A heated exchange erupted at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting between the Minister for Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, and PAC Chairperson Abena Osei Asare over poor network service delivery and delays in addressing the challenges.

The confrontation began while Sam George responded to concerns raised by committee members over poor telecom service delivery and delays in fixing the challenges.

Heated Moment at PAC:

“You are being unruly… you can’t tell me that, this is our committee” — Sam George and Abena Osei-Asare lock horns in a tense exchange over poor network service and delays in fixing the challenge.#JoyNews pic.twitter.com/8DBm9k1fkD

— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) May 18, 2026

Defending government actions, the minister argued that policy direction and leadership were necessary to ensure consumers were protected despite the profit-driven nature of private telecom companies.

“Private businesses are about making profit, and those profits they paid to you over eight years at the finance ministry as corporate taxes. Policy decision and policy leadership ought to make sure that we took steps to protect the customer, and I'm saying that we, under this recent agenda and under a responsible government, have done so.”

As he continued his submission, PAC Chairperson and former Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, attempted to interrupt and urged him to go straight to the point, triggering a tense confrontation between the two lawmakers.

Below are the excerpts:

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, I beg you.”

Sam George: “Honourable, I'm also a Member of Parliament, don't do this. Minister, I beg you. Please, I am on the floor; let me make my point.”

Sam George: “No, you won't, you won't, you won't heckle me. Don't play sentiment. Until and unless a policy decision is made.”

Abena Osei Asare: “I’m not heckling you, but we beg you, just go straight to the point. We are tired of this politics.”

Sam George: “Honourable, you need to rein in the honourable member. She's being unruly. No, you're being unruly. Please, this is unbecoming of a member of Parliament. Please, stop doing this.”

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, listen; you don't have the floor.”

Sam George: “No, I have the floor. No, you have asked me a question. I have the floor. You will let me answer the question. Minister. No, no, you will let me answer the question. No, you won't do that, Abena; you won't do that today. Let me finish.”

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, respectfully. This is our committee, and you don't tell us what we want to do.”

Sam George: “But you've not brought me here to talk down on me as well.”

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, nobody's doing that to you.”

Sam George: “No, I listened to you go on; you will listen to me as well. Respectfully.”

Abena Osei Asare: Minister, can you turn off your mic, please?

Sam George: "Chair, give me the floor, please.”

Sam George: Honourable, don't do this.

Abena Osei Asare: "Minister. This is our committee.”

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, respectfully, I understand.”

Sam George: “If it's your committee, then don't invite us. But if you invite us and you ask us a question, if you ask us a question, you listen to us as well. It's not a monologue. So, respectfully, let me land.”

Abena Osei Asare: “We will let you land. Minister, respectfully, we'll let you land.”

Abena Osei Asare: “Minister, we are not coming to repeat anything. Respectfully, we'll let you land. Please, when you come here, and we address issues, it is not that we want to talk anybody down. Never. You and I go beyond this. It is not that we want to take anybody down. But, minister, the situation is serious. And those are all the sentiments I'm trying to carry across.”

Sam George: “And that's the point I'm making.”

Sam George: “We've given a policy direction in January. On the back of our policy direction, MTN is rolling out 800 new sites. Telecel is rolling out 350 new sites. Between those two companies, you see 1,150 new sites. However, that's why I said to you that this is engineering and not sentiment.”

“When you ask an MNO to roll out a new site, there are steps that have to be taken. First and foremost, you need to do the acquisition of the site. Then you need to make the requisition for the radio equipment and the ... site.”

"Those are not things that are, for want of a better phrase, in a supermarket that you just go and buy. You place an order with an OEM. The regulator, the NCA, is going through this process.”

Sam George: “Most of the MNOs are receiving their BTA devices between July and August. So yes, we have made the request. We have asked them to take the steps. They have taken the steps. But it takes time for the equipment to arrive in the country.”

Sam George: “And when the equipment arrives and they roll out the improvement, you will see the improvement in the network. But we cannot sit here. After 10 years of failing to take action, someone is taking action, and then you say that you want to see it as quickly as possible.”

"This year, MTN is doing 800 new sites. Telecel is doing 350 new sites. So we're looking at 1,150 new sites this year. And I'm saying to you that over the last 10 years, from 2016, the average has been 223 sites per year.”

"And so if this year we are doing 1,150, we are doing a 500% increase to try and cover. And that's why I'm saying that yes, we all go through the challenge. But I'm saying to you that you cannot will some of these things into being with a snap of a finger.”

“It takes time. And so I'm saying that we gave that order in the first quarter of this year. It will take about three to six months. I am confident that by the end of Q3 going into Q4, we will see a remarkable improvement in the network.”