Govt's acquisition of AirtelTigo shares described as 'fishy'

A recent deal entered into by the Government of Ghana to acquire all the shares of a private telecommunications company, AirtelTigo, has been described as fishy.

Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has told Citi News that the way the government went about the deal raises questions.

“Why would the government want to use a billion [for such purpose]? If the government has that amount of money to offset the liabilities of AirtelTigo, would it not have been more prudent to use a portion of that to honour its obligations? To have entered into an agreement of this magnitude clearly smacks of something fishy,” Ras Mubarak is quoted by the Citi News report published on Thursday, October 29, 2020.

Ras Mubarak is referring to news that broke on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, that the Government of Ghana has acquired shares of Bharti Airtel, in an impairment charge of about $25million.

State-owned Daily Graphic reports that the deal will enable the government to acquire 100% shares of Airtel Ghana Ltd, including the acquisition of customers, assets, and agreed liabilities.

“The parties are in advance stages of discussions for the conclusion of the commercial agreement for the transfer of AirtelTigo on a going concern basis to the Government of Ghana,” Airtel said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday as reported by GraphicOnline.com.

AirtelTigo is a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and Millicom International Cellular, operators of Tigo in Ghana. The two merged in 2017, becoming the second-largest telecom operator in Ghana at the time.

Reacting to the story on Thursday, October 29, 2020, the Kumbungu Legislator told Citi News that he finds the decision by the government to buy 100% of the shares of the telecoms company with taxpayers’ money fishy.

“They have not had the courtesy to inform the good people of Ghana what this is all about. I expect nothing but full disclosure of the details of this transaction. If you look at the liabilities of AirtelTigo at the moment it is almost a billion,” Ras Mubarak is quoted further by Citi News.