MINISTER TOURS GT FACILITIES IN KUMASI (PAGE 19)

THE Government is considering replacing Dr Mohamudu Bawumia as one of its representatives on the reconstituted board of Ghana Telecom (GT).
Dr Bawumia was retained as one of the few government representatives on the board of GT after the divestiture, but this had to be reviewed to enable him to have time for his political activities.
Dr Bawumia, who is a Deputy Governor of the central bank, is the running mate to Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP presidential aspirant for the 2008 elections.
The Minister of Communications, Dr Benjamin Aggrey-Ntim, who made this known at a meeting with managers of GT Ashanti Office in Kumasi yesterday, said Vodafone Group Plc now had majority of the membership of the board to reflect the company's 70 per cent stake in GT.
Dr Aggrey-Ntim rejected suggestions that there was no need for the government to retain any of the former board members on the new board of GT because they supervised the deterioration of the company.
The minister explained that the decision to retain them was premised on the need for continuity.
He indicated that he had impressed upon the government's representatives on the board to work very hard to help change the fortunes of the company.
The minister said divesting the company did not mean the company was being sent outside the country, stressing that "everything about the company remains in the country".
He urged staff of the company not to exercise any fears about redundancy, saying in the event of such exercise, $40 million had been set aside to pay their severance awards.
Dr Aggrey-Ntim said there was hope for GT because Vodafone was ready to bring life into the company to enable it to compete favourably with other operators.
He disclosed that Vodafone was drawing up a business plan that would resuscitate the company.
The minister said a subsidiary company had been created for the fibre section of GT.
Dr Aggrey-Ntim expressed regret that since 2003, there was no audited accounts of GT.
According to him, the audited accounts for four years (2003-2007) was recently prepared.
The Ashanti Regional Manager of GT, Mr Jonathan Kessey-Antwi, noted that Ghana could not have got a better partner than Vodafone because of their track record as leaders in the telecommunications industry globally.
He commended the minister for the determination with which he fought to ensure that the deal with Vodafone became a reality in spite of the strong opposition from some quarters.
Mr Kessey-Antwi stated that his outfit had its own vision to extend ICT services to every part of the region and that the first goal was to get every school, business and government agency in the region to be connected to the Internet broadband through the company's 'broadband 4U' services.