A Communications engineer at the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Mr George Sasraku-Nipah, has told the Commercial Division of the Accra Fast Track Court that the company continued to provide maintenance services on the 10 fibre optic cores ceded to Vodafone during the sale of government’s 70 per cent shares in Ghana Telecom (GT) in 2008. Prior to the sale of the shares, the Volta River Authority (VRA), which operated the fibre optic cables, had 18 but 10 were ceded to the National Communication Backbone Company as part of the sale agreement. The remaining eight, however, remained in the hands of the VRA to support its operations. Mr Sasraku-Nipah told the court that GRIDCo had expanded its fibre optic cores from the eight to 24 to meet its operational needs. He pointed out that even though GRIDCo was in charge of the maintenance services, the National Communication Backbone Company bore the monthly maintenance cost of $24,000. He told the court that a fibre optic is constructed from glass plastic/ fibres for the transfer of information. When Mr Bright Akwetey, counsel for the six Convention People’s Party (CPP) members contesting the sale of GT to Vodafone, asked what GRIDCo used the fibre optic for, Mr Sasraku-Nipah said the company used it to control the country’s power network. Fibre optic is a technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibres) to transmit data. A fibre optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves. The GRIDCo is part of a number of institutions and companies, including the VRA, subpoenaed by counsel for the plaintiffs to present relevant documents regarding the GT sale transaction. Among other things, the officials are expected to tender in evidence documents covering the fibre optic backbone, in addition to the amount of money the state spent on its establishment. Officials of VRA were, however, not in court Tuesday but sent a letter stating that they had been served at short notice and, therefore, could not make an appearance. Mr Akwetey, however, debunked the assertion and noted that VRA’s legal representatives had been in court at the last adjourned date and accepted May 14, 2012. He, however, asked for an adjournment to May 22, 2012 to give the VRA enough time, a request to which the judge obliged. The plaintiffs — Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Mr Kosi Dedey, Naa Kordai Assimeh, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Mr Kwame Jantuah and Ms Rhodaline Imoru Ayarna — instituted a civil action in 2008 against the government over the sale of its 70 per cent shares in GT to the UK telecom operator, Vodafone. The plaintiffs are contending that the Sale and Purchase Agreement entered into among the Government of Ghana, GT and Vodafone for the sale of 70 per cent of GT for $900 million was against the public interest and constituted an abuse of the discretionary power of the government. The plaintiffs said they were opposed to the unlawful establishment of the said ‘enlarged GT Group’, as it undermined the sovereignty of the country and endangered the national security of Ghana. According to them, the decision of the government to transfer the assets, properties, shares, equipment, among others, to Vodafone was obnoxious, unlawful and inimical to the public interest, particularly when no consideration was required to be paid by Vodafone for the stated assets. The group argued that the three Ministers of State and the managing director of GT who signed the agreement on behalf of the government did not exercise the requisite level of circumspection required of them as public officers in relation to public property. The plaintiffs are, therefore, seeking reliefs from the court, including a declaration that the agreement entered into by the government was not in accordance with the due process of law and was, therefore, a nullity. They are also demanding that the court should give an order declaring that the forcible grouping of autonomous state institutions established by law — Voltacom, Fibreco, VRA Fibre Network and VRA Fibre Assets — with GT to form the purported Enlarged GT Group was unlawful and, therefore, void and of no legal effect. The plaintiffs are further praying for an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the government from disposing of its 70 per cent share of GT to Vodafone or any other foreign company without first exploring avenues for funding and better management in Ghana.