NCA Acted Ultra Vires in Curtailing the Enjoyment of the Right to Privacy of Communication – Minority

The Minority Caucus in Ghana’s Parliament has taken a strong exception to the current situation where sim cards of mobile network subscribers in the country are being blocked by government authorities for non-registration of their sim cards.

Mobile network subscribers in Ghana who had still not re-registered their SIM cards and had done only stage one re-registration started receiving punitive actions from Monday, September 5, 2022, including the blocking of all their outgoing calls and data services for 48 hours (2 days) per week.

Addressing a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, indicated that the Government is only punishing Ghanaians over their own failures to do the right thing. Adding that the Minority will not sit aloof for that to continue.

“Why should the NCA and ministry punish Ghanaians with a blockage of their SIM cards? Isn’t the NCA aware that significant number of Ghanaians especially the poor have not been able to access the national ID that is the only medium for registering through no fault of theirs?” he said.

According to him, digitalization and ICT are directly tied to key Fundamental Rights including the Right to privacy and communication “as no person’’ should be subjected to interference with the privacy of his communication’’.
“It is the view of the minority that the NCA is acting ultra vires in curtailing the exercise and enjoyment of the Right to privacy of communication.

“The government is proceeding erroneously as if every Ghanaian has a Ghana card. This is simply not true, it is not the case,” the Minority Leader stressed.

He further pointed out that the Government was failing to understand that the mobile phone has become an essential emergency tool where any deliberate interference by the Government to its utilization by the people for that purpose, could have some very serious consequences on the public.

“Mobile telephone (smart phone) is an essential emergency tool. Owning a cellphone has become regarded as a necessity in modern society. Great advances have been made with smart phone technology and most of us rely on our phones to help us in array of situations,” he observed.

The Minority group therefore made a call on the Ministry of Communications and the National Communications Authority to desist from treating the Communications Sector as personal fiefdoms at the peril of the country’s development.

“We expect more professional and insightful approach to the management of the sector to avoid further worsening of the sector,” the Minority Leader said.

Source: Clement Akoloh