The Supreme Court of Ghana has ruled against Vodafone Ghana Limited in the breach of data privacy rights case filed against the company by one of its customers, Elorm Kwami Gorni.

According to a report by thelawplatform.online.com, Kwami Gorni sued the company for allowing the registration and mobile money wallet operation of a number unknown to him using his Ghana Card details without his consent.

The apex court of the land, by a 4-1 majority decision, ruled in favour of the applicant, stating that the company breached the data protection laws of the country.

“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 rights case of Justice Noah Adade v. Bolt Ghana Limited & Bolt Holdings OU; Suit No. C11/003/2023, available for read/download by clicking 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,” part of the report read.

The justice who ruled in favour of the applicant expressed their displeasure that the company allowed a person's details to be used by another for registration.

“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 unauthorised 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," one of the judges, Justice Yonny Kulendi, is quoted as having said.

Another judge, Justice Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, indicated that it was quite worrying that such a thing could happen. "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," she is quoted as having said.

The court went on to grant the 1st and 2nd reliefs of Kwami Gorni and awarded him damages of GH¢10,000.

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