Ghanawww.WirelessFederation.com/news: As per the committee set up by the government of Ghana, they have to review last year’s sale of 70% of national PTO Ghana Telecom (GT) to the UK’s Vodafone Group has completed its report and handed its findings to the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu. He said that the state’s decision on the Vodafone sale would most likely have ‘major ramifications on foreign investment in the country’, the government felt compelled to place public interest above all other considerations in deciding future decisions concerning the sale.
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Ghana’s minority parties hit out at government over privatisation; claim other bidders were excluded from sale.
Ghana’s parliamentary minority parties have questioned the deal that saw Vodafone buy a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom from the government, the Ghanaian Chronicle reported on Thursday.
Vodafone announced yesterday that it will pay $900 million for the controlling stake in Ghana Telecom, with the government keeping the other 30%. The deal values Ghana Telecom’s in the region of $1.3 billion, but the country’s minority group says it expected a deal closer to $1.5 billion.
According to the report the minority, which is made up of the minority parties in Ghanaian parliament, is concerned about “the supposed confidentiality, lack of openness and transparency with which government is conducting negotiations regarding the privatisation and sale of majority shares in Ghana Telecom”.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Ranking Member of Communications in Ghana, demanded answers from government on why it decided to up the stake it sold to 70% from the 66.7% it had originally planned to divest.
The member said he also wants to know why the government went into exclusive negotiations with Vodafone “without considerations to other bidders, who were likely to offer higher bids,” the paper reported.
“The question that needs to be answered is why the privatisation process of GT could not be subjected to a competitive public tender process for all interested bidders, as required by the Public Procurement Act of Ghana,” the Ghanaian Chronicle quoted Iddrisu as saying.