Mills government is floundering

Following the sale of seventy per cent shares of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone, it seems inconceivable that government would not renegotiate the deal; at least that is what senior government officials say. They claim they are “not reviewing the contract, they are not renegotiating the contract; It is not a review of the contract.” So what is it?

When economic value erodes, you would expect the ruling establishment to restore balance. What we heard from government regarding the sale shares of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone was not a restoration of balance, but a carte blanche to foreign companies and their local accomplices to misbehave.

Under President Kufour, the state entered into a contract that can make anyone who cares about the country feel completely betrayed. we had a contract that says the government of Ghana “waives, and undertakes that it will not at anytime bring any claim or prosecution against any member of the enlarged GT Group or any post-closing directors in respect of any act of any such member or members relating to the Anti-Corruption Warranties which arises from or otherwise relates to the period to closing.”

The contract further states that “there shall not be any injunction or other order that prohibits/restrains the sale of the shares by GoG to the purchaser in particular or generally.”

And all the current government could do after several weeks of dithering over the review report is to re-engage because of a fear of contravening international law. What kind of a house slave mentality is this?

I can’t believe government and some commentators are pushing the argument that renegotiating the contract would scare investors. Are we saying the State doesn’t have genuine concerns and that there are no provisions in international law that caters for our kind of situation?

I am not by any account suggesting that the State should flout article 36 of the 1992 constitution which encourages the Republic to “promote foreign investment within Ghana subject to any law for the time being in force regulating investment in Ghana.” But the argument about breaking international law is untenable because there are provisions in international law which the government could invoked as basis for renegotiating.

Article 49 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organisations clearly states that “A state or an international organisation induced to conclude a treaty by the fraudulent conduct of a negotiating State or a negotiating organisation may invoke fraud as invalidating its consent to be bound by the treaty.”

And Article 50 of the said convention which Ghana is a signatory states that “a State or an international organisation the expression of whose consent to be bounded by a treaty has been procured through the corruption of its representatives directly or indirectly by a negotiating State or a negotiating organisation may invoke such corruption as invalidating its consent to be bound by the treaty.”

It has been alleged that members of the then majority in parliament were bribed into endorsing the deal with Vodafone. The inter-ministerial review committee has already concluded that “the sale was shrouded in secrecy, fraught with irregularity, ignored time-honoured procedures, contravened the laws of Ghana, did not guarantee value for money and therefore was not in the strategic interest of Ghana.”

According to the committee, the sale contravenes sections 240 and 244 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) because of the allegation that the then majority in parliament was bribed into endorsing the deal. The government’s priority should have been getting to the bottom of this very serious claim; instead it is dithering and appears not to be representing the best interest of the people of Ghana.

The rank and file of the NDC have every reason to be livid with President Mills for what they may consider as floundering by the government.

The government was given 1460 days to change things after the perverse eight years of Mr. Kufour. It has spent nearly 250days frittering away the days. Government is floundering and the consequences of its inaction have catastrophic results for the NDC in future elections. The government has to move from reaction to action and do more than it is currently doing.

I feel desperately betrayed by government’s seemingly weak posture and I hope to God this is not what we are going to live with for the rest of the president’s term in office. The ruling government has spat on the country’s sovereignty and our seventeen year old democracy; it has adopted a posture that makes our constitution wilt and it is unclear whether President Mills is ready to take on the corruption and unregulated greed of the Kufour regime.

Mohammed Mubarak aka Ras Mubarak Broadcaster & member of NDC [email protected]