Ursula Owusu Ekuful
An Accra High Court (Human Rights Division) has ordered the Ministry of Communications to release all documents pertaining the controversial US$89 million KelniGVG contract.
This follows an application by two individuals, John Ato Bonful, and Nana Adom Kanyi, as well a pressure group, ‘The Citizens of Ghana Movement’ compelling the Ministry to release the documents.
Their application is against the backdrop of the agreement between government and the private entity which the applicants say touches on their fundamental human rights.
However, the Communication Ministry made it clear that it was ready to provide the documents which the applicants were demanding.
The court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah subsequently ordered the Ministry to release all the documents concerning the contract between government and the private company.
When the judge enquired from Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah, who was in court, how soon the document can be made available, he said the Ministry could make the document available between four and seven days.
The court therefore gave July 9, 2018 as deadline for the Ministry to make available all the documents.
Meanwhile, the court has adjourned an interlocutory injunction application hearing by another group of applicants to July 5, 2018.
The applicants were seeking the court to place an injunction on the execution of the contract saying it is not in the interest of the country.
When the case was called, lawyers for the applicants told the court that he had just received an affidavit in opposition to their application and would need some time to study it and file a supplementary affidavit to that effect.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter.
The contract has become a subject of controversy between policy think-tank IMANI Africa and the Ministry, with the former arguing it was needless and expensive.
The Ministry argues that it is meant for the design and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance and mobile money monitoring.
But the plaintiffs who are not convinced with the term of the contract stormed court seeking an interlocutory injunction to restrain the government and its assigns from implementing and operationalizing a common platform to monitor revenues of telecommunication companies.
The plaintiffs claim that the architecture of the common platform to be implemented is such that instead of connecting to only the billing node provided by the telecom companies as stipulated under Act 864, the connection will be made to all the physical nodes, and it will be a breach of Article 18 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.
According to the applicants, the mobile networks have a statutory duty to protect their customers, including the plaintiffs under Section 73 of the Electronic Communications Act 2008 (Act 775) by ensuring that correspondence and communications of customers are not intercepted or interfered with.
The applicants also believe that the intended implementation of the common platform constitutes a real threat to the enjoyment of their fundamental human right to privacy, adding that the implementation of the common platform and its attendant breach of the applicant’s right to privacy will be irreparable.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak