The Strategic Thinkers Network Africa (Stranek-Africa) has alleged that the data on the SIM Card registration Self-Service App being hosted under the account of XCCEL Limited is not owned by the government.
According to Stranek-Africa, the government has no control over all the data captured via the Self-Service App despite the App being introduced by the Ministry of Communication (NCA).
Reiterating its concerns over the introduction of the SIM Card registration Self-Service App, Thinkers Network Africa expressed discontent on why XCCEL Limited is owned by a UK-based registered company instead of a government agency.
A statement co-signed by the Executive Director and Director of Research of Stranek-Africa noted that its findings discovered that the data captured by XCCEL Limited is “uploaded to an Amazon Web Service Server which is not controlled or owned by the government.”
“Clearly, this is against section 17 and 18 of the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and Article 18 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.”
The statement thus condemned the government’s approach surrounding the Self-Service App and was quick to school them that such are basic security practices that should have to sent a clear signal to the government.
Against this background, Stranek-Africa said the development amounts to a “very careless approach considering the fact that such data captured are sensitive.”
“Personal data must be processed taking into consideration the protection of the privacy rights and all these must be done in a reasonable and lawful manner,” the statement warned the government.
On that score it cautioned government to be careful in heeding fidelity to Ghanaian laws on data protection.
