'Ghana Telecom was sold because of inefficiency'

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has justified the decision by the erstwhile Kufuor-led administration to sell Ghana Telecom to Vodafone.

The national telecommunications company was sold for $266.57 million in 2006 by the then NPP administration.

The sale of the company in 2006 generated huge public uproar with the then biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress in alliance with the Committee for Joint Action led by Kwesi Pratt Jr and other well-meaning Ghanaians taking to the street in series of demonstrations to vent their anger.

An inter-ministerial committee was set up in May 2009 to review the sale of Ghana’s 70 per cent shares in Ghana Telecom to Vodafone.

The committee revealed that then President Kufuor appended his signature to an agreement between Vodafone UK and Ghana Telecom, while Parliament ratified an agreement between Vodafone International of Holland and Ghana Telecom.

Speaking in an interview on Citi FM Monday, Akufo-Addo stated that Ghana Telecom “was sold because it was an inefficient company”.

He, however, wondered why there is no Ghanaian company in the telecom sector in the country.

“I find it difficult to understand why there's no Ghanaian company in the Telecom sector in Ghana," he told host Bernard Avle.