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Former ICANN director could lose control of ccTLD

Kevin Murphy, January 26, 2026, Domain Registries

The government of Ghana has announced plans to nationalize the .gh ccTLD, taking control from a former ICANN director who has run the registry for over thirty years.

The Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation reportedly said that the government intended to place the ccTLD fully under state control.

Samuel George reportedly said: “It cannot continue to sit in private custody. The state must own it.”

The ccTLD has been run by a company called Network Computer Systems, doing business as Ghana Dot Com (at ghana.com), since 1995, under the control of Nii Quaynor, who was on ICANN’s board of directors in the early noughties.

After a 2008 law called for the nationalization of the registry, the two parties have been engaged in negotiations to ensure the smooth handover of the domain.

ICANN typically does not redelegate ccTLDs without the consent of the incumbent, even if the winning party is the local government, but agreement has been difficult to come by due to a dispute over money.

Ghana Dot Com wants 10% of future .gh domain sales to be donated to the local ISOC chapter indefinitely, but the government has resisted, according to documents posted by the company.

It’s not clear from local reporting whether the government and Quaynor, now 81, have made a breakthrough, but the minister is already talking about plans to give away .gh domains to newly registered companies in the nation.