OMANE MOVES TO SAVES CHILDREN

Minister of Communications, Dr Omane Boamah

Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, has inaugurated a national steering committee on child online protection initiative to protect children from Internet usage abuse.

The committee includes representatives from government institutions, academia, youth sector, law enforcement sector, parents group, civil society organisations, telecommunications service operators and faith based organisations.

The committee would develop a national child online protection framework to guide Internet usage within the national cyber security policy and strategy as well as discuss issues relating to the risk and vulnerabilities facing children within cyberspace.

The committee would serve as a forum for collecting, discussing and raising awareness of good practices and approaches on legal, technical, educational, policy and strategic frameworks adopted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Dr Boamah said research shows that more children and young people were connecting to the Internet using game consoles and mobile devices, yet many adults were not aware that connectivity was possible using such devices.

He said many parents are adamant with the notion that their children were safer if they were at home using a computer than they would be if they were accessing the Internet outside of the home.

“This is a dangerous misconception because the Internet can take children and young people virtually anywhere in the world and in the process can be exposed to potentially serious risks as they could in the real world,” he said.

The Minister said protecting children online is everybody’s responsibility, and that the committee was guided by the principle that the interest of all Ghanaian children was paramount.

He said the Ghana is a member of the ITU and continues to engage with international institutions to ensure adherence to recognized norms and standards in all sphere of disciplines.

Nene Nagai Kassa VIII, the Chief of Agomeda, Chairman of the committee, thanked President John Dramani Mahama for the appointment and pledged their commitment to work to meet the objectives of the committee.

He said the committee had started preparatory work and called on members to learn from each other to ensure the success of their task.

Editorial

A COMRADE HAS FALLEN

Many people know Honourable Joe Baidoo – Ansah simply as the NPP Member of Parliament for Kwesimintim in the Western Region but he is far more than that.

He is indeed one of the sons of Ghana who risked his everything to ensure that multi-party democracy was restored in the country and insisted the rights of the people should not be trampled on with jack boots.

Joe Baidoe- Ansah was one of the young men who joined the Movement for Freedom and Justice in 1991 and worked with such giants as Professor Albert Adu Boahen, Johnny F.S. Hansen, John Ndebugre and Akoto Ampaw to restore democracy.

At the time he was practicing as a journalist with the Independent newspaper then edited by Kabral Blay –Amihere.

We recall his role in the poster campaigns and later the organisation of mass rallies demonstrations across the country.

By his defeat in parliamentary primaries, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Parliament will lose a militant for democracy and justice.

Joe Baidoe-Ansah is nice and gentle politicians whose tolerance of opposition has always been remarkable and we wish him well in his new endeavours.