Sale of GT is betrayal of independence

By Ebenezer Hanson


The NPP’s administration controversial decision to offload 70% shares of Ghana Telecom assets to Voadafone, a British phone company; continues to elicit a barrage of scathing attacks from Ghanaians of all walks of life. A group calling itself the “Concerned Citizens of Ghana” has described the sale as a betrayal of Ghanaians, the country’s independence and a stab in the back of the belief that the African can manage his own affairs.

“We consider the government’s action to be a betrayal of the independence ideal that Blackman is capable of managing his own affairs and a further throw back to an era where companies dominated the Ghanaian economy. That was the period of the colonial period,” declared the group in a statement it presented to Parliament and received by the Second Deputy Speaker, Hon. Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, who assured the group that it concerns would be considered.

The group, which included political stalwarts such as Prof. Agyemeng Badu Akosa, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Mr. Bright Akwetey, Kosi Dedey all of the stalk and Naa Kordai Assimeh of the Ga-Dangme, says much as it welcomes foreign investment, it must come to supplement “ rather than supplant our efforts to develop our country”. It adds that the impending take-over by British Vodafone of GT and allied assets strategic assets undermine the noble objectives of all the nationalists who fought and died for the country’s our independence.

The group also expressed grave concerns about the manner the government railroads through Parliament important bills and agreements with their attendant costly mistakes in public policy as was witnessed in the case of IFC and CNTCI loans, “both of which turned out to be fraudulent”. It claimed that the GT agreement has not been spared this fate by the Executive and this undermines the “credibility and independence of Parliament”

It points out a fact to buttress it stance: “The government’s admission that the granting of fibre optics permits to British Vodafone for 999 years was an ‘error’ is further proof of the need for government to be transparent and diligent in handling important matters of State, especially as they relate to strategic foreign investors”.
According to the group, besides not being a desirable deal, the absence of specific and monitorable targets in the GT deal, complete with a schedule of penalties for non-performance, shows that the government has been less than scrupulous in the handling of this matter. “The sale represents nothing short of give-away for pittance assets that have the potential to generate billions of dollars in profit for the government and people of Ghana, instead of the $900 million that Vodafone is offering.”

In a related development, the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has also called on Ghanaians patriots to raise their voices against the sale describing it as the
“latest crime against public interest”, and called on Parliament that they “for once rise up to their duty and reject the subversive actions of the Executive.”
It gives notice to Vodafone and its local agents that it will do everything in its power to prevent the rape of Ghanaians.

In a statement to the media signed by Dr David Pessey, the SFG had some uncharitable words for the NPP administration in respect of the sale. To them the NPP had been economical with the truth on the sale and that amounts to “deception and fraud”; additionally, the Public Procurement Act has been violated making the process “flawed and fraudulent”.

“Such is the recklessness of our Government, in its subversion of the public interest that it has offered to Vodafone terms that bind VRA, although the VRA is not a party to the agreement,” notes the SFG, and agrees with the concerned citizens that the sale of GT is one more step in the recolonization of Ghana.

However some NPP MPs have rebuffed the sentiments of the opponents of the sale the GT. Hon. According to Hon. Kofi Jumah, MP for Asokwa, the deal is a good one considering the huge losses GT has been making “GT has been running at a negative cash flow, and that there is a possibility of turning the company around with the massive inflow of new capital.”

He argues that with Zain and Glo joining the market they are going to sharpen the competition making the situation worse for GT without any recapitalization. He says valuations of GT’s assets were conducted and based upon that the offer price was determined. “If the opponents of the sale think they know of any company that can offer a higher price they should table it. If Vodafone backs out no company would be ready to offer $900 million for the assets in question”. He said the NDC’s behavior in respect of the sale is ultimate hypocrisy and they are not fighting for Ghanaians.

Similarly, the MP for Ofoase Ayirebi, Hon. Oppong Kusi, claimed that notwithstanding that part of GT’s share are sold, the assets still remain in the country. “The value of GT is more in the service it provides for Ghanaians and in that vein the better the value”. He maintains that if care is not taken GT will go down the way Ghana Airways and Ghana Railway went”. He predicts that another candidate for this virus is GBC.
Hon. Kusi contends that the competition in the telephony industry is now global not national and GT must position itself to match the global competition.

As a press time last Friday it was reported that Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum had walked out of the Finance Committee considering the GT sale agreement because his contributions were persistently being ignored by NPP members of the Committee.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu has debunked allegations that the Public Procurement Act procedures were violated. He also revealed that the total debt of GT stood at $86 million.