AFAG wants Afriwave contract Investigated

The Alliance for Accountable Governance AFAG) is calling for further investigations into the allegations by Policy Think Tank, IMANI Ghana that there was fraud in the award of Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) license to Afriwave Telecom Limited. Speaking to Oman News after addressing a press conference in Accra Tuesday, Vice chairman of AFAG, Henry Asante argued that the only way the truth about the whole deal could be established is for proper investigations to be conducted into it.

“We support any investigation or whatever that will unravel any mystery surrounding this contract,” he stressed.

He challenged IMANI Ghana to take the issue up by filing a formal complaint to any of the investigative bodies in the country if they have evidence to back their claim.

The National Communications Authority on December 2, 2014 invited applications for the grant of a license to enable service providers establish, maintain and operate a clearing house service for the telecommunication industry.

Five institutions applied for the contract namely, Afriwave Telecom Ghana limited, Subah Infosolutions, Progidy International Limited, TCMS-GVG Consortium limited and Channel IT Limited.

But an eight member Application Evaluation Panel (AEP) chaired by Mr. Albert E. Enninful, and set up by the NCA to vet the bidders; awarded the contract to Afriwave under circumstances IMANI Ghana says “clearly betrayed the scheme’s parochial intentions.”

President of IMANI Ghana Mr. Franklin Cudjoe alleged that a leaked document to him by one of the panel members clearly showed that there was something wrong with the processes that led to Afriwave being awarded with the license.

The Director of the National Communications Authority (NCA) William Tevie at a press conference last Thursday denied the allegations.

He clarified that the errors IMANI Ghana cited on a document purported to have been leaked to him occurred as transposition errors.

According to Mr. Asante, AFAG is in support of the policy because it is in line with global trend.

“It is AFAG’s belief that a competitive telecommunication sector can bring about various attractive marketing offers to consumers and above all, the lowering of pricing of telecom services,” he pointed out.

He said AFAG considers the policy as revolutionary and entreated all Ghanaians to accept the operationalization of ICH in the country.

“The NCA must show transparency, and fairness to stakeholders in order to ensure policy acceptability, and the smooth implementation of the interconnect Clearing House (ICH) policy,” he advised.

Story by: Michael Creg Afful

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