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Introduction
It’s been days, and the government email platforms have been unresponsive. According to a report published by myjoyonline on August 26, 2025, regarding the outage. In Ghana, the .gov.gh domain is the official government domain name, managed by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) under the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation. It is used to provide official email services and web addresses for state institutions, ensuring security, authenticity, and uniformity in government communication. DUBAWA conducted independent checks to verify whether the .gov.gh domain was indeed down and to understand the implications for ministries and state institutions that rely heavily on the platform.
Processes to check if the domain Name under .gov.gh is down
To determine whether the domain .gov.gh is functional, DUBAWA employed two online uptime tools. DUBAWA used independent platforms such as DownForEveryoneOrJustMe and IsItDownRightNow. These tests were done on August 28, 2025.
On DownForEveryoneOrJustMe, the result indicated that the domain was down (a check was conducted on August 28, 2025).
On IsItDownRightNow, the test also indicated that the server was not responding.
Key Categories of Institutions Relying on .gov.gh
The .gov.gh domain is critical for government communication. Institutions that rely on it include:
Core Government Ministries such as,
- Ministry of Finance – mofep.gov.gh
- Ministry of Education – moe.gov.gh
- Ministry of Health – moh.gov.gh
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration – mfa.gov.gh
Numerous government agencies, including security-related institutions, depend on the .gov.gh email system for official correspondence.
Implications
If the email services associated with a .gov.gh domain are down, several potential risks and impacts could arise, affecting government operations, public services, and cybersecurity.
Government officials and agencies rely on .gov.gh email for internal and external communication, including policy coordination, directives, and inter-agency collaboration. Downtime could delay critical communications, such as emergency responses or administrative decisions that require immediate attention.
An email outage could be caused by or exploited during a cyberattack. This could expose sensitive government data or allow phishing campaigns to impersonate .gov.gh addresses.
Many public services, such as citizen inquiries, permit applications, or social programme updates, may depend on email communication. Downtime could disrupt access to these services, leading to delays or unprocessed requests.
Statement from NITA
To confirm the disruption, the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) issued a press release on August 27, 2025, acknowledging a temporary outage of the .gov.gh system.
Source: NITA
It is not clear yet what caused the “temporary outage” or when citizens can expect to begin using the platforms.
Conclusion
The temporary outage of the .gov.gh domain underscores the vulnerability of Ghana’s critical digital infrastructure. With ministries, state agencies, and security institutions all relying on this system for official correspondence, any disruption has the potential to stall governance and weaken public trust. While the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) has described the incident as a temporary fault, this highlights the urgent need for stronger safeguards and backup systems.
