identify any enforcement action by NITA that falls outside the scope of these existing laws and described allegations against the agency as “spurious,” accusing critics of jumping on “bandwagon trends” without understanding the legal framework.

NITA itself issued a clarification arguing that its authority predates the draft bill and is grounded in Acts 771 and 772 of 2008, as well as Legislative Instruments passed by Parliament.

The agency noted that accreditation fees of 20,000 cedis (approximately US$1,900) for fintech firms and 10,000 cedis for e-commerce operators already exist under current regulations and are not newly created by the pending legislation.

A “Ridiculous” Definition of ICT Professionals

Simons argues that the fundamental flaw in the bill is its attempt to treat “ICT professional” as a unified category requiring state licensing, comparable to nurses, lawyers, or engineers, when in reality the term covers vastly different occupations.

“Is the government of Ghana going to insist on licensing every single person in Ghana who builds a website?” Simons asks.

He notes that international occupational systems such as Eurostat and O*NET list dozens of distinct computer occupations, software developers, network architects, cybersecurity analysts, database administrators, web developers, data scientists, support specialists, QA testers, and IT project managers, among them, all operating under the vague “IT professional” umbrella.

He warns that under no circumstances should any government “poke its long nose into stuff like ‘writing code,’ ‘installing a router,’ ‘maintaining a school website,’ ‘handling some graphic design,’ ‘being a product manager at a food delivery company,’ ‘using AI to generate a UI for a service,’ or ‘working in an IT department of a small law firm’”.

The risks, he argues, are not national-scale, and employers should be left to manage their own personnel validation.

The rise of AI, Simons adds, has thrown a wrench into the entire definition. “A founder describes an app to a model, a non-technical employee uses AI to build an internal workflow, a designer generates front-end code… Who is the ‘ICT professional’ here? The geography graduate with a few hours on Reddit typing out prompts? The AI tool vendor? The person who clicks deploy?”

Citizen-Only Ownership Clause Raises Investment Fears

Section 37 of the draft bill requires that any license applicant must be an adult Ghanaian citizen or a company “wholly owned by a citizen.” Simons describes this clause as “potentially devastating,” warning that Ghanaian startups with foreign venture capital, non-citizen co-founders, regional holding structures, offshore investors, or employee stock held by non-citizens would struggle to qualify for ICT licenses.

“The same government that markets Ghana as a digital hub is writing ‘locals only’ into law,” the BlackStarPatriot analysis noted.

Analysts warn this could contradict Ghana’s commitments under ECOWAS free movement and establishment principles and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) services liberalization framework.

Parliament is about to vote on a bill that decides who can build Ghana’s digital future, who can work in it, and who can go to prison for touching a keyboard without permission. This is the real threat picture in the NITA Bill.

Section 35 says you cannot “engage in a business or… pic.twitter.com/rlIjUSplRM

— BlackStarPatriot (@1957_GHPatriot) May 22, 2026

Overlapping Regulation and Informality Concerns

Simons and other analysts also highlight the problem of regulatory duplication. A fintech company in Ghana already faces potential oversight from the Cyber Security Authority, Data Protection Commission, National Communications Authority, Bank of Ghana, Ghana Standards Authority, Public Procurement Authority, GIPC, and the Engineering Council. The NITA bill would add another layer of licensing, audits, and approvals.

John Sitsofe Mensah, a technology policy analyst at IMANI Africa, described NITA’s push as “regulation by invoicing”—attempting to extract a substantive regulatory mandate out of a consolidated financial instrument. He noted that Section 38(1) of Act 772 contains an explicit prohibition: “A license shall not be issued or granted by the Agency to an individual” .

The informal ICT economy, laptop repairers, phone technicians, CCTV installers, router vendors, fiber contractors, school computer-lab maintainers, POS support agents, market traders selling peripherals, and cybercafé operators, could be devastated, analysts warn.

“If enforced aggressively, the scheme could raise the cost of basic repairs and installations, push informal technicians further underground, create opportunities for inspectors to extract bribes, and reduce access to affordable hardware support in rural and low-income areas,” Simons writes.

Path Forward

Simons and other analysts have proposed a more targeted approach: replace the broad Section 35 ban with a schedule of genuinely high-risk activities (critical public digital infrastructure, financial services cybersecurity auditing, Tier II and III data center operations); rewrite Section 46 so certification applies only to defined risk roles in the public sector; add exemptions for small businesses, hobbyists, and internal IT work; and remove the citizen-only ownership rule.

“A careful NITA law could be one of Ghana’s most groundbreaking digital economy reforms—especially if it focuses on fixing wasteful, opaque public ICT procurement,” Simons concludes. “But a careless version could become a massive burden on a struggling, still nascent technology sector. The draft bill tilts more to the latter than the former.”

The Ministry of Communications maintains that the draft bill remains under stakeholder consultation and has not yet been laid before Parliament. However, with mounting opposition from across Ghana’s tech ecosystem, the legislation faces an uncertain path forward.

Key Facts at a Glance

Aspect	Details
Proposed Law	Draft NITA Bill (under stakeholder consultation, not yet before Parliament)
Key Provision (Section 35)	No person may engage in ICT business without NITA licence
Penalties	Fines of 2,000–5,000 penalty units + up to 2 years imprisonment
Scope	Includes software dev, web design, phone repair, cloud hosting, SaaS, digital platforms
Ownership Rule (Section 37)	Licences only for adult Ghanaian citizens or wholly citizen-owned entities
Certification (Section 46)	No public/private institution may appoint ICT pro without NITA certification
Government Position	Enforcing existing laws (Acts 771, 772; L.I. 2481, 2512) – not a new bill
Critics	Bright Simons (IMANI), MacJordan Degadjor, tech startups, freelance developers