The Accra high court has ordered the government to halt collecting personal data of mobile phone subscribers in Ghana, as it “violates the right to privacy.”
The court presided by Justice Rebecca Sittie affirmed the arguments of the plaintiff, Mr. Francis Arthur, ruling that the collection of personal data of Ghanaian subscribers “violate and continue to violate the right to privacy.”
Background of the suit
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, signed Executive Instrument (EI) 63 2020, granting him access to all personal data of Ghana’s mobile users.
The EI mandates Kelni GVG, a private IT firm, to gather all personal data of mobile network subscribers and submit it to the president. This was done to assist the public health team in tracing COVID-19 contacts.
Subscriber data, mobile money merchant codes, mobile money transfer data, and addresses were all to be captured.
According to the EI, “There is an urgent need to establish an emergency communication system to trace all contacts of persons suspected of or actually affected by public health emergency and identify the places visited by persons suspected of or actually affected by a public emergency.”
However, Mr. Francis Arthur, a private legal practitioner, was not pleased with the decision and filed a writ in the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court, naming MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, NCA, the Attorney General, and Kelni GVG as defendants.
According to Ghanaweb, his counsel argued that the decision was “unreasonable” which “seeks to suspend the privacy rights of over 10 million persons…. all in the hope that some few hundred will be traced.”
On Thursday, 22nd July 2021, the Accra high court presided by Justice Rebecca Sittie provided a ruling on the petition declaring that the President’s directive violates the right to privacy.
The court also charged Kelni GVG, NCA, and Vodafone Ghana to pay GH¢20,000 each in damages to Mr. Francis Arthur.
Implications of the ruling
The Accra high court has ordered the government to expunge all personal data it has obtained so far within 14 days. The government should also submit a report to the Registrar of the High Court.
To also prevent a future occurrence, Mr. Francis Arthur also secured a perpetual injunction to restrain Kelni GVG and NCA “from using the Executive Instrument to procure” his information from his network provider.
Read Next:
