SPYWARE SNOOPING

Is Ghana’s government using Israeli kit to spy on activists and dissidents?

By Suraya Dadoo
Posted on Thursday, 21 July 2022 15:53

The word Pegasus and binary code are displayed on a smartphone which is placed on a keyboard in this illustration taken May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Under both parties, Ghanaian officials have cut deals with Israel to get technology that can eavesdrop and intercept calls and data.

As protests mount against worsening economic conditions, police brutality and what many activists see as rising authoritarianism, civic activists are vowing to push back against the state’s illegal use of surveillance technology like Israel’s Pegasus, first bought by John Mahama’s National Democratic Congress government in 2016.

READ MORE Ghana is becoming a 'disguised dictatorship', say worried activists

Bernard Mornah, a leading member of ‘Arise Ghana’, which mobilised street demonstrations in Accra last month, confirmed his group will be seeking a Parliamentary enquiry into the use of Pegasus in Ghana from 2017.

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