The Supreme Court in a majority decision of 4 - 1, Dzamefe dissenting has held that Vodafone Ghana Limited breached the data privacy rights of their customer, Elorm Kwami Gorni, Appellant in the case, by allowing the registraton and the mobile money wallet operation of a number unknown to the Appellant using the Ghana Card details of Elorm Gorni without his consent.

In the well researched and reasoned majority decision of the Supreme Court through the voice of the Professor of Law, H/L Justice Prof. Mensa-Bonsu, the court made a discussion of the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843) by reliance on the two famous Supreme Court cases on privacy rights, MRS ABENA POKUAA ACKAH v. AGRICUTURAL DEVELOPMENT BANK [TLP-SC-2017-58]; RAPHAEL CUBAGEE v. MICHAEL YEBOAH ASARE & 2 ORS [TLP-SC-2018-13] and the persuasive force of the data privacy right case of Justice Noah Adade v. Bolt Ghana Limited & Bolt Holdings OU ;Suit No. C11/003/2023 available for read/download by a click here.

The discussion of the Court which suffered a dissent from Senyo Dzamefe JSC also relied on scholarly material including that of Francisca Kusi-Appiah: ‘Consumer Rights and Justice in Ghana: A Legal Compass’ K-App Law, Accra, Ghana 2025, pp 123. 262 and p.419. and, James Whisker, Mark Eshwar Lokanan, "Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing threats posed by mobile Money.", in Journal of Money Laundering Control, https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-10-2017-0061.

STAR OF THE MONTH - Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa Esq.

Celebrating 150 years of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ghana

The Court in the voice of Kulendi JSC who offered a concurring opinion to the erudite opinion of Justice Mensa-Bonsu held that "15. In my considered opinion, the failure of the 1st Respondent to ensure the effective implementation of such basic verification measures at the initial stage of the registration exercise constituted a clear dereliction of the Respondent’s statutory obligations and effectively created the conditions under which the Appellant’s personal data could be misused, ultimately resulting in the unauthorized activation of a mobile money account in the Appellant’s name, which by all standards, amounted to an invasion of his privacy under Article 18 of the Constitution."

Damages

The Court thus granted the 1st and 2nd reliefs of the Plaintiff/Appellant/Appellant and awarded nominal damages of GH¢10,000 despite being alarmed by the possibility of the misuse of the identity details of the Appellant and the existence and risk of money laundering activities through such misuse of data.

Prof Mensa-Bonsu delivered herself on the alarming nature of the possibility of indentity misuse as follows; "It should thus be a matter of alarm if someone with access to another’s personal documentation could use it to register his or her own or even a third person’s internet identity without the owner’s consent or authorization."

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