$89m KelniGVG: Refrain from 'alarmist public debate' – Ursula

Minister of Communication, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has urged the public to desist from “uninformed and alarmist public debate and commentary not borne out by the facts”.

In a statement on Tuesday, 10 July 2018, welcoming the dismissal of an interlocutory injunction against the implementation of the KelniGVG contract to implement a common platform for revenue assurance and monitoring, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the outcome “is a decisive step which reinforces our repeated assertion that the Common Platform Project only seeks to give government an objective means of verifying traffic volumes to determine that indeed, the Telcos are paying the correct tax revenues to government”.

An Accra High court dismissed an injunction application filed by two Ghanaians, Sara Asafu-Adjei and Maximus Amertogoh over the controversial KelniGVG deal.

The two were praying the court to restrain the government from implementing the $89 million deal with KelniGVG for the design, development and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance and mobile money monitoring.

They wanted an “an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents, whether, by themselves, their servants, workmen, hirelings, agents, privies or any persons claiming under or through them, whosoever described from implementing and operationalising the Common Platform until the final determination of this suit.”

But the court on Tuesday, 10 July 2018 struck out the injunction aspect of the case, but the substantive matter is still in court.

The KelniGVG deal has come under a lot of scrutiny, especially from policy think tank, Imani Africa.

Imani Africa wants the contract cancelled because it believes the deal is “needless” and a rip-off.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful emphasised in her statement that “government will protect the privacy of customer’s voice and data communications just as the court found”.

She said they “await the conclusion of all other cases in court” but the ministry is focused on delivering its mandate.

It will be recalled that a Court of Appeal had dismissed an application by the National Communications Authority (NCA), seeking to delay the implementation of an order preventing the Authority from entering into any third party contracts.