As Ghana continues to grapple with surging cyber fraud cases, Digital Financial Service (DFS) Consultant and Communications Strategist, Eunice Asantewaa Ankomah is advocating for a more inclusive and culturally relevant approach to fight the menace.
Education through theatre performance, Eunice Ankomah believes could be a very effective strategy to address the situation.
She justifies that the known traditional methods of fighting cyber scams are not inclusive enough given the relatively high illiteracy rate in Ghana.
To fill this gap, she proposes storytelling through theatre performance which has been proven to be very effective in public education.
“How do you teach cybersecurity to people who can’t read a report or pick the cues? You tell them a story,” Eunice stated in a recent public post, underscoring the power of Theatre for Development (TfD), a tool she says she first encountered in a university Development Communication class.
Statistics from the Cyber Security Authority reveal that Ghanaians lost over GHS 59.9 million to cyber fraud in 2023 alone. As of April 2024, the country had already lost GHS 10.7 million, with investment scams rising sharply from GHS 421,000 to over GHS 1.9 million within just a few months.
Businesses, market women and men, the aged, the young, among other categories, continue to fall victim to the menace.
To her, the statistics are not just figures. “These aren’t just numbers, they’re real people, real losses,” she stressed, emphasizing the need to go beyond traditional campaigns and adopt methods that connect with citizens on a personal and emotional level.
“In an era where storytelling gets results, we can’t overemphasize the importance of TfD, especially when educating the public on sensitive topics like cybersecurity…. It’s a smart way to educate, spark conversations, and make cybersecurity issues more relatable to the everyday Ghanaian,” she remarked.
Eunice Asantewaa Ankomah has therefore thrown her support behind “Cyber Heist”, a thought-provoking stage play that seeks to raise awareness about digital fraud through drama, storytelling, and live performance.
The play is part of a growing movement to translate complex cybersecurity concepts into relatable, everyday language, especially for populations who may not be literate or digitally savvy.
She is also calling on all stakeholders in the digital space from banks and fintechs to policymakers and civil society to rethink how they engage the public on cybersecurity.
“Let’s not wait to be victims. Let’s learn, act, and protect ourselves,” she concluded.
Eunice Asantewaa Ankomah’s call to embrace theatre as a cybersecurity tool is both timely and visionary which can help to bridge the gap between tech and tradition, innovation and inclusion.
