Telenor Expats Chop ¢3.66 Bn Monthly

*As Minister runs from Minority’s inquest on telecom coy
GYE NYAME CONCORD can today reveal that the nation’s premier telecommunications giant, Ghana Telecom (GT), forks out over ¢2,547 billion monthly to its long list of 22 Telenor-imported expats, led by its Norwegian Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fraude Haugen, as salaries.

In addition, the largely state-owned telecom coy sees to the leisure and comfort of the 22 expats with an additional ¢518.3 million, raising the total emoluments doled out to the Norwegian men and women to ¢3.66 billion monthly, which sources say is more than half of the total remuneration of the several hundreds of Ghanaian staff at the once buoyant monopoly. In all, the salaries and emoluments of the 22 expats works up to an estimated $1.8 million-plus a month.

Sources say Telenor, the management company responsible for the employment of the 22 expats, also grabs home $150,000 per month for its management contract it has with the Ghana Government.

Top on the list of the high earners is the CEO of GT, Fraude Haugen, who banks home $100,443 (over ¢153.1 million according to GT’s own conversion rate) every month plus an extra ¢41 million allowance for rent and car.

The lowest paid among the 22-member Telecom team earns ¢68,505,100, plus an additional car and rent allowance of ¢14.1 million; something some on-strike NAGRAT teachers told this paper yesterday could pay for the salaries of more than four of them.

Interestingly, staffs of GT were telling GYE NYAME CONCORD yesterday that they were unaware of the job schedule of Ms. Anita Skagnaes, who draws the lowest salary among the 22 expats and is the only one whose salary falls within the$34,000 to $40,000 bracket.

Eight others have salaries ranging from a low of ¢87, 223,966.67 to a high of ¢100,391,833 (actual figures quoted by GT in their emolument documents available to this reporter).

Car and rent allowances for the ‘lowest’ eight also ranges from ¢17,844,793 to ¢20,478,366.

Reached for GT’s comments Monday, this paper was told to come the following day for an interview only to be informed at the scheduled time that the Corporate Affairs Manager was out of the office and was the only one who could grant an interview on the issue.

After waiting almost the whole day, Gye Nyame Concord was told on his return to bring an official letter specifying questions the paper was interested in. (Keep reading this paper for GT’s response and more revelations on the telecom coy)

The NDC Minority in Parliament recently sought to extract answers from the Communications Minister, Professor Mike Ocquaye, on the issue without success.

The Minister told Parliament on that occasion that he was unaware of the details of the remuneration of the expats and would seek to update himself on it and later brief the House on the matter.

The huge remuneration to the Norwegians is at a time when GT staffs say the company is facing a crippling challenge from other telecom companies, especially the private sector-owned mobile phone companies.

Staffs have also complained of the inadequate turn-around of the fortunes of GT and the excuses peddled by the management for their failure to meet targets set out for them in their management contract. (Stay tuned)