The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has accused Gambia’s government of interrupting access to chat applications, allegedly preventing residents from communicating their living conditions to family outside of the country.
HumanIPO reported last year the Gambian Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) had banned Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and internet dating services, saying they were detrimental to the economy.
“PURA wishes to make it abundantly clear that the offering of “International and National Calling Services” within Internet Cafes using VoIP services (Viber, Skype, etc) is strictly prohibited,” the organisation said in a statement.
Now the MFWA says the government has implemented measures to prevent the use of instant messaging services.
According to the organisation, residents making use of services like Viber, FreePP and Line for making VoIP calls and sending messages have been complaining of service interruptions for the past month.
“While it is believed that this is being orchestrated by the country’s Ministry of Information Technology to prevent Gambians from informing friends and family oversees about the conditions in the country, others believe telecommunication companies in the country are behind it since people are no longer buying call credits for foreign calls,” the MFWA said.
The MFWA said the deputy permanent secretary at Gambia’s Ministry of Information Technology Lamin Camara denied any government involvement in the interruptions.
“The MFWA is concerned about this development in The Gambia and urges the Ministry of Information Technology to liaise with the telecommunication companies to resolve the issue,” it said.
