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The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram and Minister for Communications, Samuel Nartey George, has responded to widespread public concerns about the rapid depletion of data bundles, insisting that the claims are not supported by evidence.
According to Mr George, investigations into these complaints have not uncovered any wrongdoing on the part of telecommunications service providers. He noted that while such concerns are not new, most tend to arise from user-side issues rather than network manipulation or systemic failures.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the mid-year budget review presentation, Mr George cited a recent case involving Ghanaian comedian Derick Kobina Bonney, also known as DKB. The comedian had taken to social media to complain about suspiciously fast data consumption. However, Mr George revealed that after an inquiry was initiated, DKB retracted his claims.
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Mr George stated:
That's not backed by any evidence. You realize someone like DKB came out the other day complaining. When I, when I instructed an investigation to happen, what happened? He came back to retract.
He urged consumers to examine their device settings, background app usage and automatic updates, which may be draining data without their knowledge. He stressed:
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People need to check their settings and be sure about the claims that they are making, but there is no evidence to show right now that those claims are real.
Mr George’s comments sparked mixed reactions online. Dennis Miracles Aboagye, an aide to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, reacted sarcastically, suggesting that Ghanaians collectively altered their phone settings just to blame the minister.
In a Facebook post, he wrote:
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Onable says we are bad paaaa and that 9th January morning, we all decided to change our phone settings and put it on fast data charge becos we don’t like him and wanted to blame him. Dear Ghana Pipos, Please go to your phone settings, look for data speed and change it to slow so your data will not finish fast fast.
The controversy continues to stir online debate, with many calling for greater transparency and public education on mobile data usage.