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Ghana: Nduom Also Kicks Against Sale of GT
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Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Linda Akrasi Kotey
The Flag bearer of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom has kicked against government's decision to sell Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone International Holding at the cost of $900 million.
Nduom's decision comes just a day before parliament considers the sale and purchase agreement between Vodafone and the government of Ghana.
He argued that looking at the transaction, if the house should conduct a secret ballot instead of the open voting, most members of the majority side of which he is a member would vote against the motion. Addressing newsmen in parliament yesterday, Dr. Ndoum said what is more alarming was the fact that government was not listening to any opposing view on the matter, as the NDC did in the case of Telecom Malaysia.
He mentioned that looking critically at various global changes and the spate at which the world is moving, it is not the time for the country to sell a vital national asset such as Ghana Telecom.
According to him, the best option is for the company to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) so that interested people can go and purchase shares, adding that Vodafone can do same." State owned companies such as Goil, was listed on the GSE and Ghanaians patronised it", he said. The CPP flag bearer stated that the Legislature usually leave very important matters such as this, and push it through on the last day when the house is in a rush to close its business.
He questioned why GT was being sold and whether the government needed money very desperately, or they were just interested in getting rid of the national asset for something else. He maintained that as far as he was concerned, Vodafone is into mobile telephony, as such they can come for a license from the National Communications Authority to operate mobile services in the country.
It would be recalled that the minority in Parliament questioned the supposed confidentiality, lack of openness and transparency with which government was conducting negotiations regarding the privatisation and sale of majority shares in Ghana Telecom (GT), between the Government of Ghana (GOG) and Vodafone plc UK.
The Minority also queried why government had gone contrary to requirements it placed in the advertisement for the sale of GT, by adjusting the shares on offer from 66.7% to 70%, and also negotiating exclusively with only Vodafone plc UK without considerations to other bidders who are likely to offer higher bids than the former.
The Minority Ranking Member on Communications, Haruna Iddrisu stated that Vodafone's offer of $960 million with stringent caveats is far below the Minority's expectation of $1.5 billion or more, for the value of GT, which is subject to GT's own internal valuation and audits to be conducted during its due diligence process.
He said the amount is paltry in view of the fact that the National Fibre Optic backbone constructed at the cost of $100 million with a loan from China, which has never been part of GT's assets, is being included in the transaction.
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With regard to this, the Minority says "we demand to know why this has been included as part of GT's assets as the second phase of this ICT infrastructure highway is yet to commence."
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