The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and the Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Joe Anokye, will today, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, brief Parliament on the controversial $89m Kelni GVG contract.
The two are expected to explain the terms of the contract to the Communications Committee of Parliament following concerns raised about the deal by Policy think tank Imani Africa.
Government through the Communications Ministry, in 2017 signed the contract with Haitian company, Kelni GVG, to deal with suspected revenue losses and simbox fraud in the telcos.
However, President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe who raised a red flag on the deal said the $89 million contract is a careless duplication of jobs and a needless drain on the country’s scarce resources.
According to him, Subah and Afriwave were awarded similar contracts under the NDC administration to perform similar jobs, even though both contracts were needless.
The only additional responsibility spelt out in the new contract with Kelni GVG, he said, is the task to monitor the Mobile Money Interoperability system, which, according to him, is already being done by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana, thus, needless, too.
He therefore petitioned the Vice-President’s Office and also had conversations with the Chief of Staff with the aim of convincing them to cancel the contract for the design, development and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance and mobile money monitoring, which, according to him, is superfluous.
Per the KelniGVG deal signed in December 2017, the government of Ghana will dole out a monthly payment of $1.5 million to the Haitian firm over a five-year period, beginning 30-days after execution of the contract.
The Communication Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, responding to Mr. Cudjoe said, he did not know what he was talking about and had not properly made enquiries before making those statements.
She said, "every step taken was with the full knowledge and collaboration of the Finance Minister and the evidence is there. Public procurement rules were followed to the letter. The evidence is there".
“The same process is being undertaken in Rwanda currently with the same telcos here, and the one network policy being undertaken by the Smart Africa Initiative member states is facilitated by this same technical partner you are busily vilifying ignorantly here. Imani has not spoken to the MTN CEO on this Kelni GVG transaction yet. Franklin Cudjoe quoted him on air as being opposed to this transaction. Who are you working for? Everything digital falls under the purview of the Ministry of Communications, including digital financial servicesâ€, she chided
Parliament therefore invited the Communications Minister and the NCA Director-General to brief the House on the terms of the $89m Kelni GVG deal.