Vodafone Won’t ‘Damaa’

@Re-engagement talks after much ado about nothing probe

SOURCES CLOSE TO the top management of Vodafone UK have told this paper that the company does not foresee the issue of demand for extra cash on what it paid for Ghana Telecom coming up during its impending re-engagement talks with the Ghana Government.

The Arun Sarin-led Vodafone Groupy, which has given its Ghanaian management the green-light to enter talks with the Ghana government on the way forward out of the current mess arising out of the ministerial review committee has no immediate or future plans of paying extra funds on what it has already paid for its 70 per cent stake in Vodafone GT to the Ghana Government, which owns the minority 30 per cent shares in the company.

Vodafone has no plan to pay one pesewa extra on top of the price it bought the former GT during our re-engagement with the Ghana government, a highly placed source said.

The company in a statement released last week also welcomed government decision to re-engage after the initial recommendation and manifesto pledge of reviewing the contract and renegotiating the terms were shot down by the government last week.

Vodafone in its reaction to the government statement said it did nothing wrong over its deal with the previous administration, insisting that it has at all times conducted its affairs to the highest ethical standards of corporate behaviour and that it applied these standards to all its dealings in Ghana and will continue to do so in future.

Vodafone suggested that allegations that it has not re-invested into Vodafone GT were false, claiming that it has invested an additional $600 million into Vodafone GT on top of the $900 million it paid for the 70 per cent shares.

“Since taking control, Vodafone has already invested GHC600 million in strengthening the company and improving the quality of its services. Vodafone is committed to further investment in the company and its operations, including expanding and upgrading the National Communications Backbone Company,” it said.

A terse statement issued by the Vodafone Group from its London headquarters in response to the government statement on the inter-ministerial committee reports last weekend said Vodafone welcomes the Government of Ghana’s statement on the Report of its Inter-Ministerial Review Committee and were ‘pleased to re-engage with the Government to secure the long term future of Vodafone GT’.

The re-engagement, the company said, would allow Vodafone GT to concentrate on bringing value for money to the shareholders and its Ghanaian customers.

The statement noted that “Vodafone GT is a partnership between Vodafone and the Government. The Government’s public commitment to Vodafone GT allows the company to move forward and focus on its goal of providing world-class services to Ghanaians. Vodafone looks forward to a constructive re-engagement with the Government to find ways that Vodafone can support Ghana’s goals even more in future,” the company noted. Vodafone said it was pleased to note the Government’s statement that it will not ‘abrogate or renegotiate’ the agreement.

The fibre-optic backbone is one of those issues the government is using as an excuse to re-engage.

“Vodafone has already extended the fibre network and plans to invest further to complete the northern ring,” they said, concluding thus; “Vodafone conducts its affairs to the highest ethical standards of corporate behaviour. Vodafone has applied these standards to all its dealings in Ghana, and will continue to do so.”

Vodafone’s response was in reaction to the much awaited Government official position on the controversial Vodafone probe, which dodge a number of key issues and recommendations raised by the inter-ministerial Committee that probed the Vodafone deal.

Instead of buying the ministerial committee’s claim that the sale and purchase agreement between the Government of Ghana and Vodafone is “unconstitutional and illegal”, the Mills administration said it would reengage with Vodafone’s management to ensure compliance with the laws of Ghana.

A press statement from the Office of the President and signed by the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Mr J. H. Martey Newman, also outlined plans by the administration to ensure strict compliance of both Vodafone and government to the existing SPA.

Significantly, the statement reiterated issues covered under the existing Sales and Purchase Agreement and which Vodafone had already served notice it wanted to re-engage on as areas Government also wanted to re-engage on.