The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has directed the government to furnish the House with the details of the Airtel-Tigo acquisition deal.
In August 2021, the government of Ghana and the parent companies of AirtelTigo, Bharti Airtel Ghana Holdings B.V., and MIC Africa B.V, concluded negotiations and signed an agreement to transfer the shares of the company to the Ghanaian government for $1.
Following the announcement of the company’s departure from the Ghanaian market in 2020, all customers, assets, and agreed liabilities of AirtelTigo were transferred to the government as part of the deal.
While answering a question filed by Ningo-Prampram MP, Samuel Nartey George on the floor of parliament on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful revealed that the acquisition deal is at an advanced stage of negotiation adding that they’re awaiting further inputs from the Attorney General’s Department to seal essential aspects of the deal.
“We will improve the Telcom and ICT sector in full compliance with the laws of the country. So we will complete all constitutional and legal processes by the end of this meeting of parliament for the acquisition of AirtelTigo. The acquisition of Telecommunication companies follows a process, and those processes are ongoing. There are phases in these processes from contract signing, regulatory approvals, and closing obligations that parties have to undertake and the legal and regulatory processes that have to be gone through.”
But Speaker Bagbin who was not convinced with the explanations directed the deal be brought before Parliament for further scrutiny to avoid judgment debt as it has become too many in recent times.
“…This is a notice to the Ministry of Finance, please take this seriously, the judgement debts are becoming too many for the country and I will not want to be a part of it. I will not work on any document… isn’t coming from a government source. I know the legal implications and I will not risk that. I don’t want to leave this seat after that to be called to any agency to be investigated because of something.”
Mr Alban Bagbin indicated that he will not risk working with any document that is not coming from the government.
“Parliament doesn’t deal with entities that enter into an agreement with the government. We deal with the government and so when you enter into those agreements with the private sector or whatever, it will depend on your communication and the document that you will attach as the authentic document for our attention. I know why I’m saying this, so the Ministry of Finance kindly take note. We have given you a number of content to write officially to us, attaching agreements that the Minister has entered into with various industries for us to work on. As of today after one year, it’s not been done and we cannot depend on documents from agencies as an authentic document to work with,” he emphasized.
Source: Thenewsroomonline