An Accra High Court has ordered the National Communications Authority (NCA) to stop collecting the personal information of mobile phone subscribers in the country.
According to the court, government’s decision to collect personal data of subscribers for contact tracing violates their right to privacy.
The court presided over by Justice Rebecca Sittie consequently ordered government to within 14 days delete all such data gathered and report same to the Court’s Registrar.
The court awarded damages of GHC20,000 each against Vodafone Ghana Limited, National Communication Authority (NCA) and Kelni GVG to the plaintiff.
Main Suit
A private legal practitioner, Francis Kwarteng Arthur sued government seeking to stop the President, Kelni GVG and the National Communications Authority (NCA) from securing his personal mobile information from Vodafone and MTN Ghana for contact tracing.
He contends that access to such information which is in the possession of the telecom companies will amount to a breach of his fundamental human rights to privacy.
Mr. Arthur’s argument is that although the President has the power to procure his personal information under the appropriate circumstances taking into account the appropriate factors, the manner in which the government is seeking to procure the information at this particular time breaches the law and violates his right to administrative justice, to privacy and equality.
He is seeking among other things an order of the High Court “to quash the President’s directives in EI 63 to the extent that they have violated, are violating or are likely to violate his fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
He is also seeking “a perpetual injunction to restrain Vodafone Ghana and MTN Ghana from relying on EI 63 to make his personal information in their possession available to the President, the Government, Kelni GVG and the National Communications Authority”.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak