The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) is working around the clock with its technical partner, eSolutions, to restore the Government of Ghana’s official email service, which has been inaccessible since early Monday morning.
The downtime, which began around 5:00 a.m. on August 25, has triggered concerns about national security, data privacy, and service continuity.
Some users have speculated that the outage might be due to a cyberattack, given the sensitive nature of government communications.
NITA’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Oliver Kevor, attributed the disruption to a technical challenge and assured that engineers are working to resolve the issue, according to myjoyonline.com.
However, he was unable to provide a specific timeline for restoration.
The prolonged outage has major implications for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) that rely on the gov.gh domain for official correspondence.
Experts warn that the downtime could erode confidence in government digital infrastructure and leave gaps for misinformation to thrive.
The incident comes amid a backdrop of rising cyber threats in Africa. The continent has experienced a significant number of cyber attacks in recent years, with various countries being targeted. For instance, the African Union’s IT systems were compromised in a cyber attack, leading to disruptions and data breaches. Similarly, financial institutions in Mozambique were targeted by sophisticated malware, resulting in significant financial theft.
In South Africa, the Health Department suffered a data breach that exposed sensitive health information of citizens. Nigeria also experienced a data breach that compromised sensitive information of its citizens due to poor cybersecurity practices.
