Kelni GVG will spy on Ghanaians – Telecoms Chamber

By Papisdaff Abdullah [caption id="attachment_48826" align="alignleft" width="563"] Ken Ashigbey[/caption]

Telecommunications companies in the Ghana are rejecting the moves by Kelni GVG monitor them stating that it would spy on Ghanaians. According to the Telcos, the point where the National Communications Authority (NCA) wants Kelni GVG to connect for real time monitoring will breach the data of customers. Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful last week warned that the Telcos will be severely dealt with if they refuse to cooperate with Kelni GVG.

The minister in a statement to Parliament indicated that two telcos are in the process of being connected. “I am happy to announce that Vodafone and Glo are in the process of being connected as we speak. The others are expected to be connected by the 11th of June. Any operator who fails to comply will be sanctioned.”

But CEO for the Telecoms Chamber Ken Ashigbey claims the ministry wants to perpetuate an illegality. “The current architecture that the NCA and their service providers are proposing do not comply with the laws. “The law also says that we must be sure that when we do that we don’t have access to the content so that there is no privacy breach…but unfortunately the architecture has the capability [to spy]. So what the telcos are saying is that, as we speak our data stands to be breached if we go with the current architecture.”

Policy think-tank IMANI Africa first sounded an alarm over the details of the deal and called for its immediate termination. Its president, Franklin Cudjoe, argued that the agreement mirrored the controversial agreements the state entered into with Subah Infosolutions and Afriwave Telcom Ltd in 2010 and 2016 respectively. He also raised the privacy concerns while questioning the credibility of Kelni GVG.

“Ghanaians will have their data threatened if they allow this GVG company to play with their phone calls, chats, everything…with very strange characters behind it since all it has, for a security company of its pedigree, are stock photos,” he bemoaned.