The Great TELENOR Robbery

GT pays $1.2m in wages in addition to $1.8m service contract

As shadowy characters behind the sordid Telenor deal use a section of the media to drum up misdeeds of certain internet operators as reason to justify the doling out of a minimum of $150,000 a month to Norwegian fat cats, evidence is emerging that apart from the annual expenditure of $1.8m, Ghana Telecom is expected to pay the seven Norwegians currently in the country, under the Service Contract Agreement, an extra amount of about $100,000. per month in wages.

Annually it amounts to $1.2m. Public Agenda has learned from various sources in Norway that the minimum of $150,000 per month specified in the contract only represents the cost of the management contract and that Ghana Telecom would soon dole out an amount of between $15,000 to $20,000 per month to each individual Norwegian currently working at Ghana Telecom.


The bad news for hard-up Ghanaians is that the Norwegians will pay no taxes. They are to enjoy free accommodation with swimming pool facilities in a first class residential area, free cars and unlimited supply of petrol.


At the moment, there are seven officials in the country including Managing Director Oystein Bjorge and Director of Finance Oskar Seim. By conservative estimate, Ghana Telecom will dole out nearly $100,000 in wages in addition to the $150,000 per month contract fees.


Under Article 9.1.3 of the agreement between the Government of Ghana and Telenor Management Partners AS, ?seconded employees? wages and benefits support fee shall be payable by GT to TMP for specialists seconded by and/or contracted to TMP but working for GT, over and above the three Executive officers.? Article 9.1.3.1 states: ?TMP shall prepare and submit to GT a monthly invoice in respect of the seconded employees support fee by the 15th day of each month which invoice shall be paid by GT to TMP or any company nominated by TMP from time to time, WITHOUT DEDUCTION for the value within 30 days from the respective invoice date.


Under the atmosphere of suspicion enveloping the service contract, officials at Ghana Telecom are cagey with their responses to questions from Agenda. But sources in Norway intimated that Telenor has already submitted its bills for the three officials who have been in the country for a month and that the preparation of invoices for the other three is also nearing completion.

At their first meeting with Ghanaian senior and middle management personnel at GT head office in Accra, Telenor officials intimated that more Norwegians would be arriving.


Under Fees Payment reflected in Article 9.1, ?Fees payable by GT under this Agreement shall be 9.1.1 ?The Management Service Fee (pursuant to the provisions in Appendix 1.1 (not below $150,000 per month) shall be paid monthly in arrears payable, based on invoice giving 30 days notice from date of notice. GT shall within 10 days of the end of each quarter submit a reconciliation statement on the management Service Fees actually payable and any outstanding balance shall either be credited or debited in the following month?s statement.?


In addition to the Service Fees and wages of Norwegian employees, Ghana Telecom shall pay ?an annual success fee (pursuant to the provisions in APPENDIX 1) shall be payable on annual basis at the end of each calendar year after Annual General Meetings of GT and an annual default payment to by TMP pursuant to the provision in Appendix 1.?


What this amounts to is that Ghana Telecom will dole out nearly $300,000(about C3billion) a month to foreigners who would not add any engineering expertise nor capital investment to a Ghanaian company.


Last Thursday morning, television cameras and other audio equipment carried President John Agyekum Kufuor?s Independence Day message to Ghanaians in which the Head of State urged the new generation of Ghanaians to be spurred on by sacrifices and hard work of the Big Six. But even as Kufuor said: ?This remembrance should spur the current generation to determine to build upon what we inherited,? Ghana Telecom, under the prompting of the Minister of Communication, was preparing to dole away the little that was inherited from the obnoxious Telekom Malaysian contract, which is yet to run its full course.