By Joyce Danso
Accra, Sept. 13, GNA – An Information Technology Consultant has filed a GHC2-million suit against Bolt Ghana Limited for being, allegedly, negligent.
Mr. Justice Noah Adade, the Plaintiff, said Bolt Ghana Limited had breached the Data Protection law after using his bio data for one of its drivers without proper checks.
He said the Company, before registering vehicle with registration number GR 2052-22, did not ascertain the proper ownership of the car and prayed the court to direct Bolt Ghana Limited, an online transport platform, to delete his personal data from its database.
He is further praying an Adentan Circuit Court to order Bolt to pay him compensation of GHC2-million for using his personal data without his consent.
In a statement of Claim, the Plaintiff said he was a majority Shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of a software company in Accra.
The Plaintiff said the defendant was a Company registered under the laws of Ghana and operated a ride/ transport software platform that registered drivers as part of its business and created demand for the drivers by linking them to passengers.
According to the Plaintiff, sometime in the first half of 2022, a staff of a financial institution he provided services to, informed him that he had requested for a ride and saw the Plaintiff’s details as the driver.
The Plaintiff said in August 2022, he ordered a ride on Bolt platform from Lakeside Ashaley Botwe to Saint Peters, all within the vicinity of Ashaley Botwe, Accra and to his surprise, his name and image appeared on the Bolt platform as the driver with vehicle registration number GR 2052- 22 assigned to pick him to his destination.
The Plaintiff said he waited for the ride and “indeed the driver of the vehicle with registration number GR 2052-22 came,” and he was someone known to him.
He said when he confronted the driver he started pleading for forgiveness.
The Plaintiff said he was traumatised by the experience and wondered the likelihood and extent of crime that might have been committed in his name.
He said his reputation, which he had taken pains to build over the years had been battered and lowered and that Bolt Ghana Limited owed him as well as the public “a duty of care to be diligent and thorough in the performance of its functions.
‘The Plaintiff says that the defendant failed to comply with the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and thus has conducted itself illegally.”
GNA