Accra, (Greater Accra) 15 Sept.,
Accra, (Greater Accra) 15 Sept., Mr. Edward Salia, Minister of Roads and Transport, said today media reports implicating him in an alleged 45 million pounds deal involving Capital Telecom, a Ghanaian firm and Ghana Telecom are completely unfounded. Mr. Salia told journalists at a news conference in Accra that the allegations stem from ''collusion'' between the former Acting Director-General of the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (now Ghana Telecom), Mr. E. Aggrey-Mensah and the Acting Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office. The Minister was reacting to a serialised publication in the Ghanaian Chronicle early this month, portraying him as the key player in an alleged ''massaging of estimates in a 45 million pound sterling deal'' between Capital Telecom and the then P & T. Corporation. Citing a report from the Serious Fraud Office as its main source, the Ghanaian Chronicle said Mr. Salia had pressurised the P. and T. Corporation into signing a memorandum of understanding with Capital Telecom, a company which the weekly claims is ''legally non- existent''. Mr. Salia refuted the allegations outright, challenging the very source of the information quoted by the Ghanaian Chronicle because, as he put it, ''there is no evidence that the Serious Fraud Office has indeed issued any authentic report on the matter.'' Mr. Salia contended that contrary to what was imputed by the Chronicle publication, neither he nor his Ministry pressurised the P & T. to sign a memorandum of understanding with Capital Telecom. ''Let me point out to you that I did not get P. and T. to sign a memorandum of understanding between itself and Capital Telecom because I did not need to, as the Ministry was not a party to the agreement. ''Rather, Mr. Aggrey-Mensah requested to modify the memorandum, making it a joint venture, which was against the approved government policy. It was the P. and T. Board of Directors which rightly instructed him to sign it in the manner he had agreed with Capital Telecom,'' he said. Mr. Salia said although his Ministry agreed to recommend Capital Telecom to the Ministry of Finance for an ECGD facility as it had done in many other requests, it is the Ministry of Finance which is the approving authority and that his Ministry did nothing more than recommend Capital Telecom. He said the Ministry's recommendations are not necessarily approved and that there are several other recommendations he had made in the past which were ignored. The Ministry made this particular recommendation because it felt that telecommunications had strategic importance in the district capitals and their surrounding areas. ''The Ministry has not committed any fraud because it was implementing an approved government policy with respect to the short- term expansion programme which required ''licensing private operators to install and operate district and rural centre services in the northern and southern sectors.'' Mr. Salia said it had become apparent that ''the Chronicle has taken it upon itself to misinform the country and impute fraudulent conduct where there is no proof ''. He said he had no doubts that the Ghanaian Chronicle reports were deliberate and calculated at making him the object of public ridicule and hatred, both locally through the printed media and internationally through the internet. ''It is quite ironic that despite the Chronicle's claim that I am now a star in the ruling party, it has never seen anything positive about me or my role in the NDC government. '' While I know that I am not a star, I still believe that hard work and a quest for excellence should not be rewarded with such an intense smear campaign.'' "I am only asking that I am not convicted on innuendo but that publications on public officials must also be based on facts, conviction and commitment to the truth and I hope this is not too much to ask of the media,'' he added.
