Director of Legal Affairs for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gary Nimako Marfo, has debunked the assertion that government’s 5G network contract was awarded to just one company, NextGen InfraCo.
The lawyer says there are other companies involved in the contract including all telecommunication companies in the country.
Mr. Nimako Marfo, speaking on the KeyPoints Saturday, June 01, 2024, on TV3, disagreed with Martin Luther Kpebu, also a private legal practitioner, who had said the contract was cooked and fraught with corruption.
Martin Kpebu had said the contract was not open for other companies to bid, and giving it out to a company which was just a week old makes it questionable.
“That’s the key point. You just look at it, one week old, so what is this industry experience that this week-old baby have? That’s the key thing, don’t go beyond that. But within a week you barely had even finished setting up. Then it tells you that this deal was cooked. Then you see that the mother serpent of corruption is at it again,” he told host, Alfred Ocansey.
Reacting to the comments, Mr. Nimako Marfo noted that: “I have a difficulty with my former friend making conclusive statements that ‘this is a cooked deal, this is corruption deal etc’,” he stated.
The lawyer, quoting the Communications and Digitalisation Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, during her meeting with the press to announce the contract noted that, the Minister said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. I’m delighted and proud to announce a partnership that masks a new era of data connectivity in Ghana. The government of Ghana in collaboration with Ascend Ghana [Digital], K-NET, Radisys, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, supported by all mobile network operators in Ghana, starting with AT and Telecel has launched the NextGen InfraCo as NG’, So, how do you say that this is just one company doing it? She told you the number of contractors that are involved in the project. It’s not one company doing it.”
Meanwhile, Madam Owusu-Ekuful had earlier confirmed that NextGen InfraCo, the company awarded the 5G network rollout contract, was established just one week before receiving the contract.
She explained that the company was specifically created for this purpose because there was no existing neutral infrastructure company capable of handling the rollout at that time.
At a press briefing on the 5G rollout Thursday, May 30, 2024, she elaborated on the government’s rationale for the decision.
She noted that auctioning the contract was not pursued due to previous experiences and setbacks that had hindered the rollout of the country’s 4G technology. Since its introduction in 2015, 4G has only achieved a 15% nationwide penetration.
The Minister highlighted that the challenges faced during the 4G rollout influenced the government’s approach to the 5G deployment.
According to her, by directly awarding the contract to a newly created entity, the government aims to avoid similar obstacles and expedite the implementation process for the 5G network.
The Ablekuma West Member of Parliament provided insight into the government’s strategic decision-making process, emphasising the need for a dedicated infrastructure company to ensure the successful and timely rollout of 5G technology across the country.
“This is a special purpose vehicle and once the government took the decision that we will use a neutral infrastructure company to deliver this service, there is no existing neutral infrastructure company that can deliver it at the moment.”
“So, it had to be specifically formed for the purpose of delivering this service based on the strategic policies and decisions of the government, and it is borne out of our experiences and that is why we chose not to auction it,”she stated.
This confirmation coincides with concerns raised by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni regarding the contract awarded to NextGen InfraCo Ltd.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, May 30, Mr. Awuni pointed out that the company was incorporated barely a week before President Akufo-Addo granted executive approval for the deal.
According to him, the contract, which experts estimate to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was awarded through sole sourcing, without giving other companies the opportunity to bid for the project.
He maintained that the lack of competitive bidding raises suspicions about the transparency and fairness of the procurement process.
