The Ghana Telecom Sale – Why Not Ghanaian Majority?

For those who are still interested in learning more about the Ghana Telecom sale it will help greatly to look at the driving reasons behind the sale. At this time there is no really valid technical or financial reason to sell Ghana Telecom to a foreign owner. The ostensible reason being provided by government and proponents of the sale is that a foreign owner will bring in money and technical expertise.

In today’s world of telecommunications both of these reasons are arguably moot. If the government claims that the issues on one hand is money, then government can raise that same amount of money by selling to Ghanaians. I am convinced that a graduated sale of Ghana Telecom over a period of a year to Ghanaians will yield the $1B that government is looking for. Then there is the benefit of keeping the subsequent revenue from the dividends that Ghanaian buyers will earn within the Ghanaian economy and allowing a generation of young Ghanaians to create wealth and enter the middle class.

On the issue of injecting new technology into Ghana telecom by way of a foreign buyer; this is not a plausible argument at all because firstly the technology is very widespread and modular. Apart from that there are at least several hundred Ghanaians working all over the world on similar or more complex telecom networks that have the expertise and experience to be able to build out a telecommunications system in Ghana. Furthermore as far as far as the governments technology argument goes; a Ghanaian owned Ghana Telecom can hire the best financial and technical management team from anywhere in the world to run Ghana Telecom and the revenues will still accrue to everyday Ghanaians.

Against these background of these defendable counter arguments one cannot help but ask why government would bypass giving its own nationals a chance to own stocks, create wealth, escape from poverty and enter the middle class? This is the question that must be put to government. What is wrong with Ghanaians buying Ghana Telecom? What does the government have against having Ghanaians own Ghana Telecom? The government must answer.

Email: nifah-bankroh@hotmail.com