Francis Kwarteng Arthur filed a lawsuit in April 2020 against the National Communications Authority, two telecommunications companies—MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana—and the organization in charge of the Central Subscriber Identity Module Register, Kelni GVG. The case is titled Francis Kwarteng Arthur & C.A. Vanderpuye Memorial VS. Vodafone Ghana Limited, Scancom Plc (Mtn Ghana), Kelnigvg Limited, The National Communication Authority & The Attorney-General. In response to an Executive Instrument issued by the president ordering network operators to put their network at the state's disposal for mass information dissemination and to provide data to the National Communications Authority Common Platform in the case of a health emergency, the applicant raised privacy concerns, alleging that the government had violated the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).
The network operators were specifically told to give the National Communications Authority Common Platform the following data: all caller and called numbers, merchant codes (for mobile money), international mobile equipment identity codes, site location, and mobile station international subscriber directory number codes.
The Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775)'s Section 100, which states that "The President may by executive instrument make written requests and issue orders to operators or providers of electronic communications networks or services requiring them to intercept communications, provide any user information, or otherwise in aid of law enforcement," was referenced in the Establishment Emergency Communications System Instrument, 2020.
In their respective arguments, the Executive Instrument and the defense stressed that "Ghana is committed to dealing with emergency situations, especially public health emergencies." This led to the "urgent need to establish an emergency system to trace all contacts of persons suspected of or actually affected by a public health emergency and identify the places visited by the persons suspected of or actually affected by a public health emergency."
The NCA, Vodafone, and Kelni GVG were each ordered by the court to pay Arthur GH20,000 in damages. The National Communications Authority (NCA), a state agency, was also told by the High Court to stop gathering private data from mobile phone users. Finally, the court ruled that the government must erase any data it had already obtained within 14 days of the court's ruling.