NDC: 'Spy' bill not to spy on Akufo-Addo

The Postal Packets and Telecoms Messages Bill before parliament is not meant to listen in on private conversations of Nana Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of Ghana’s biggest opposition party, NPP, National Organiser of the governing National Democratic Congress, Mr Kofi Adams, has said.

“We don’t need to listen to Nana Addo’s conversations to win an election because we won the elections in 2008 when they [NPP] were in power, so, we don’t need to listen to him to be able to win an election,” Mr Adams emphasised on The Big Issue on Citi FM on Saturday February 20.

The bill, when passed into law, will allow state security agencies to spy on criminals. The committee on Defense and the Interior insists the bill is not meant to intercept phone calls and messages of Ghanaians.

Speaking to Class News’ parliamentary correspondent, Ekow Annan, deputy ranking member of the Defense and Interior Committee, Major Derek Oduro (rtd) said the spying will only be done on people considered a security threat to the nation.

“The object of the bill or the purpose of the bill is to fight crime, suppressing organise crime including money laundering, terrorism, narcotic trafficking, identifying theft and generally for the protection of national security. That is the objective of the bill”, Major Derek Oduro (rtd) said.

“If you are communicating with someone and they intercept, it is unlawful. If it’s a criminal conversation or you are an armed robber and you are communicating on how to implement your decision or your plans of robbing people somewhere, then they will intercept your call but they will have to prove that it was of a criminal nature, otherwise they commit an offence”.

He noted that rumours that government wants to intercept messages from political opponents are false. “If you do that you commit an offence” he emphasised.