Bawku (U/E) Feb.11, GNA - Mr Mohammed Seini, an employee of the Internal Revenue Service at Bawku last weekend won the Ghana Telecom (GT) one-million-cedi-a-day raffle draw in the Bawku East District. The Regional Director of GT, Alhaji Musah Awudu, presented him with 1 million cedis as his prize.

The draw, the third of its kind in the Upper East Region after those that took place Bolgatanga and Navrongo, was organized by GT to reward customers who patronized its public phone booths nationwide. In an interview with the GNA, Alhaji Awudu said government had secured a 150-million cedi loan from its Chinese counterpart to undertake telephone expansion works in the Region by the end of the year.

He said as part of the expansion programme, the Bawku exchange switch would be changed from the present analogue link to digital to create more lines and prevent congestion.

Alhaji Awudu explained that GT would in addition shift from the use of paper cables to jelly field cables to improve the telephone network in the region.

He added that the new cable is expected to prevent disruption in telephone services during rainstorms, which normally cut the region from other regions in the rainy season.

On broken down phone booths, Alhaji Awudu laid the blame on saboteurs who try to use dubious means to make calls, thereby inserting strange objects into the booths and destroying them. He added that GT has ordered spare parts to undertake repair works of its booths nationwide.

The regional director urged members of the public to desist from tampering with the phone booths, adding that anybody caught engaging in such illegal practices would be put before the law courts for prosecution.