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Consumer rights advocate Edmond Abu has publicly reacted to the recent National Telecommunications Commission (NatCA) court outcome involving a Le 3 Billion (about $130,000) payment, raising serious concerns about how the matter was handled and calling for accountability from both regulators and mobile network operators.
In a video circulating on social media, Abu questioned why NatCA is asking him and others connected to the case to pay the judgment sum when, according to him, the original legal action was a class representative suit filed on behalf of the Sierra Leonean public over poor quality of service and alleged breach of a 2017 agreement by mobile companies.
Abu explained that the legal action stemmed from a 2017 public-private dialogue agreement which, he said, required mobile network operators to improve their Quality of Service (QoS) within 120 days after a tariff increment. He claims the operators failed to meet those conditions but still benefited from increased tariffs.
According to Abu, the lawsuit sought compensation for consumers, arguing that Africell owed $2.75 million and Orange owed $1.45 million for failing to meet agreed service standards, in addition to other remedies such as free call hours for subscribers. He insists that if the case had succeeded, the benefits would have gone to the public, and therefore the financial burden of the loss should not fall solely on him and his associates.
He further alleged that the case was transferred between multiple judges and claimed that the judgment process took longer than constitutionally expected. Abu also accused NatCA of failing to fully protect consumers from exploitation by telecom operators, arguing that the regulator should have pursued enforcement of the 2017 agreement instead of allowing the matter to end in financial liability for the plaintiffs.
Abu disclosed that he had invested personal resources into the case, including selling property and mobilizing support across the country to document network service challenges. He maintained that the action was always intended to defend the interests of mobile subscribers nationwide.
He has since informed his legal team and the Attorney General about his position and has called on the public to demand what he describes as unpaid compensation from the telecom companies if he is arrested or compelled to pay the court-ordered sum.
NatCA and the mobile operators involved are yet to publicly respond to these latest claims.
