This is Exactly What Govt is Doing in Parliament Right Now

Many column inches have been written about the sale. Some people have become jaded; others more convinced that the sale should not go through--or otherwise.

The most ludicrous arguments, however, have resided with these points:
1. Those opposed to the sale are MTN/Tigo/Kasapa supporters, or opposition supporters
2. If people are so nationalistic, why don't more people use ONETOUCH?

Four years after coming back home to Ghana to make a contribution in this country by the work I do, I am profoundly disappointed by the psyche of Ghanaians and their nationalism.

Any reasonable person is at best nationalistic--but not Ghanaians.

We seem to have thrown caution of multinationals to the wind, even after witnessing the credit crunch, which proved that big capital was only interested in the bottom line.

As I write this, I am both enthused and sad listening to the insults being carried by some sections of MPs over...

Information from CITI-FM's Richard Skye:
1. NPP Flagbearer has put down two names: Hajia Ali Mahama and former deputy governer of Bank of Ghana. Choice is the latter (Dr.Baumia)

floor of parliament...

Ghana Telecom has not been able to realise its own potential...not making as much money as other competitors. All over Africa, how come the workers are so supportive? In the whole of Africa...in all the English-speaking African countries, the state-owned companies have been sold off. There must have been a reason. I am amazed that you are raising objections...document from ITU--65% of state-owned companies have been sold...you cannot allow Ghana Telecom to remain in the state it is in...

How come Westel has gone away. The spineless of them all is Ghana Telecom/ONETOUCH. It cannot compete on that basis. We cannot go on othat basis, that is why the workers have supported it.

SPEAKER: Exercise patience

MP: Kasapa is the smallest. Everyone knows that. He is misinforming the public.

MP Honorable Kan-Dapaah: technology for both hardware in this industry is proving...former MD Mr Aggrey-Mensah who said in the papers. One expert is a former MD. I want that particular office to remember that he himself...wanted to repair ??? he was told it haad gone out of production.

You cannot be small in the telecoms industry and survive. LIsten to the pleas of the GT workers...I appeal to you honorable Bagbin to cut out the politics, and let us move forward as the nation...

12.48--BAGBIN:You mentioned me...Mr.Speaker, the Honorable Kan-Dapaah is my good friend. He has mis-led everyone in his submission. When the elephant starts behaving like the kangaroo, it is a fatal...[boohs and cries...]...it has a fatal injury. Mr.Speaker, the point he raised and quoted the appeal is not the issue we are carrying on this side of the house. We want to put our case. Our position is different from the CPP, so he should not mislead the workers there against me by propagating a different position...

SPEAKER: Honorable member for Boli Bamboi!

MAHAMA:...I cannot begin without addressing a few issues my colleague raised in respect to issues to do with GT. When he talks about the issue of frequencies being allocated, Mr. Speaker, I forgive him because he is not an industry expert...at the time mobitel was licensed in 1991, GSM technology had not come in yet. No space for GSM. There was no reserve allocation for GSM...when it gave it to Mobitel, it did not know it was going to come...

KAN-DAPAAH:...he is not an engineer...I wonder where...I take exception to what he says.

MAHAMA:...if he feels offended, I withdraw that statement. At the time frequencies were allocated to mobitel...there was no reserve band for GSM. WIth the knowledge and technology available, they did not know. They allocated frequency to 900 band...it was only in mid-90s that GSM came. I wa sthe MInister at the time we asked Mobitel to reallocate its frequencies. Let me put on record that there has been no deliberate policy to ask GT not to go into mobile...as my predecessor said, indeed GT was given permission. Just that it did not take off. I heard Kan-Dapaah make this...second GSM after Spacefon was GT's ONETOUCH. How can you say that second company that offered were deliberately prevented from doing so; it is not true.

The evidence is that GT was performing...(12.56pm)

CITI-FM to return to cover Honorable Nana Akuffo-Addo's choice of running mate...

Mid-Week Madness:Why did NPP Government Have to Sell Ghana Telecom?

The 70% acquisition by Vodafone of state-owned Ghana Telecom may be a done-and-dusted deal, subject only now to parliamentary approval in the august house. There are, however, serious issues arising that merit some consideration.

First of all, one would have to be from Mars not to know that this is an election year. After the announcement was made in 2006 to privatise, why is it only now that the putative sale has gone through, some five months before general elections? Secondly, despite the fact that there was a breather after France Telecom and Portugal Telecom were rejected some months back, at what point did Vodafone up and decide to make the bid, which, if we believe the opposition, was a non-starter, on account of the fact that there were other bidders ready to pay more than the $960million?

In December 2007, Kenya, where Vodafone operates as a mobile operator under Vodafone Kenya, was in the concluding stages of privatising state-owned Telkom Kenya, with the winning bidders France Telecom taking control by 21 December, 2007. The uncanny similarity of an opaque bidding process coupled with a privatisation so close to general elections makes for an explosive coincidence that is so serious it’s not funny. One might be tempted to think that this has nothing to do with Vodafone, till we read that an offshore-registered company by the name of Mobitelea was offered an opportunity to acquire 25% of Vodaphone Kenya Limited at the same price Vodafone had acquired them. This prompted civil society groups in Kenya to argue that “the privatisation of Telkom Kenya cannot…be deemed regular until the true picture of its ceding of [mobile provider] Safaricom shares to Vodafone Kenya is unravelled and rectified.”

Here, there is little proof that anything irregular has gone on despite the manner in which the sale went through so quickly, but reading the *Financial Times* account of the sale was sufficient to prompt speculation that given that the country is experiencing a budget deficit, the government might have seen a sale so close to the election as an opportunity to make amends around the economy.

Practices elsewhere
Still, whilst Kenya can talk about Vodafone Kenya bidding for a part of Safaricom, Ghana cannot even talk about a Ghanaian consortium ready to buy GT. This is one of the unique things about this privatisation. The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia tells us that Vodafone has three networks in the Middle East and Africa that are majority-owned: Egypt, Qatar and now Ghana. In the first case, state-owned Telecom Egypt owns 45% of Vodafone Egypt. In the Qatari case, Vodafone went in as a mobile operator, securing a 45% stake in Qatar Telecom, the Middle Eastern country’s second mobile licence provider. When we come to Ghana, a significant 70% was not only at stake, but also of our state-owned provider, prompting one to wonder why such a high figure, and why the land-line provider? Reports in the Ghanaian media indicate that Globacom had also made a bid, but had to settle for second best through a mobile service.

Questions Unanswered
Those are not the only questions. Reports in the media suggest that the minority’s concern was that Vodafone comes in as a strategic investor with little experience in landline provision. That it is setting up new services in New Zealand, where Vodafone also operates, that look like landlines and mobile lines combined should not be sufficient to assuage our fears of how it will manage our broadband services, national fibre optic system, and others. What of our national security? There is anecdotal evidence of our state security – BNI -- monitoring landlines; how far will the security services go in allowing a mobile provider with plenty of capital to share the monitoring of our landlines? Thirdly, all mobile providers have had to pass through GT for their operations. Now that Vodafone’s acquisition is semi-complete, will Vodafone’s supreme interest be in the regulation of the other providers, or a rough-and-ready competitor alongside them? Will the lines be indefinitely blurred on all these issues?

Vodafone on my Mind

Well, Tuesday 1 July was Republic Day and, as such, it was a holiday. It was odd coming to work on a Monday only to rest on Tuesday and get back the following day--but, hell, better than none at all!;-)

Back to the State of the payphones...well, they still exist in the country--like this one by the state-owned Ghana Telecom. It's a delicious irony I should be using this picture, for just today, heard that the British-based Vodafone has just bought 70% of Ghana Telecom(GT) for some $960million.

Results are what matters, so let's see what they will bring, though I cannot understand why Ghanaian polcy-makers have to consistently divest state-owned enterprises to attract investment. We've had horror stories from the Malaysians and Norwegians who did a bad job and left us. We're now going to the British...

Time will tell...

I am currently writing this week's piece for my column in Sunday World in which I raise some old and new questions about the Vodafone sale. Meanwhile, Ayo of Africanloft.com put up last week's piece on Ghana Telecom and Vodafone, which you can read here, which I have entitled New Country for Telecom's Men.

Truth is I am alive, but been preoccupied by a new website for the office that is Joomla-based, and getting me all excited!

More on that later!