Court upholds injunction on Kelni GVG implementation

An Appeal Court has unanimously dismissed an application for stay of execution by the National Communications Authority (NCA) and awarded costs of GH¢2,000 against them.

The court was presided over by Justice K.A. Acquaye. The other judges on the panel were Justice I.O. Tanko Amadu and Barbara F. Ackah-­?Yensu.

The applicants (NCA) were represented in court by Counsel Kwaku Gyau-­?Baffour from Minkah-­?Premo & Co. while the respondents Subah Infosolutions, on the other hand, were represented by Counsel Osafo Buabeng from Oseawuo Chambers.

Subah Info solutions on the 27th December 2017, commenced an action against the NCA and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for among others, a declaration that the termination of the Service Agreement dated 10th April, 2015 was unlawful and therefore void. It also claimed an order of injunction against the defendants from awarding the contract to any third party pending the determination of the suit.

The application for interlocutory injunction was moved and granted on the 14th of February 2018. Subsequently, a notice of appeal was filed on behalf of the NCA. Soon thereafter, an application for stay of execution of the injunction order was filed.

Following these court processes, there has been a complete disregard for the law and the government has continued to engage and compel the telecom companies to connect to this private company Kelni-­?GVG ignoring all the privacy red flags raised by the Telecommunications Chamber and other CSOs like IMANI Africa, Citizen Ghana Movement, CDD, GII, GACC and others who have also questioned the process of awarding the new contract and the costs involved.

The dismissed application by the court of appeal simply enforces the interlocutory injunction granted Subah on the 14th of February and puts, going forward, the actions of all actors such as the Ministry of Communications, NCA, GRA and their assigns including the Chamber of Telecommunications and the mobile operators in contempt at this stage if they continue collaborating to implement the common monitoring platform project which has generated controversy.

Meanwhile, An Accra Human Rights Court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah ordered the Ministry of Communications to release the full contract details and documents relating to the same KelniGVG deal to the plaintiffs; Citizen Ghana Movement and IMANI Africa Tuesday.