The Parliament of Sierra Leone on Wednesday, 23rd June 2021, passed into law the Cybersecurity and Crime Act 2021 that was tabled by the Hon. Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, ten years after Sierra Leone signed the ECOWAS Directives for member states to legislate laws to combat cyber-related crimes.

The Cybersecurity and Crime Act seeks to achieve the following: Provide for the effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the prohibition, prevention, detection, prosecution and punishment of cybercrimes; prevention of the abusive use of computer systems; to provide for the establishment of structures to promote cybersecurity and capacity building; to provide for the timely and effective collection of electronic evidence for the purpose of investigation and prosecution of cybercrime; and the protection of computer systems and networks, electronic communications, data and computer programs, intellectual property and privacy rights; to provide for facilitation of international cooperation in dealing with cybercrime matters and to provide for other related matters therewith.

This is one of the most progressive and modern pieces of legislation that will promote security and stability in the country's cyberspace by providing an effective and enforceable national cyber security legal framework to protect citizens from increasing global cyber threats and cyber-attacks.

As part of preparations for the implementation of this law, the EU through ECOWAS invited officials of the Ministry of Information and Communications to participate in an introductory judicial Training of Trainers (ToT) for judges, magistrates, law enforcement officers and prosecutors who would become trainers to disseminate the acquired knowledge to others at national level.

This is part of the capacity building component of the EU funded ECOWAS project to support member states in building their cybersecurity capacities.

With this law, the Ministry of Information and Communications will now begin the process of domesticating the Malabo Convention, along with the African Union Convention on Data Protection and Cybercrime as well as ascend to the Budapest Convention to enable the country benefit from mutual legal assistance and international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime and related matters.