For over two years, government has been locked in an avoidable legal tussle with the former partners of Ghana Telecom G-Com, over the abrogation of an agreement they went into to modernize and improve the country’s telephone network. G-Com comprising Telekom Malaysia and local investors determined right from the word go, that it was not interested in litigation but would do with a mutual understanding with the government and its advisors.
From the days of former Communications Minister Felix Owusu-Agyepong (MP) to date Ghanaians have not been told anything but that the Malaysians who constituted the majority shareholders in the G-Com transaction have acted in bad faith. The end result is an arbitration that would cost the country a huge avoidable bill as we move towards creating solid business and bilateral relations with the international community.
The Network Herald finds it amazing that this relationship could be allowed to turn such sour considering the amount of money the country would be forced to WASTE to redeem the image of a disrespector of simple business agreements. It is even more amazing because the government has always insisted that it is ready to champion the cause of the private sector. Question therefore is how you can encourage private sector development when it would not allow them to experience normal growth.
In an attempt to play “macho” advisors of government have taken positions that sound more populist than real, including suggesting options that tie the hands of the other partner. The latest is this bizarre decision to contract a defense team that would cost the nation over one thousand dollars every hour to maintain at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (Ref.: front page)
For a HIPC country such as ours that professes “a golden age of business” we submit that our deeds will kill any desire for growth if we do not purge ourselves of unnecessary antagonism and suspicion. That is the beginning of the fight against indiscipline for even if the government detests certain institutions and persons, events should not be such that the country would be entangled in useless avoidable litigation. The real crux of the matter is that we do not have the means to be indulging in equivocation at the expense of the lives of the people.
