Raymond Atuguba sues MTN

The Executive Secretary of the Constitutional Review Commission, which just rounded up its operations, Dr. Raymond Akongburo Atuguba, is suing SCANCOM Gh. Ltd. operators of MTN and the Attorney General for the alleged truncation of service to his mobile phone line.

A writ filed by Dr. Atuguba at a High Court in Accra is therefore seeking compensation for, among other things, the infractions on his legal rights to life, property, association, information, work, and communication.

A writ sighted by RadioXYZonline.com said in part that, the plaintiff's mobile service was discontinued; a situation which has affected his life and his business transactions.

Dr. Atuguba said as a subscriber, he has brought business worth many thousands of Ghana cedis to MTN for the past ten years.

According to him, after switching his number from a prepaid one to a postpaid service, he realized that he was being overbilled for the service and after confronting MTN with the evidence, some of the charges were waivered.

Sometime in 200x, I noticed evidence of overbilling to my account beginning in 2009 and I confronted the 1st Respondent (Scancom Gh. Ltd/MTN) with the evidence, resulting in negotiations leading to the waiver of some of the charges on my account.

The writ said after he noticed a similar situation of overbilling in 2011, he confronted MTN officials once again who refused to accept responsibility for the overbilling.

The writ further said: that on the 27th of June, 2012 and around 15:00 hours GMT, I noticed that I was not able to make any outgoing calls on my telephone number 024 4675611. That on the 27th of June, 2012 and around 15:00 hours GMT I also noticed that I was unable to send or receive SMS (text) messages. That my blackberry services have been inactive for well over a year, despite several phone calls, text messages, emails, and letters to 1st Respondent (Scancom Gh. Ltd/MTN) to complain about same.

Dr. Atuguba is therefore praying the court to compel the telecom giant to pay reparations for the effects that the service cuts has affected his livelihood.

He argued that among things: That my right to property, guaranteed under Article 18 of the 1992 Constitution, is likely to be contravened by the 1st Respondent (Scancom Gh. Ltd/MTN) because if my house caught fire I will be unable to call the Ghana Fire Service or relatives and friends to help quench it.

Source: radioxyzonline.com