The government white paper on the Vodafone issue is as confused and ambiguous as the politically driven hullabaloo over the purchase when it was deliberately let loose on a polarized Ghana.

The consternation on the countenances of many newsroom crews said it all as they read the terse statement over and over again to make sense out of the confusing printed matter.

When they managed to get over their puzzlement, the bottom-line became clear, at least to enable them to cast their headlines- no abrogation of the contract - under the circumstances.

The Vodafone case, if it was one at all, had attracted strategists of the ruling but embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) who saw in it an antidote for the worrying Mabey & Johnson bribery saga.

No wonder they kept stocking the fire generated by the subject even as it refused to burn with the intensity they desired.

Having failed woefully to get the Vodafone issue to drown the Mabey & Johnson saga, the strategists could only resign to their fate.

The review of the Vodafone deal was one of the campaign issues the NDC clung on to as they criss-crossed the country.

The only subject which surpassed it in intensity and passion was the petroleum product pricing, which as the then Candidate Mills promised, “I would not hesitate to reduce drastically the prices of petroleum products” formed the bedrock of the NDC campaign.

If the ruling party had its way, it would have abrogated the deal but the undeniable fact still stands that the international business community has had to review its impression about our respect for contractual agreements and governance as a whole.

One segment of the white paper which raises eyebrows is the re-engagement, which a three-man body is going to handle. What an ambiguous piece of correspondence can do is prompt varying impressions and conclusions.

We tend to think that since government has found it almost impossible to abrogate the contract, given the repercussions this would have on the country’s image, it has resorted to isolating components of the deal with a view to subjecting these to frustrating treatments.

When a one-time Deputy Communications Minister dealt with the subject on Oman FM yesterday, he too expressed dismay at the white paper, wondering how after the valuation of the whole Ghana Telecommunications Limited for $900m, a government would turn round to ask that parts of the deal be removed for re-negotiations.

He likened it to a scenario where one buys a property like a house only to be told by the seller that he intends taking away the roof of the house for a separate transaction.

Since the deal encompassed the whole of GT, the Fibre Optic segment, the liabilities and assets et al, it becomes puzzling to imagine that government is asking for a re-negotiation on these vital appendages to the establishment.

That is how far things have degenerated in this country.

Considering the noise about the Vodafone deal, many expected that President Mills would just abrogate the deal and deal with our ruptured corporate image later.



Credit: Daily Guide/Ghana