A leading member of the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC), Dr. Steve Manteaw, has asked the government to rethink its intention to sell 70% shares of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone. Dr. Manteaw, who joins individuals, civil societies and minority political parties calling on government to refrain from selling GT, told Joy News, if the government is not careful, GT would suffer the same fate like other public institutions that were privatized, but that failed to solve the problems. He cited the case of Ghana Airways, previous sale of GT to the Malaysians and subsequently to the Norwegians and yet “all did not yield the desired result”. Dr. Manteaw, who is the Media Coordinator and Campaign Director of ISODEC, suggested that the government should instead, offload it shares on the stock market for Ghanaians to subscribe, if indeed GT is cash trapped. He buttressed his point with reference to the likes of State Insurance Company, Ghana Oil Company Limited and Cocoa Processing Company Limited who were able to raise enough capital through over subscribed shares on the stock exchange to run the respective companies effectively. “Experience shows that stock exchange has provided solutions to many of such instances,” he said. “Simply arithmetic tells me that if we get just five million people out of the estimated 22 million Ghanaians in this country to provide just $100, we would be able to raise $500 million in less than one year.” Even though Parliament was not able to debate and ratify the deal, he has appealed to Members of the august House to reject the transaction, because it would never benefit the state.