AFAG withdraws suit against National Communications Authority

The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a pressure group on Friday withdrew a law suit seeking to restrain the National Communications Authority (NCA) from engaging the services of Global Voices Group (GVG).

AFAG filed the suit at an Accra High Court against GVG, a communications company, to install and operate the Intelligence Signalling Management System (ISMS).

The group had opposed the installation of the ISMS, an equipment to monitor foreign calls terminated as local calls by GVG, insisting that the gadget could be used to eavesdrop on private conversations thus violating the fundamental human rights to privacy of citizens and the and national security.

However, government down-played the fears of AFAG, insisting that the practice of terminating international calls as local calls was leading to large revenue loss to the State and that the equipment would be operated by NCA and not GVG.

“On principle, we have decided to withdraw the motions we filed in court to pave way for checking of sim-box fraud in order to generate revenue for the State towards development…We have therefore communicated to our lawyers to withdraw the motions,” said Kwabena Bonfeh, a leading member of AFAG at a press conference in Accra.

He said AFAG after further research and consultations with stakeholders had discovered that the prefix of most international calls to Ghana terminating as local calls was a “serious matter”, which should be checked by “all fair and legal means” to generate revenue to the State.

Mr Bonfeh said AFAG had kicked against the operations of GVG because of the security implications.

“Our aim is not to frustrate or sabotage government, but to ensure that the fundamental human rights of Ghanaians are not encroached upon,” he said.

“We want to reaffirm in no uncertain terms that anything inimical to the interest of Ghanaians would be discountenanced. We would be keeping a close watch at the operations of NCA,” he said.

AFAG called on government to set up a special fund to receive revenue inflow from the project and that of the Communications Service Tax to ensure proper monitoring and utilisation of revenue inflows.

Source: GNA