Abrogate, Reverse, Disengage, Re-Engage Vodafone

Article by Kwesi Biney

AS FOR book long people, they can confuse you aaaa till you ask yourself whether you are the stupid one or they are the stupid ones.

Parents spend money; nations spend resources on their children to get them into the whiteman's school so he or she can become very useful to himself or herself, and the society generally.

After schooling, many educated people become useful to only themselves and their immediate families.

When they extend that usefulness outside their immediate family members, then the beneficiaries will either have to accompany them to either La Cote d'Ivoire in a chartered plane or to Germany for soccer matches, where chilling and heating the bodies externally and internally take place.

Some of them, when you hear them talk, my brother, if you do not take care it will seem like you did not go the school some at all at all. Eei, na so person be?

There is a community in the Wassaw Amenfi East District of the Western Region, with the capital as Asankragwa.

The name of the community is 'Woman No Good'. It was the most popular name for the late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu (May His Soul Rest In Peace). Today, I want to say that 'Man Worse'.

If 'Woman No Good' then 'Man Worse'. I will have to look for a village somewhere and name it 'Man Worse'.

When the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration began the process of divesting 70% of the state's holding in the defunct Ghana Telecom, hell broke loose in this country.

The opposition to the deal between the Government of Ghana and Vodafone was so intense that one wondered whether that was the first time in the history of this country that a government had decided to divest state property.

There were those who opposed the decision from an ideological point of view. They can be excused, even though one can describe them as mystic men; living in the past and yet wanting to enjoy the goodies of the present with the same past mentality and ways of doing things.

These mystic ideological dinosaurs still believe that family property must remain as such, even when the buildings are chipping off and killing people at a time when the family has no money to rehabilitate it.

These crazy and baldheaded political ideologues prefer to lay 100% claim to property which does not add to the family's wealth than to have a minimal percentage ownership of that same property which assures them regular incomes, even if it is not very substantial. Their time is past, but they will not accept it.

This is the reason why the NKRUMAHISTS have performed so woefully in elections ever since the Fourth Republican Constitution came into being. They cannot reason anymore. Let us forgive and accommodate them.

My major worry is the so-called Social Democrats of our times. The very people who sold off over 300 state assets to their cronies and to themselves because in their view, at the time, those assets were liabilities to the taxpayer are today shouting their voices hoax over the sale of Ghana Telecom.

My dear countrymen, somewhere in1998, as the Editor of the then Guide newspaper, I heard that the Government of Ghana was divesting 30% of its ownership of Ghana Telecom to the MALAYSIANS.

I quickly rushed to the offices of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) at Labone to see if I could get a story on the deal.

To my surprise, the DIC officials I knew at the time did not know anything about the deal. I moved to the Ministry of Communications where my late good friend, Hon. Edward Salia was in charge.

The deal had been concluded and champagne was being popped somewhere else. This deal, like many more under the NDC 1&2 governments, did not have the courtesy of being brought before Parliament for debate and approval.

But when the Kufuor administration decided to off load 70% of Ghana Telecom to foreign investors, hell broke loose in this country. Demonstrations led by the current President of this great Republic opposed the sale.

So vociferous was the opposition to the deal that the NDC, then in opposition, put it in their manifesto that should they gain political power they would REVERSE the deal.

It so happened that the good people of this country voted for the NDC and as expected, one of their first propaganda to paint the NPP black was the issue of the VODAFONE divestiture. 3

A lot of comments and lies were blatantly told by ignorant party activists as well as block minded intellectuals from the NDC for political gains.

The climax of the falsehood was the linkage of President Kufuor's alleged single-handed negotiations with VODAFONE in the deal.

You see, when we were kids, anytime our playmates exposed some wrong doings on our part we would also refer to something they did some time back to square up what we are being accused of. 

For example, if my mother beat me for stealing a pesewa and my colleagues started to tease me about the theft, all I needed to do was to go back to the archives and bring about what one or more of them did some time back as the defence or justification for my theft.

'Oooo, go wey you, the last time that you stole the fish from your father's soup, have you forgotten?' 

And the others will start laughing at the one who stole the fish. He would also turn and remind another guy who once stole bread.

'And you too, you are saying some, when you stole Aunty Efua's paano and the teacher caned you at parade, have you forgotten?'These accusations and counter accusations would go on and on until it sometimes degenerates into a fight.

The NDC in its bid to criminalize the Kufuor administration and the VODAFONE deal decided to link Kufuor to the MAYBE AND JOHNSON bribery scandal.

To douse the shameful corrupt acts of the NDC when in government the last time, the NDC propaganda machinery went into action, telling the world that Kufuor had singlehandedly negotiated with VODAFONE, and even alleged that he took $30,000,000  from the investors.

As it turned out, no evidence to that effect has been provided by any of the numerous committees that have been the hallmark of the Mills administration.

When Kufuor assumed office in 2001, the nation was on the verge of being grounded because the stock of crude oil available to us was less than a fortnight's worth.

Kufuor moved to Nigeria and pleaded as it were, with Obansanjo, and SAHARA came to our rescue. Kufuor has not been accused of taking bribe.

The security situation left behind by the then NDC was so bad that the Police Service was virtually grounded. Kufuor once again went to Nigeria and came home with 100 vehicles for the Police service.

Again, he did not take bribes. When the NDC had failed to secure an $82,000,000 loan from the Japanese for the construction of the Mallam-Yamoransa Road, Kufuor went to Japan and the loan was turned into a grant to get the road rebuilt, he did not take bribe.

He again went to Spain, where a $40,000,000 which was approved for Ghana but was not released because the Spanish government did not trust the NDC, was released to us. How much bribe did Kufuor take?

Anytime the NDC finds itself in difficult situations, they turn their attention to Kufuor. Kufuor, here, Kufuor there, everywhere Kufuor, while the nation sinks.

Instead of dealing with their Maybe and Johnson affair, apologists of the NDC want to create a ONE-ONE draw scenario.  'Even if we took bribe from Maybe and Johnson, Kufuor also took bribe from Vodafone'.  

Having found nothing wrong with the VODAFONE deal, what is the NDC saying now?  They are now re-engaging the VODAFONE people?

Where is the abrogation in their manifesto? Where is the much touted reversal of the deal? Where is the loss to the state that they have complained about all this while? 

As we say in Tadi, 'ayimguase, akwaaba'.  Now that they are going to re-engage VODAFONE, they should think of marrying Vodafone to seal the deal and we shall be at their Engagement and Wedding Ceremonies.

The NDC is behaving like a poor jobless man whose livelihood depends on the hard work of his wife.  The poor man would not accept that he is poor and tries to lord it over the wife, he decides to sack the wife over trivial misunderstanding. He then realizes that his whole life depended on his wife, so he goes back begging for her to come back. Do we call that RE-ENGAGEMENT?

If you can't sign a cheque for $80,000,000 to bring in crude oil, how can you sign a cheque for $900,000,000 TO ABROGATE, REVERSE OR DIS-ENGAGE VODAFONE. Your only choice is to RE-ENGAGE. HAPPY RE-ENGAGEMENT, OGA.