The 2023 LONDA Report on digital rights and inclusion in Africa has revealed that 10.75 million Ghanaians did not use the internet at the start of last year.
This means that around 31.8 per cent of the national population were offline during that time, highlighting the digital divide in the country.
However, the report also noted that Ghana’s internet penetration rate increased from 53 percent to 68.2 percent in 2023.
The LONDA 2023 report, which features 26 African country reports, serves as an advocacy tool for engaging with stakeholders and monitoring the state of digital rights and inclusion on the continent. Thobekile Matimbe, Senior Manager at Paradigm Initiative, launched the report at the 11th edition of the Digital Rights and Inclusive Forum 2024 in Accra under the theme “Fostering Rights and Inclusion in the Digital Age”.
Various organisations, including E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa (EGIGFA), University of Media, Arts and Communication, Media Foundation for West Africa, and others, partnered to organise the three-day conference. The report emphasised the importance of digital technologies, especially mobile phones and the internet, in society and the economy, calling on the government to improve internet penetration.
Despite efforts such as the World Bank’s approval of US$200 million for the Digital Acceleration Project, a persistent digital divide remains in Ghana, particularly affecting women and persons with disabilities. The report recommended a multi-stakeholder approach to addressing digital rights issues, including promoting internet and mobile phone affordability and strengthening legal protections for media freedom and data privacy.
It also called for the reform and strengthening of the National Media Commission to safeguard press freedom and protect vulnerable groups.
