AMA,Ghana Telecom disagree on ?18 million phone bill

Ghana Telecom (GT) has stated that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, is not co-operating with its investigations to unravel how his official duty post telephone was used to incur debts to the tune of ?18.5 million in two moths.

According to Mr E.G. Dziko, General Manager, Marketing and Customer Services of GT, anytime the issue is raised with him (Mr Ofei Darko), the chief executive uses the non-payment property rate on GT “phone booths” (pay phone) sited in various parts of Accra of the Accra Metropolis as his basis for not co-operating and paying for the amount owed to GT.

He disagreed with the AMA chief Executive that his lines were tapped, saying when such a thing is done, there would be parallel and when my calls come in, the tapped line and the original would receive the call at the same time. He noted that after GT received the protest letter from the AMA chief executive claiming that he never made foreign calls that he has been billed with, GT asked him to furnish it with the names of the security men who were working there when the calls were made.

This, Mr Dziko said the AMA chief executive could not say the calls were not made “although he might say he did not do those calls, but they were done at his residence.” Mr Dziko further told “The Evening News” that the AMA boss had his telephone connected to a PABM system, which made it possible for people at his (Mr Ofei-Darko) gate to get access to the IDD.

The GT has written to the company that installed the PABM system at chief executive’s residence but they have also not responded to establish the truth of the matter. Mr Dziko said until all these are done, the AMA chief executive could not say that the Assembly was not going to pay for the amount it owed GT.

It is recalled that the AMA chief executive in the month of November and December alone is said to have made both foreign and local calls to the tune of ?18.5 million. The telephone bill for the month of November alone amounted to ?12.5 million, the result of about 49 calls made to the United Kingdom (UK).

When “the Evening News” contacted the AMA, the acting Public Relations Officer, Mr Parker Allotey, said the there was nothing like non- co-operation from the AMA boss. Mr Parker Allotey also denied that there was no time that the AMA had raised any property rate when the issue of the disputed telephone bill came up.

He said when the GT asked for the names of the chief executive’s household, he provided them including the security men who were at post within the period. He however stated the chief executive suspects that his line was tapped and therefore has written to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to cause investigations into the disputed telephone bills. He said the IGP’s secretary also wrote back to inform the AMA that they are conducting investigation into it