Wa, June 23, GNA - Mr Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister on Wednesday appealed to the Management of Ghana Telecom to consider giving the Region a special attention to improve its telecommunication network. He said the Region had poor road network, which was a disincentive investors, but an effective telecommunication system would enable investors to circumvent the problem.

Mr Dery made this appeal during a town hall meeting organised by Ghana Telecom to assess their performance in the Region. He cautioned the public against negative tendencies that tended to sabotage the forward march of Ghana Telecom and called on them to expose people, who indulged in malpractices in the telecommunication system.

The Regional Minister appealed to District Assemblies to form watchdog committees that would safeguard development projects in their communities and encourage the construction of more projects. He said the town hall meeting being organised throughout the country was in line with Government's policy of decentralisation and participation and urged Ghana Telecom to continue with such a policy to improve on their delivery. Mr Dery commended the Company for sponsoring the Premier Soccer League in the country.

Mr Emmanuel Dziko, Leader of the Ghana Telecom Team, said their outfit had acquired fraud detection equipment that would help reduce billing complaints throughout the country. He said they had also procured bill mediation systems with magnetic tapes that could record every call from the beginning to the end. "We are also going to intensify our training programmes to enable our staff to become abreast with modern technology and the modern trends of communication."

During questions and suggestions time, most customers complained of inappropriate billing system poor customer relations, delays in reacting to public complaints and total disrespect towards customers. Mr Emmanuel Ayettey, Regional Manager of Company, pledged that the staff would improve upon their attitude and performance and called on the customers to settle their bills promptly and stay away from acts that could bring the Company down financially.