Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, has been nominated to serve as Secretary for the African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG).
The MP who has years of expertise in the Internet, Communication, Digital, and Telecommunication industries in Ghana and beyond, was nominated by his colleagues to serve on the African body at the Internet Governance Forum launched in Lilongwe, Malawi on June 19, 2022.
The Network’s objective is to increase the influence of legislators in creating a shared digital future from an African viewpoint.
Participants and a team of experts engaged in progressive conversations on digital policy and the development of the internet during the first-ever digital policy symposium.
The group at the launch of the session collectively agreed to immediately start addressing the following pertinent issues towards digital development in Africa including “capacity building for APNIG Members that drills down to cover the national status of Digital Geopolitics, the Digital Economy, governance for an open and fragmented Internet among others.”
The group also decided to develop a strategy for the African Union’s digital transformation, enact strict rules against cybercrime and cybersecurity breaches that will protect Africans’ digital rights, and deal with online harassment of women in politics.
According to Sam George, the group will organize a regional, continental, and international multistakeholder and multi-sector dialogue as well as an Africa-EU/Africa-UK/Africa-North America/Africa-South America/Africa-Asia/Africa-Oceania MPs Digital Policy Dialogue in the coming days to support sustainable digital development in Africa.
The group has also decided to review and follow up on the ratification of the international, continental and regional legal framework following national specifics, address meaningful digital connectivity throughout the African continent and develop a five-year strategic and work plan for APNIG.
APNIG strengthens the capacities, networks, and competencies of parliamentarians in framing digital development in Africa, primarily because Internet Governance is collaborative with pluralistic consensus from diverse communities building the internet, necessitating a multistakeholder approach to act as a glue to bind inclusive participation.
The African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance has 30 members from 20 countries across the continent. The group aims to have active Parliamentarians committed to digital development from all 54 African States.
The Network is led by Neema Lugangira from Tanzania as Chairman with Alhajie Mbow as Vice Chairman and Sam George as Secretary.
