MTN Partners Ghana Police To Fight Cybercrime

Telecom giants, Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) Ghana, has announced its decision to partner the Ghana Police Service in fighting cybercrime in the country.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh, plans are underway to help the Ghana police build a forensic lab which would aid the efficient acceleration of all investigations related to the MTN mobile money (Momo).

Speaking at the Momo at 10 Stakeholder Dinner and Awards Night held at Kempinski Hotel in Accra, last Friday, Mr. Adadevoh said the presence of the forensic lab would help complete the process of arresting and prosecuting people involved crimes related to Momo.

“We expect the equipment to be in the country early January, 2020 and soon after we should start deployment of the forensic lab,” he said.

MTN is also exploring other avenues like the Judicial System as well as Ghana’s digitalisation system to ensure that the Momo platform is save for users and various stakeholders.

The telecom gurus have plans of exploiting supporting systems like the National Identification card which according to them, would allow the easy tracking and nailing down of Momo criminals.

Sustaining Momo

According to MTN’s CEO, the Momo platform is one that has come to stay and with the right policies, supervision and regulations from government, Ghanaians would benefit immensely from the initiative.

In order to sustain Momo for future generations, Mr. Adedevoh said MTN would continue to rely on the power of partnership.

“So far, we have had different stakeholders who are part of the eco system. We have the regulators, the banks, the distributors, the agents, merchants, Fintech and all of these guys play different roles in the ecosystem. To sustain this, we have to make sure that the participation from all the different stakeholders continues,” he said.

He continued: “Once people get used to mobile money, their needs will start to change. Therefore, the role of innovation becomes very important. We have to continue to innovate and ensure that as the needs evolve, we are able to provide the necessary service to support those needs.”

Game Changer

The MTN Mobile Money Limited, sees a wide range of opportunities awaiting them even after 10 years of operation within the borders of Ghana.

For them, the accomplishments of the last decade were just to “scrape the surface” and are ready to dig deeper for many success stories.

Currently, MTN Momo has over 140,000 active Mobile Money agents, over 5000 mobile agents/canvassers. Some of these agents and canvassers, prior to the introduction of Momo had no meaningful employments.

According to the General Manager Mobile Money Ltd, Mr. Eli Hini, the next phase of their business is to penetrate fully into Ghana’s payment system and to see to it that MTN Momo is used for everyday payment.

“Today, if you want to take a taxi, mobile money enables it. We want to get to the point that when you wake up in the morning, you don’t need to carry any cash on you. You take a taxi you pay; you buy your wakye or fufu you pay. Anything you do, you pay with Momo. We believe a time is coming where everyone will believe in MTN Momo and would accept it as a mode of payment.”

Awards

The MTN Momo at 10 awards night was one branded yellow and filled with savour and abundance of joy―guests with an epic picture of pure excitement.

Most excited of all guest present were stakeholder who were rewarded for their exceptional contribution to the Momo success story.

In all, close to 30 stakeholders and individuals were awarded.

Mr. George Anda, Deputy Minister of Communication was awarded Momo Brand Builder.

Nine banks including the Fidelity Bank, Eco Bank, Cal Bank, G.T. Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA, UMB and Stanbic Bank, were awarded Pioneering Momo Partner Bank.

Barclays, Republic and First Atlantic Banks went home with the Emerging Partner Bank With Great Impact Awards.

Momo Partner Bank Frontrunner went to Fidelity Bank while the Momo Fintech Pioneer Award went to I.T. Consortium and CoreNet Limited respectively.

Other companies and institutions awarded include; MiLif Insurance, Multi Choice Ghana, Ghana National College and Star Oil Company.

Individual awards went to; Mr. Gideon Osei Amoako, Momo Patron; Mrs Elly Ohene-Adu, Powerbroker; Dr. Settor Kwabla Amediku, Momo Regulatory Influencer; Mr. Eli Hini, Momo Trail Blazer; Mr. Bruno Akpakpa, Momo Masterminder and Mr. Ebenezer Twum Asante, Momo Game Changer.

 

Story By GraceAblewor Sogbey