Lobby group Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications teamed with the country’s Central Bank to introduce guidelines to regulate the sector and protect mobile money vendors following a spate of attacks.

The effort comes after an increase in violence against mobile money operators in the country, Modern Ghana reported, with a vendor being shot and killed this week in the city of Accra.

Modern Ghana said the Chamber is collaborating with the bank and other stakeholders to develop guidelines, with the aim of establishing mobile money centres in the country which can protect vendors.

Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications seeks to protect the interests of the country’s operators. Its CEO Ken Ashigbey said there is an ongoing effort to educate agents “in terms of how they need to protect themselves and not risk their lives and property”.

He added: “following the meeting with the police, we also had a meeting with the Bank of Ghana where all stakeholders were brought together to look at the issue of security of the operators”.

Ashigbey also revealed there were plans to introduce insurance for mobile money vendors to protect them from losing money if they are attacked.

Daily attacks
Nyarkoa Boaitey Addo, president of the Mobile Money Advocacy Group, added there were armed attacks on mobile money vendors almost on a daily basis, but some victims choose not to report the incidents because of a lack of protection from security services.

“We constantly advise our members to take some personal security measures so they protect themselves and their money,” she said.

The group are advising their members to close their kiosks before it gets dark, for example.