Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has indicated that the Minister for Communication, Ursula Owusu, erred with detailing the deal on government taking over AirtelTigo.
The Ningo Prampram MP stated that the deal has a lot of information which has not been made available leaving lots of unanswered questions.
“I think that the Minister has erred. She came to answer questions that had been on the table for almost 8 months [on government taking over AirtelTigo] but it was obvious that her answers actually left more questions to be answered.”
According to him, the Minister should not have stated that AirtelTigo was bought for $1 because it sounds unbelievable to him. He stated government cannot buy AirtelTigo with $1 as indicated by Ursula Owusu.
“We had information that prior to that, in October 2020, Bharti Airtel had announced on the Indian stock exchange that they had sold all their interest in their Ghanaian operations to the government of Ghana and a figure of $25 million was quoted.”
Sam George
Sam George revealed that AirtelTigo had debt summing up to about $100milion with just one bank with other debts sitting in its books. He questioned that if the communications minister is saying AirtelTigo was bought for $1, “who is going to pay the bank loans owed by AirtelTigo”.
According to the Ningo Prampram law maker, there is something with regards to the government and AirtelTigo deal which is being hidden from the public.
Sam George averred that if truly, government bought AirtelTigo for that amount as indicated by the Communications Minister, it would have been tabled in Parliament but that did not happen.
“She came before Parliament and said she has not finished the transaction. One person is lying. It’s either the Minister lied in Parliament and that is a serious offence under oath or Bharti Airtel has lied to its stock shareholders. Because they have told them they have completed all transactions in Ghana.”
Sam George
Sam George to sue government on sim registration
Commenting on the sim card registration, Sam George averred that he will sue government if it goes ahead to block unregistered sim cards starting 1st April this year.
According to him, there is no legal basis for government to block unregistered sim cards hence, his decision to sue if that happens.
“Ghana is not a banana republic. The Minister doesn’t just wake up and throw orders around. Mark it here today, on the 1st of April, people who have still not registered will be able to use their phone cards. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful will come back and tell you she is varying it. You cannot just wake up and say, I am giving six months, if you don’t register your sim card, you lose the sim card.”
Sam George
According to Sam George, if one takes the sim card and studies the terms and conditions that were attached to the sim card, it doesn’t indicate it cannot be used without registration.
“When I got into a contract with my telco, my Mobile Network Operator, a part of it did not tell me that because of a Ghana Card, I would lose use of my sim card.”
Sam George
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