IT IS TIME TO TAKE STOCK AS WE SELL GT

WE ARE IN ANOTHER 20 YEAR CYCLE OF DIVESTITURE

Here is a short list of companies which were on life-support and have since given up the ghost through privatization/divestiture. State Fishing Corporation, Ghana Airways Corporation, State Hotels Corporation, Food Distribution Corporation, Black Star Line, and the GIHOC conglomerate. So naturally, there is the emotional issue of loss of companies we used to call our own.

Besides, since we are not in a state of collective amnesia, many people are jittery about the sale of yet another major state-owned corporation. Twenty years ago in 1988, the PNDC administration embarked on an elaborate scheme to divest the state of over 300 ailing companies. The selling continued long after the P was retired and it became NDC.

Twenty years earlier, after the 1966 coup d’etat, there was a short-lived eventful moment of privatization. Fact: divestiture does not sit on a moral high ground; funny things have happened. This country cannot brag of transparency and accountability in the sale of the difficult to determine number of SOEs. Hands have been soiled.

Disclosure: I was a staff member of divestiture from 1987 until 1990. I witnessed transparency thrown carelessly to the dogs. Professional work done by our technical team was constantly at the mercy of power-brokers at the Osu Castle with non-bidders winning companies after gleefully but audaciously skipping thorough processes of application, vetting and negotiations.

Divestiture is therefore fraught with managerial/executive corruption and plundering, and its attendant citizen cynicism. Not surprisingly, the current effort to privatize GT is seen by some against this backdrop of cloudy history. But a very important part of that history is what necessitates privatization.

State-owned companies are nobody’s uncle/father’s properties so some management and staff loot them at will. In the late 1980’s, our team discovered companies throughout this country that were not even on the books as belonging to Ghana! Expensive equipment ordered by the CPP administration, which arrived after the 1966 coup, had been left in boxes for two decades – untouched, unopened, abandoned. Additionally, we found many SOEs in such a sorry and unpardonable state of mismanagement that would have broken the mean hearts of even the worst enemies of Ghana.

I therefore can’t help but wonder: What are the insider organizational stories at GT? I want to be a pretty fly on GT walls to eavesdrop on endless private telephone conversations – both international and local – for which GT hugs the bills. I wish my alter ego fly could witness the extraordinary wastage that justifies this privatization! There is no smoke without fire.

Divestiture has had two 20-year cycles: late 1960s to 1980s and 1980s to present. I never thought this second cycle would last this long! So what to do? What you do at the end/beginning of a cycle: Review. The current hiccup about the sale of GT may suggest that it is time to take stock and have a national conversation about what to do with our lousy national assets.

Enduring Questions: Should we continue to privatize until there is nothing left to privatize? Is government completely getting out of the business of business so it can focus on the business of governing? If so, how do we deal with our nationalistic emotional attachment to companies we call our own?

But more so, why has the sale of GT hit a wall? Poor timing of the sale, weak and inconsistent messages, and fronting a not-so-beloved messenger have not helped. Loading on a non-GT asset, the little-understood national fibre optic network, for the purpose of the sale has led to stiffly raised eyebrows. But especially, the campaign against the sale of GT has had a strong relentless voice in the person of Dr Nii Moi Thompson, an economist and an unapologetically passionate CPP man with obvious ideological colouring. He often speaks eloquently on various national issues and appears to be a voice of credibility.

Then, as if the NPP government, in its folly, expected a muted public and did not anticipate public resistance to the privatization of GT just four months before an election, was not ready to respond in a timely manner and with a clear and consistent message. By the time government spokespersons began to stammer in defence of the sale, the train of discontent was out of the station.

And the tone of government did not help. Instead of calmly explaining the reasons for the sale, spokespersons screamed hoarse and even appeared to question the audacity of citizens to challenge the sale. If analysis of calls of ordinary citizens to radio stations is anything to go by, the perceived posture of arrogance of Minister Asamoah-Boateng as the frontline messenger did not help the matter. Marshall McLuhan rightly said: ‘the medium is the message.

Worst of all, the government fumbled when it offered two conflicting reasons to justify GT’s privatization. First, it was to inject technology and management of international repute. But this message was quickly diffused with hints and later, declarations of how urgently the money is needed to balance the books so this country will stay afloat!

The implication therefore was: GT is broke and Ghana is broke so let’s sell GT to chop – chew the ugly tail! These conflicting messages have not been carried to us the citizenry in a manner that touches not just our minds but our hearts. Divestiture of any form is both a matter of the intellect and emotions – mind and heart. The sale of GT is not just a rational financial matter but also an issue of credibility, trust and emotions. What could happen if divestiture is forced down our collective throat? Things could come back later to bite the government at the soft bottom where it hurts the most.

So, should GT be privatized? Yes, to save it from itself. When? Wait till after the December 7 elections – if government can suck it in. Why? Currently, the court of public opinion is increasingly against the sale. The tide is not in its favour. So ideally, the government should suspend the sale, indefinitely and find a graceful way to place GT firmly on life-support but ensure that the workers don’t fry and chop whatever is left of the company. Meanwhile, return to the drawing board. Explore some ‘ways and means’ to keep the company afloat financially.

What are the possible implications of going ahead with the sale after parliamentary endorsement? The period between now and the December election is just too short. Voters may suffer short memory especially since all opposition parties will cash in on such juicy anti-NPP material and get feisty as the political campaign rolls on. It will therefore be wise for the NPP to live and fight another day. It will be folly to commit political suicide today over GT and the small change of 50 million cedis! Considering the sweetness of African political power, what is 50 million cedis to a grasshopper when the Flag Staff Palace beckons!

There goes my patriotism if One Touch becomes Vodaphone! I only use One Touch. So MNT, Tigo and what-ma-call-it Kasapa will be laughing at me all the way to the bank saying “We’ve got you now, little woman!” But I’ll survive, somehow. My alter ego will gently relocate from One Touch to Vudu-phone, sorry –Vodafone!