Telecom Malaysia, former majority shareholders in Ghana Telecom (GT), have refused to leave the company after the three-month grace period given them by the government. The contract expired on 19 February this year. It has not made its intention known to the government as to whether it would leave GT or put forward a new proposal.

Mr Felix Owusu-Agyapong, Minister of Communication and Technology, announced this during an interaction with private investors in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in Accra on Thursday. He said that although the contract between the government and Telecom Malaysia ended more than three months ago, upon which a grace period of three months was given to prepare and had over to whatever body that would provide technical and consultancy service to GT, the Malaysians were still at post.

On what the government was doing to get the Malaysians out, he said, Ghana is a sovereign state and that there was the need to use diplomatic means. He explained that forcing them out might give a wrong signal to foreign investors, who might think the government’s ‘golden age of business is a sham.’

He said that the government would not use cadres, as was done in the past, to get the Malaysians out adding that he expected them to present a new proposal to the government or make their intentions known. “Our partners in GT have failed us,” he said, adding, “Let me assure you that, if we do not handle the issue well, they will say that the golden age of business is a sham. At the appropriate time, it shall be addressed, hopefully, with public support,” the Minister stated.

On interconnectivity in the sector, Mr Owusu-Agyapong noted that the problem between GT and Spacefon had been resolved.

Answering questions on the need for effective policies to enhance the development of the telecom and ICT industries, he said that it was not an issue of merely having policies but achievable ones. He said the sector was beset with problems, adding that it would require technical solutions and not unachievable policies.

According to him, those problems especially in the telecom sector, needed to be solved in time in order to move onto the ICT sector. In their contributions, the private entrepreneurs believed that the necessary measures should be implemented for the progress of the ICT industry since ICT could not wait till telephony is developed in the country. – The Ghanaian Times.