Kelni GVG made savings of US$1.1 million monthly – Ursula Owusu

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister Designate for Communications and Digitalization has revealed that the introduction of the Kelni GVG platform made a cost saving of US$1.1 million monthly to government.

According to her all the laws regarding procurement in the Kelni GVG Common platform contract were followed.

“So Mr Chairman at every stage of the way, all the laws regarding procurement were followed to the letter in this case before the contract was awarded”

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful made the revelation when she appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament on Monday for vetting.

The nominee who was the first to appear before the vetting committee was the former Minister of Communications and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful who has been renominated for the same position has been credited for championing the expansion of the telecom sector and digitization agenda of the country.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful also explained that the equipment in the Kelni GVG platform is hosted at the National Communication Authority (NCA) and owned by the Government of Ghana unlike the previous case when venders owned and operated the equipment.

She said by abrogating the previous contract with SUBA Solutions and Afrowave and entering into another contract with KelniGVG alone they achieved a cost-saving US$1.1 million, saying that alone provided less cost but more value.

She said the common platform unlike the previous contract offers real-time monitoring of 2.5 billion transactions a day within the telecom sector IN calls, SMS, mobile money among others.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful further explained that the common platform has four functionalities such as revenue assurance, traffic monitoring, fraud management and mobile money monitoring.

She announced the NCA and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are expected to take over and manage the common platform for their regulatory purposes and to assist them to perform their obligation.