Vodafone deal threat to national security — Security expert

Auust 25, 2008
Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
A SECURITY expert, Dr Kwesi Aning, has indicated that the transfer of strategic communication assets to Vodafone will expose confidential information on national security to the outside world.
He added that information on mineral and oil production was also likely to be exposed.
Dr Aning, who was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, mentioned the communication lines and software of the Presidency, the Ministry of Defence and the national security apparatus as some of the strategic confidential state information lines that could be compromised.
Dr Aning, who is the Head of the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), was reacting to concerns raised by sections of the Ghanaian populace, that the security of the nation would be affected with the transfer of the strategic communications assets to Vodafone International Holdings Company Limited of the United Kingdom.
A pressure group, the Concerned Ghanaian Citizens Against the Sale of 70 per cent of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone, at a recent press conference in Accra, said the transfer of Volta River Authority (VRA) Transmission Network, which is an integral part of the national security apparatus, and other strategic transmission networks would compromise national security.
Parliament voted in favour of the sale of the 70 per cent GT shares to Vodafone at $900 million on Thursday, August 14, 2008, after intense opposition by the Minority in Parliament. A total of 124 Members of Parliament (MPs) voted for the approval of the agreement, 74 of them voted against it. Vodafone effected the payment of the $900 million barely 24 hours after Parliament had voted in favour of the sale.
The government argued that GT was running at a deficit, and that if the 70 per cent shares were not sold to Vodafone, GT could collapse within the next six months.
Dr Aning stressed the need for the government to consider safeguarding the country’s confidential information and not relinquish everything to Vodafone, saying that “Ghana’s interest is different from that of Vodafone ... their interest is not the same as that of Ghana”.
He said once Vodafone had the control over the President’s means of communication, as well as those of the Ministry of Defence and national security apparatus, the company could manipulate the information on the software and expose it to the outside world.
Besides, Dr Aning said, with the discovery of oil, important information regarding the volumes of barrels to be produced, as well as the ounces of gold found, could be made known to the outside world, without authorisation from the state.
In the event of that, he said, “there is nothing that we (Ghanaians) can hide, since the transmission lines “are in the hands of foreigners”.
To protect information on national security, Dr Aning suggested that special transmission or communication lines be developed for the presidency, the Ministry of Defence and national security as a way of protecting confidential national information.