High Court restrains Ghana Telecom

A High Court at Nkawkaw has placed an interim injunction restraining the Ghana Telecom Limited (GTL) from disconnecting telephone lines of members of the Nkawkaw Communication Centres Association (NCCA).

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Amoakwa Buadu, ruled that until the final determination of the case, Ghana Telecom should reconnect the telephone lines of members of the association to enable them to carry on with their businesses.

Mr Baron Y. Amoafo, Counsel for the Association, urged the court to grant an interim injunction against the disconnection exercise, which he claimed had led to great financial losses.

He contended that Ghana Telecom reneged on an earlier agreement with the Association over the payment of one-third deposit but rather adopted threats of disconnection as a way of coercion.

Mr Amoafo stated that despite the agreement, Ghana Telecom adopted a "lackadaisical approach" towards repairing its faulty equipment, which he said affected recording of accurate rate of consumption by members for realistic billings.

He explained that due to the stand of Ghana Telecom, members of NCCA refused to honour bills served them by the company and GTL resorted to disconnecting their lines on two occasions.

It would be recalled that members of NCCA resolved not to honour "unrealistic" telephone bills by Ghana Telecom until it rectified the faulty equipment at Nkawkaw telephone exchange.

A solution could not be found to the impasse about a month ago following an intervention by the MP for the Nkawkaw, Okerchire Adusa. The Ghana News Agency reports a source at Ghana Telecom as hinting that the NCCA members owed the company several millions of cedis in unpaid bills since August last year. There was no counsel for Ghana Telecom in court.