[kictanet] Diasporan Investors Team Up to Buy Ghana Telecom

[Mike Theuri]

It is noteworthy to see the GoK rush to sell a controlling stake in Telkom
Kenya to foreigners
while indigenous Ghanians battle to secure a stake in Ghana Telecom:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707161541.html

Diasporan Investors Team Up to Buy GT

Public Agenda (Accra)
NEWS
16 July 2007
Posted to the web 16 July 2007
Accra

A Ghanaian Diaspora professional group, called the Ghana Leadership Union
(GLU)
has announced plans to pool resources to buy a controlling stake in one of
the
country's biggest assets, Ghana Telecom.

GLU, a non-partisan NGO with membership based in the U.S.A, U.K., the E.U.,
Australia and Asia, says Ghanaian professionals based aboard have been shut
out
of the process of participating in the investment and management of divested

State Owned Enterprises for too long; hence the decision to join the race
for
GT.

In furtherance of that, GLU has created a novel investment framework to
attract
financial and human capital to formally express interest in the acquisition
of a
controlling stake in Ghana Telecom Ltd.

In a statement copied to Public Agenda, the President of GLU, Dr. Kwaku A.
Danso, stated, "the founders of our nation Ghana did not use taxpayers'
funds to
set up State-owned enterprises (SOEs) only to be sold to foreigners, or to
insiders of the government who use proxies to buy these SoE's and leave the
real
stakeholders with the debts. This practice must be stopped, by any means
necessary".

The statement said the GLU members are seasoned professionals with more than
20
years of telecommunications and information systems management and will
bring
investment capital in excess of US$500M to this venture.

This unprecedented investment approach facilitated by the GLU will also
enable
the participation of accredited investors within Ghana and abroad with as
little
as $1,000 per unit.

Asked about the investment strategy, the initiative's lead promoter in the
UK,
lawyer George Asomaning responded, "It is our intention to ensure that as
much
of the actual investment received gets channeled into the infrastructural
development of Ghana Telecom, so as to position the company to deliver on
its
promise and to return a sizeable profit for the shareholders, the citizens
of
Ghana".

Nifa Bankroh, the organizer of the "Lets buy Ghana Telecom" initiative
stated,
"If Ghanaians do not get involved in the acquisition, ownership and
management
of significant state owned enterprises that are being divested, the
likelihood
of Ghanaian nationals being able to control the factors that affect their
economic future will be marginal at best, and probably negligible.

Many Ghanaian businessmen and professional groups are of the opinion that
conditions imposed by so-called development partners or financiers, opening
Ghana's markets to so-called globalization, has not proven economically
beneficial over the last three decades. Professor Mintzberg of Canada has
described globalization with respect to development as "a sham". Whilst
foreign
investors and competition are necessary and welcome tools in Ghana, this
global
inequity, coupled with a comparative lack of openness and transparency has
led
to an unequal playing field in the world of business dealings and
negotiations.

The result is the massive brain drain, high accumulated debt burden, and
high
unemployment and underemployment in Ghana, which call for new development
strategies.

Commenting on the sale of state-owned enterprises and the ongoing telecoms
divestiture process, Michel Bowman-Amuah, an ICT entrepreneur resident in
the
United States,Stated that; "there are certain strategic national assets that

must be safeguarded and placed above the drive for investment capital and
chief
among those is our national information and communications infrastructure.
There
has to be more regulatory oversight into corporate takeovers, mergers or
acquisitions of these strategic national assets, if we are to maintain our
sovereignty and protect our security interests".

Industry watchers say, Ghana's wireless phone networks are dominated by
foreign-
owned and controlled entities that were granted these franchises at a
fraction
of prevailing market rates, creating a very lopsided playing field which
places
the fixed network carriers at a significant competitive disadvantage.
Recently,
the largest operator (by subscriber base), Spacefon™ /Scancom™ was acquired
in a
multi-billion dollar transaction by Areeba™, another foreign concern without
as
much as public hearings into the process and we the general public are yet
to be
briefed about the details or benefits that the citizens of Ghana have
realized
in this sale.

The above transaction has been clouded by a shareholder proxy battle between
the
Lebanese operators of Scancom™ and the Ghanaian founder of Spacefon™, who
was
allegedly forced out with political support of the previous administration.
Though the matter is pending in the courts, the government administration
and
regulatory agency, the National Communication Agency (NCA), has been eerily
silent on the matter which begs the question about what investment
protections
exist for indigenous investors within Ghana's corporate regulatory system.

Also recently, the Government of Ghana settled a shareholder dispute with
the
former minority shareholder in Ghana Telecom, Telecom Malaysia, who had
purchased the rights to increase their shareholding to a controlling stake,
but
were unceremoniously expelled when the current administration assumed power
in
2001. This dispute has shaken foreign investor confidence in the long term
viability of the divestiture process and its stability.

Investors need to be certain that their multi million dollar investments are

secure regardless of ruling regime. It must be noted that a Ghanaian-owned
and
controlled investor group is no different and would require that specific
safeguards are in place to protect the interests of their shareholders.

It is envisioned that this investment framework created by the GLU shall be
reused by other industry sector professionals as other State owned
enterprises
are divested by the Government of Ghana in the near future. "It is our
intent to
safeguard the national interest by facilitating the participation of
Ghanaians
everywhere in the Nation-building process."

Mama Brenya Twumasi, a legal scholar and interested investor with many years
of
stock ownership experience writing from San Antonio, Texas, warned that "our

nation cannot continue to ignore the views of the people, and that in
essence,
governmental transparency and accountability is a must in all present and
future
dealings if we, as a Nation State, wish to beviewed as credible by our
allies
and other Sovereign States." It is the general agreement of most Ghanaians
surveyed on the issue that Ghana has too many skilled, experienced and
competent
Ghanaian professionals, educated as part of the initial plan of Ghana's
first
President, who are willing and able to own and manage our strategic assets.
It
is therefore unconscionable to simply stand by while foreign corporate
raiders
are ushered in on the red carpet and given the keys to our National treasure

troves.
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