A netizen identified as Blaque Gatsby has said that Vodafone being found guilty of breaching the privacy of a customer has once again proven that Minister of Communications Sam George is right again for pushing for a new SIM registration exercise.
According to the netizen, the Supreme Court ruling highlights the former Communication Minister Ursula Owusu’s sins and vindicates the current Communication Minister.
In a post on X, the netizen wrote, “Ursula’s sins.
Once again, Sam has been proven right.
Using Ghanaian’s Ghana card to register and link their SIMs without the permission and cooperation of the NIA, the agency that owns the data, was definitely illegal.
This is another reason why Sam George shouldn’t touch or tamper with the biometric data Ursula collected.
You can dislike Sam George all you want, but he was right from day one”.
His post comes on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling that Vodafone Ghana Limited has breached the privacy of its customers by using Ghana card details to register a number and mobile money account for another customer.
Ghana’s apex court, in a majority decision of 4 – 1, held that Vodafone Ghana Limited breached the data privacy rights of its customer, Elorm Kwami Gorni.
The Law Platform providing more details stated, “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 registration 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. AGRICULTURAL 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
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.
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.”
The Law Platform added, “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 identity 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 authorisation.”
However, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the former Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, has issued a rebuttal, firing shots at claims made by President John Dramani Mahama and the current Minister for Communications, Sam George.
According to Ursula, the SIM card registration under her leadership represented real progress for Ghanaians and should not be undermined by misleading claims or political narratives.
She also criticised the government for failing to acknowledge the practical gains the registration during her time brought to the system, adding that if the government cannot praise her, they should not tarnish her reputation.
See the post below:
Ursula's sins.
— Blaque Gatsby (@blaquegatsby) April 6, 2026
Once again, Sam has been proven right.
Using Ghanaian's Ghana card to register and link their SIMs without the permission and cooperation of the NIA, the agency that owns the data, was definitely illegal.
This is another reason why Sam George shouldn't touch or… pic.twitter.com/avE8urUmZJ