Kelni GVG Deal Rooted In “juju" – Franklin Cudjoe

President and Founder of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has stepped up resistance against an $89 million contentious deal between the government and Haiti-based ICT firm, Kelni GVG.

According to the Public Policy Analyst, reasons espoused by government officials to back the deal lack financial sense except that it was premised on political thinking.

It followed a comment by Deputy Communications Minister, George Andah, on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM Monday that government stands to rake in revenue to the tune of about a billion dollars (4.6 billion Ghana cedis) in five years from the deal, which he said is expected to block suspected revenue losses and simbox fraud in the telcos.

Read: Communication Ministry under pressure to abrogate $89mn contract

However, speaking Wednesday on PM Express on the JoyNews TV, Mr. Cudjoe held on the position that the deal is needless, adding that with the current tax returns filed by the telcos, which is in excess of a billion Ghana cedis each year, government would make close to 7.5 billion cedis within the same space of time.

“Given the revenues without this monitoring system as we speak, by five years time we are going to get about 7.5 billion Ghana cedis which dwarfs the so-called 4 point something billion [Ghana cedis] that this would bring,” he retorted.

“So they haven’t done their calculations well, they’ve not done the commercial valuations well; all they’ve done is political evaluation which is rooted in ‘juju’ [black magic] tricks and magic. There’s nothing in this deal that makes any financial sense,” Franklin Cudjoe added.

He argued that “what we are dealing with is a grave matter” wondering why government had to enter into such a deal with a company he said used to deal in the “export of cement and tomatoes.”

“Let’s not make it as if the system is needed, no,” he exclaimed, cautiously suggesting that the deal was fraudulent.

Background
In 2010 the Ghana Revenue Authority contracted Subah to oversee revenue assurance activities within the telcos.

The company received 75 million cedis for what critics say was payment for no work done.

Later in 2015, Afriwave was appointed by the NCA to perform the job of an interconnect clearinghouse services which was similar to the job being done by Subah. They were also paid an amount of 40 million cedis.

In 2017, the NPP government is now contracting a new foreign company to do the same, if not similar job.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Jerry Tsatro Mordy | Email: [email protected] | Twitter:@jerrymordy | Facebook:@jerry tsatro mordy