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Head of Research and Programmes at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Dr. Franklin Oduro has called on government to involve the citizens of Ghana in discussions on why the Postal Packets and Telecommunications Bill, popularly known as Spy Bill, must be introduced in Ghana.
“In a democracy that you are introducing such a law, it requires some broad consultations, broad discussions in a way that you have to inform the citizens why you are attempting to introduce a law that at any point in time can force you to intercept their messages without their knowledge,” Dr Oduro said.
Speaking to 3FM’s Winston Amoah on Sunrise Tuesday morning, Dr. Oduro explained that the law will infringe on the rights of Ghanaians.
“The problem in attempting to introduce a law that will intercept postal packages and telecommunication is that you are proposing a law that will interfere with the fundamental human rights of the citizen, which is the right to privacy,” he said.
He opined that there are already some laws in the country such as the Communication Act which grant powers to the state to intercept communications.
He said it would, therefore, be best to firstly examine these existing laws to find out the loopholes in them before bringing in another law to tackle the same issue.
The Bill is currently before parliament.
When passed into law, it will give power to security agencies to intercept telecommunication messages of Ghanaians.
