Accra \u2013 The Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Communications Committee, Hon. Abed-Nego Bandim, has dismissed as unfounded claims by the Minority that there are irregularities in the operations of MultiChoice Ghana (DSTV) and that the Minister for Communications, Digitalisation and Innovation should resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a press conference, the Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee, Hon. Charles Owiredu, alleged improprieties in DSTV\u2019s operations and accused the Minister of failing in his duties. But a Member of the Committee, Hon. Sulemana Adama in a response at a press conference on behalf of the Chairman, insisted the assertions \u201cdo not reflect the facts on the ground\u201d and that there is \u201cabsolutely no justification\u201d for calls on the Minister to step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stressed that the Minister has acted within his mandate since assuming office seven months ago, showing \u201ccourage and patriotism\u201d in steering the sector. According to him, the Minister\u2019s engagement with DSTV and other telecom operators has already resulted in reduced costs of voice, data, and subscription services, winning broad public support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hon. Sulemana used the opportunity to highlight what he described as \u201clegacy issues\u201d under the previous NPP administration, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vodafone Sale: The transfer to Telecel without sufficient parliamentary oversight or regulatory clarity, which created prolonged uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Airtel-Tigo Merger: Losses exceeding $10 million within eight months, leaving taxpayers to sustain the operator amid poor service quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next Gen Infraco 5G License: A 10-year exclusive deal awarded without open bidding, which he said delayed Ghana\u2019s 5G adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rural Telephony Project: Logistical delays that left vital equipment stranded in bonded warehouses, hampering rural connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelni GVG Contract: An opaque monitoring arrangement that remains unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He argued that these examples reflected a communications environment that was \u201cdictatorial and uncooperative with stakeholders\u201d under former Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contrastingly, Adama described the current administration\u2019s approach as one of openness, consultation, and stakeholder dialogue. He said the Minority\u2019s criticisms amounted to \u201cpopulist rants\u201d and urged Ghanaians to ignore them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Majority does not see anything wrong with the Minister asking for a price reduction, which is not against the law. On the contrary, it is in the interest of the Ghanaian consumer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Committee Chair further called on DSTV to stop issuing public statements and instead engage through proper corporate governance mechanisms, stressing the need for Parliament, the Ministry, the National Communications Authority, and industry players to work together to build a resilient and competitive communications sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Communications Committee, Hon. Abed-Nego Bandim, has dismissed as unfounded claims by the Minority that there are irregularities in the operations of MultiChoice Ghana (DSTV) and that the Minister for Communications, Digitalisation and Innovation should resign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,9],"tags":[157,1112,1113,383],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1439,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions\/1439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}