AI regulation in Ghana: laws & policy (2026)

President John Mahama officially launched Ghana's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2025–2035, backed by $250 million for an AI Computing Centre and $20 million for near-term implementation. The strategy commits to establishing a Responsible AI Authority within one year and an eight-pillar framework spanning education, digital infrastructure, data governance, and ethical deployment across seven priority sectors.

Ghana's government announced plans to introduce a new Data Protection Bill to replace the 2012 Act, specifically designed to address AI-driven data processing, automated decision-making, and cross-border data transfers. The bill modernises the existing legal framework to match the demands of the AI era.

Ghana's Ministry of Communications announced the Emerging Technologies Bill — the country's first attempt at binding AI and emerging-technology legislation — with plans to lay it before Parliament in 2026. The bill proposes an Emerging Technologies Agency with dedicated AI, blockchain, IoT, and quantum divisions, and explicitly bans AI use to undermine elections or democracy.

Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful unveiled Ghana's Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2024 (cabinet-approved 14 May 2024), establishing cross-sector digital transformation strategies covering AI, cybersecurity, data governance, financial services, health, and agriculture. It creates the overarching digital-policy environment within which the AI strategy operates.

Ghana's Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and the Data Protection Commission, with UNESCO and EU funding, launched the Readiness Assessment Measurement (RAM) for Ethical Use of AI — making Ghana one of only two African nations selected for this assessment. It evaluates national preparedness across data governance, regulatory infrastructure, and transparency mechanisms, directly complementing the 2023 National AI Strategy.

Ghana's Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, with support from Smart Africa, GIZ FAIR Forward, and The Future Society, launched its first dedicated National AI Strategy over a 10-year horizon. Built on eight pillars including ethical AI, data governance, and digital infrastructure, it targets seven sectors and introduced the concept of a Responsible AI Office.

Ghana enacted the Cybersecurity Act 2020 (Act 1038), creating the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) to regulate digital security, license cybersecurity service providers, and protect critical information infrastructure. The Act is a key pillar of Ghana's indirect AI governance framework, applying to AI systems deployed across digital networks.

Google opened its first AI Research Centre in Africa in Accra under Senegalese researcher Moustapha Cissé, catalysing Ghana's emergence as a continental AI hub. The centre's applied work on flood forecasting, crop disease diagnosis, and African-language NLP spurred government attention to AI policy and accelerated national strategy discussions.

Ghana's Data Protection Act 843 entered into force, creating the Data Protection Commission (DPC) to regulate collection, processing, and use of personal data — with controller registration opening in January 2015. This became the primary indirect legal framework governing AI data use in Ghana, enforced by the DPC on all AI systems that process personal data.

Ghana enacted the Electronic Transactions Act 772, establishing foundational rules for electronic records, digital signatures, intermediary liability, and e-commerce. It laid the legal groundwork for all subsequent digital — and ultimately AI — regulatory instruments in the country.