Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has strongly defended the $89.4million contract awarded Kelni-GVG by the government of Ghana, saying attempts to impugn the integrity of the contract will not wash.
Addressing Parliament Thursday on the contract, described by the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram as “pure theft”, the Communication Minister said “nothing could be far from the truth” and that the government through the Communication Ministry is acting in the interest of Ghanaians to “safeguard revenues that ought to accrue to the state.”
“Mr. Speaker,” she stressed, “there has been absolutely no corruption or underhand dealings in this transaction. I can never be party to any such conduct as I value my reputation and the reputation of the government which serves the good people of Ghana. I stand here as a Minister of the Akufo-Addo administration to assure this august house that I believe this is the best deal we could have got.”
Mr. Owusu-Ekuful also rubbished claims that Kelni-GVG is not credible stating that, “As far back as 2009, National Security conducted extensive due diligence on GVG and confirmed the credibility and technical capacity of the company in writing (ref:NSCS40/V.10/1231 of 28th April 2009).”
Noting that the government is determined and stand resolute to go ahead with the contract despite the growing oppositions to it, she said “We will not waver or relent in this.”
Again, she debunked claims by IMANI Africa that Kelni-GVG was awarded a contract by the Akufo-Addo administration for design, development and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance, and mobile money monitoring and fraud management—a service already being rendered by Afriwave and Subah Info Solution.
“This is not a duplication of any existing contract. No other system or company is currently providing this service. The mobile money interoperability platform of GHIPPs monitors transactions between two or more Telcos and the banks but does not monitor transactions on one network. The CMP does so,” she said.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
