The sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone received several public oppositions and criticisms in view of the perceived massive improprieties that coupled the deal. It has been recently established by an Inter-Ministerial Committee report that most of the terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) were inimical to Ghana’s interest with the committee recommending that Ghana Government should consider a renegotiation of the SPA.

It is unmistakable that Vodafone has so far dismissed about 2,000 employees in line with its downsizing policy per the SPA despite the intervention of the National Labour Union. An official of Vodafone in an attempt to justify the redundancy exercise cited one of its competitors Tigo as having staff strength of about 500 compared to that of Vodafone which is in excess of 3,000. Some few months ago, Vodafone recruited and employed about 120 workers and again between 31st October and 1st November 2009 through a job fair Vodafone has screened about 6,000 applications in an ongoing recruitment exercise.

BGF is reliably informed about this orchestrated ploy to gain undue favour in the eyes of government in spite of the NDC’s campaign promise to get the SPA reviewed. We are by this release putting it to the management of Vodafone that BGF is massively consulting with legal brains and will very soon put in the public domain all secret ploys by Vodafone to get away with the SPA review. We are also calling on the government to be resolute and act with dispatch in exploring all legal avenues available in lieu of getting the SPA reviewed before this scam gets to the next level.

BGF is also disappointed with the recent 5% increase in fuel prices and call on the government to absorb the increase in order to reduce the tension it has generated within the public domain and also the potential stress to industry and manufacturing vis-à-vis living conditions. We welcome the government’s decision to cut down government fuel consumption by 30%, the 5% reduction on the taxes of fuel and the recent importation of crude oil for processing but we still believe that 5% increase in fuel prices now is not in the best interest of Ghanaians. Instead we are advising the government to descend heavily and retrospectively on all Oil Marketing Companies who are indebted to Tema Oil Refinery in line with the government’s domestic resource mobilization policy.

SGN. Osabutey Emmanuel (Coordinator/Media Liaison Officer) 0244879415