Ghana's main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)party is warning international investors that it reserves the right to reviewall contracts signed by President John Kufuor's government in its haste to selloff the country's assets. The NDC is questioning what it describes as thegovernment's unfortunate haste to sell Ghana Telecom, the nation'stelecommunications giant for a pittance of $900 million to Vodafone, a Britishbased telecommunications company.
The opposition party contends that thegovernment has hugely undervalued Ghana Telecom, saying the company's cellularcompetitor was purchased for a whopping five billion dollars. But thegovernment denied the accusations, adding that it wants to generate enoughfunds to inject into the country's economy. John Mahama is the NDC vicepresidential candidate in this year's general elections. He tells reporterPeter Clottey from the capital, Accra that the opposition is not againstprivatization.
"Wehave looked at the agreement governing the sale of 70 percent shares toVodafone, and we think that it is not conducive to the national interest. Weare not directly against privatization because if you remember in 1997, we sold30 percent of Ghana Telecom to Telecom Malaysia. But the problem with thispresent agreement is that we think that it is an undervaluation of the asset ifyou consider what is being thrown into it. There is a national fiber opticbackbone that is being added to the deal that rights the high-tension grid thatbelongs to Volta River Authority that is also being added to the deal inaddition to the entire fix network system of Ghana Telecom, and the whole mobilenetwork. And we think for that package, I mean 900 million (dollars) isundervaluation," Mahama pointed out.
Hesaid the opposition is not convinced President Kufuor's government shouldrecapitalize the country's telecommunication giant.
"Aswe stand, Ghana Telecom is probably still the biggest telephone operator, thatis if you fix their network and the mobile network together with the amount ofoptic fiber it controls. And we don't think it has to do recapitalization, Ithink that what government wants to do is to sell it (Ghana Telecom) and usethe money to finance the deficit in the budget. Several ministers have saidthat the money is needed to close the budget deficit and I think that is whythere is an undue haste by government to sell to Vodafone," he said.
Mahamasaid although parliament is yet to ratify the sale of Ghana Telecom, theopposition wants to warn investors from hastily signing contracts withPresident John Kufuor's outgoing government.
"Itwas brought to parliament before we rose and parliament was not able to takeit. And so, as far as I know, until parliament is reconvened, that agreement isnot one that parliament has looked at. We are advising investors. You know,this government is in its lame duck years, and there seem to be an undue hasteto sell off state owned enterprises before they leave, for what reason I don'tknow. But certainly, we are telling investors to be very cautious. I think thatsome of these decisions should be left to the next president. There is an unduehaste in these last few months to sell off a lot of state enterprises, and Ithink that is not in the national interest," Mahama noted.
Hesaid some parliamentarians of the ruling party are against the sale of GhanaTelecom.
"Thereare several members in the majority who think that this sale is not proper, andthat is why the government was not able to take it at the last sitting ofparliament," he said.
Mahamasaid the government is not making enough money for the sale of Ghana Telecom,which the opposition claims is even more reason why President Kufuor'sgovernment should rescind its decision to sell the telecommunication giant.
"Youknow, this sale is for $900 million and it does not include the indebtedness ofGhana Telecom, which stands at almost $400 million. And so it means essentiallywhat government is getting out of this whole agreement is $500 million for allthe assets of Ghana Telecom, including Voltacom and the national fiber opticbackbone. And I think that that is not sufficient. It is totally undervalued,"Mahama pointed out.