Ghana Telecom sale for Supreme Court
An Accra Commercial court looking into disagreements of some members of the Convention People's Party (CPP) on the issue of the seventy percent sale of the nation's Telecommunication Company to Vodafone International Holdings BV of the United Kingdom (UK), has referred certain portions of the sales and purchase agreements of the deal to the Supreme Court for determination.
The court presided over by Justice Henry A. Kwofie yesterday referred to the Supreme Court that a certain article on the sales and purchase agreement of Ghana Telecom Limited, now Vodafone, dated July 3, 2008, contravened the 1992 Constitution and therefore rendered the agreement void.
The court is further seeking whether the views of the High Court of the land if any procedural or substantive defects on the sales and purchase agreement could be cured by the ratification of the agreement by Parliament. Additionally, it is seeking from the Supreme Court whether or not an agreement executed by Government and ratified by Parliament could be challenged in the High Court.
The court set out these aspects of the disagreement brought before him for determination by the Supreme Court because it was not competent to deal with issues bordering on the constitutionality or otherwise of the sale of the telecommunication company, adding that interpreting issues bordering on the Constitution is the sole preserve of the Supreme Court.
The court referred the issues to the highest Court after the Attorney-General and Ghana Telecom complied with its directive to furnish it with a copy of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) on the Telecommunication Company.
Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa and five others had sued the Attorney-General and Ghana Telecom (GT), now Vodafone, claiming that the entire agreement on the sale of the nation's telecommunication company last year, was illegal and inimical to the interest of the public. The rest of the plaintiffs are Kosi Dedey, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Naa Kordai Assimeh, Ms. Rodaline Imoru Ayarna, as well as Mr. Kwame Jantuah.
Plaintiffs are challenging among others that the procedure adopted prior to, and leading to the placement of the sales and purchase agreement before Parliament for ratification contravenes the company's code and the Constitution
The Government of Ghana, on July 3 2008, signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Vodafone to sell off 70% of the former's stake in GT to the latter, at an approximate value of US$1.3 billion, plus a cash injection of US$500 million, totaling US$1.8 billion.