Nana Supports GT/Vodafone
THE ASHANTI Regional Chairman of the Nana Addo 2008 campaign team, Hon Albert Kan Dapaah, has pointed out that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer is in full support of government's decision to offload 70 percent of its shares in Ghana Telecom (GT) to British Vodafone PLC.
Since government's decision to offload its 70 percent shares in the state-owned telecom company to Vodafon operators started generating public anxiety, many have criticised the NPP flagbearer for not disclosing his position on the decision.
But speaking at a press conference in Kumasi, Hon. Dapaah, who is also the Minister of Defence and NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya Sekyere in the Ashanti Region, said though he has not officially spoken to the presidential candidate on the issue, he does not think he would oppose the Government's decision.
“I've been a Minister of Communication before and I am also the Chairman of the campaign team in the region, so if Nana has any difficulty regarding the sale of GT, he would have consulted me and explained his otherwise position to me,” he indicated.
He stated: “Once he has not done that as of now, it naturally means that he is all for the Government's decision to dispose of its shares to a foreign partner to inject the needed capital and managerial skills to position the state-owned company on a sound footing.”
The regional campaign chairman downplayed public assertion that Nana Addo logically forfeits his slogan of believing in Ghana, should he support the sale of GT.
“If a state asset is under-performing and running at a loss, and privatizing part of it would raise the required capital and expertise to revitalize it, the swift decision by the Government to do so does not in any way amount to disbelieving in Ghana,” he argued.
The former Communications Minister noted that instead of opposition functionaries maligning the Government, they should rather commend the Government for clinching such a beneficial deal with Vodafone for the country's telecom industry.
He said he had no shred of doubt that the deal reached by government for GT would travel the extra mile to improve the prospects of the state-owned telecom of which benefits would descend to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Hon. Dapaah noted that the NDC, which is painting the wrong picture as if the decision to offload some government shares in GT started with the ruling party, had no moral justification to kick against the current arrangement the way they had done.
This, he stated, was because in 1997, the then NDC government sold 30 percent state shares in GT to Telecom Malaysia for just $30million, which was a peanut at the time.
He contended that due to diligence on the part of the Government, the deal was reversed and the right thing done for the value of the non-profit company to go up.
According to him, the Government's decision to engage Telenor of Norway as management contractors shot the value of GT from less than $125 million in 1997 to $1.2 billion in 2008.
The Defence Minister emphatically stated that the NPP never opposed any decision by the then NDC government to divest GT or for that matter any other state-owned company just because of vile opposition but for the value of the money and the placement of the supreme interest of the State.
He said it is not true that the deal with Vodafone was worth $900million as being bandied around but rather $1.2 billion, therefore even if the $400 million debt owed by the company was deducted from the overall figure, $800 million more would be left for the needed projects to fortify the fortunes of the dying company.
The former Communications Minister indicated that members of the majority were ready to debate the minority on the issue in Parliament to abundantly prove to all Ghanaians that the Government meant well with the GT deal.
He accused the minority, and for that matter the NDC, of having weak facts to support their unproductive stance, hence the deliberate attempt not to allow the issue to be discussed on the floor of Parliament before the recess some two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, information available to the paper has it that Parliament might be recalled on August 12 to consider the approval of the deal so that Vodafone could take over GT.
The House, because of certain mishaps, failed to debate and approve the deal before going on recess some two weeks ago.
In the meantime, government, led by the Minister of Communications, Hon. Dr. Aggrey Ntim and Information Minister, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, met the press in Accra on Tuesday to explain the details of the GT and Vodafone deal.