IMANI Africa may be taking its fight against the government contract with Kelni GVG to the courts.
On The Big Issue, IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, said the think tank was working towards a lawsuit.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3B1rtB4ORlH77hrRme1o6pEt5BAKo1Nc”]Speaking on the news analysis show, financial analyst, Sydney Casely Hayford, suggested that only logical course for IMANI would lead them to the courts.
“If we think we have a bad contract and it is not serving the purpose of the people of Ghana, as a citizen of Ghana or even as IMANI, I think they should go to court,” he said.
Mr Cudjoe responded by saying “that’s in the works.”
Sydney Casely Hayford noted further that they only way IMANI would have its way “is if you get the law courts to agree with you that it is a bad contract and it is signed in bad faith.”
Kelni GVG is to develop and oversee the Common Platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance and mobile money monitoring.
The implementation of the Common Platform is in line with the Communication Service Tax (Amendment) Act, 2013, Act 864.
A lot of the criticism of the deal, which is costing Ghana $89 million, has come from think tank IMANI Africa.
IMANI also raised privacy concerns while questioning the credibility of Kelni GVG.
It has maintained that this deal mirrors the controversial agreements the state entered into with Subah Infosolutions and Afriwave Telcom Ltd in 2010 and 2016 respectively.
IMANI had earlier petitioned the Vice President to revoke the contract.
But in Parliament this past week, Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, rejected accusations of corruption and underhand dealings in the award of the revenue assurance monitoring contract to Kelni-GVG.
She said the accusations of corruption and underhand dealings are needless.
The government has assured that the necessary due diligence was carried out during the processes that led to the selection of Kelni GVG.
The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has also warned of sanctions for the telecommunications companies that do get on board with the Common Platform.
In her statement to Parliament on Thursday, the minister indicated that two telcos are in the process of being connected.
“I am happy to announce that Vodafone and Glo are in the process of being connected as we speak. The others are expected to be connected by the 11th of June. Any operator who fails to comply will be sanctioned.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
