Ghana Internet Governance Forum 2025 — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

Ghana IGF 2025 met on 5 June at the Accra International Conference Centre under the theme 'Building an Inclusive Digital Future Together', opened by Minister of State and IGF Chairperson Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, with panels on disinformation, inclusion and cybersecurity.
The centrepiece was fighting disinformation while upholding human rights: panellists argued Ghana needs no new laws — just fair enforcement of existing ones and far better media literacy in the age of AI-generated images.
Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor, who convened the first Ghana IGF in 2011, returned fourteen years on to call for a year-round IGF, while Norway's deputy head of mission spoke weeks before his country hosted the global IGF — national and global processes visibly intersecting.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on Ghana Internet Governance Forum 2025 draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	Ghana Internet Governance Forum 2025
Dates	5 June 2025 (Thursday)
Venue	Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), Ridge, Accra (Venue per the official site (archived around the event); post-event coverage (MyJoyOnline) says only 'in Accra')
Theme	Building an Inclusive Digital Future Together
Panels	Three panels: combating misinformation while safeguarding human rights; advancing digital inclusion and transformation; strengthening cybersecurity and data protection

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. Disinformation and Human Rights — 'Not New Laws, but Fair Enforcement'

Sessions: Panel 'Addressing Disinformation and Misinformation while upholding Human Rights in Ghana'

"We are a society that thrives on disinformation and it is on the rise so we need to up our media and digital literacy. We need to do a lot of work to a point where people can identify that this photo is not real"
— Vivian Affoah, Programme Manager, Digital Rights Programme, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) [2]

Affoah argued Ghana needs proper, even-handed application of existing laws — the Cybersecurity Act 2020 (Act 1038), Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843) and Electronic Communications Act 2008 (Act 775) — not new legislation or enforcement that varies with the personality involved [2]
Bridget Andere, Senior Policy Analyst at Access Now, said any limits on expression must be legal and necessary, urging a multi-faceted approach that educates and engages citizens [2]
Garvin Emmanuel Appiah, CEO of tech firm DoubleOSEC, countered that the Cybersecurity Act's provisions 'don't give clear-cut solutions to disinformation and misinformation', proposing amendments to cover AI-generated content; the panel also mapped the distinctions between dis-, mis- and mal-information [2]

2. The Opening — 'Young People Are Not Just Users but Future Leaders'

Sessions: Opening session, 5 June 2025

"It is essential to include the voices of young people and children—they are not just users but the future leaders of the digital space"
— Hon. Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, Minister of State for Public Sector Reform and Ghana IGF Chairperson [1]

Minister Akanvariba framed the forum as a crucial step towards empowering younger digital citizens, stressing youth participation in shaping internet policy, with the Ghana Youth IGF running as a dedicated track [1]
The forum drew government officials, industry experts and international stakeholders around the goals of raising digital literacy and energising governance debate [1]

3. The Founder Returns — Quaynor's Case for a Year-Round IGF

Sessions: Remarks to the plenary

"IGF should remain the primary platform for ongoing discussions on digital governance, which is becoming increasingly complex and demands swift responses"
— Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor, 'Father of the Internet in Africa' [1]

Quaynor called for sustained investment to expand IGF activity beyond annual events, urging stakeholders to support intersessional programmes for continuous engagement [1]
Having convened the very first Ghana IGF in March 2011, the founder was, fourteen years on, the one challenging the national IGF to institutional maturity [1]

4. A Bridge to Oslo — Norway's Deputy Head of Mission on AI's Potential

Sessions: Plenary remarks and the three-panel structure

Kyrre Holm, Deputy Head of Mission at the Norwegian Embassy, stressed the transformative potential of the internet and AI and urged authorities to prioritise digital development across sectors including governance — three weeks before Norway hosted the global IGF 2025 in Oslo (23-27 June) [1][3][4]
The forum's three panels — misinformation and human rights, digital inclusion and transformation, cybersecurity and data protection — tracked the official focus of addressing disinformation while upholding human rights [1][3][4]
The official IGF NRI page records the annual meeting as '5 June 2025, Accra', consistent with the event [1][3][4]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What kind of meeting was this?

A. Ghana's national IGF for 2025, held 5 June at the Accra International Conference Centre under 'Building an Inclusive Digital Future Together', with three panels on disinformation, digital inclusion and cybersecurity.

Q. What was the biggest issue?

A. Fighting disinformation without trampling rights. The panellists' striking conclusion: Ghana needs no new laws — just even-handed enforcement of existing ones and media literacy strong enough that citizens can spot an AI-generated photo.

Q. Why should I care?

A. 'Literacy and fair enforcement over new speech laws' is a transferable answer to a universal problem. And when the man who convened the first Ghana IGF in 2011 returns to demand a year-round process, every country running an annual national IGF should listen.

What Is Ghana IGF? (for first-time readers)

Ghana IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2025 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.