DAVID CAMERON'S MORAL BIG SOCIETY - HOW SINCERE IS HE?

There is no doubt whatsoever, that many Ghanaian nationalists were riled by the role played by the New Labour regime of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the takeover of Ghana Telecom (GT), by Vodafone. And no patriotic Ghanaian, who reads all the documents made available by Vodafone, to the Ministerial Review Committee set up in May 2009, by the Mills regime, to look into that controversial deal (as I have just finished doing!), will fail to be angry about that shabby and disgraceful deal.

For such Ghanaians, the litmus test of David Cameron's sincerity about creating a "moral Big Society" in the UK, is how he will react to demands from Ghana that Vodafone be investigated and prosecuted by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

They point to the unlawful manner the divestiture of GT was carried out by the Kufour regime - in direct contravention of the Divestiture of State Interests Act (DSIA).

The Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), according to section two of the DSIA, is "the agency of the government for the implementation, of government policies in respect of divestiture programmes."

Yet, the DIC was sidelined by the Kufuor regime, in that deal - with some of the most crucial negotiations actually being carried out, personally, by President Kufuor (who on one occasion, was even apparently accompanied by, of all people, the British High Commissioner to Ghana: to negotiate for Nkrumah's Ghana!). How stupid the British government officials and the executives from Vodafone must have thought Ghanaians were - as Kufuor & Co. bent over backwards to please them!

On the local political front, such was the duplicity of the Kufuor regime, that although its leading members never ceased repeating their belief in the rule of law, they somehow managed to ignore the DSIA completely, in their haste to please Prime Minister Gordon Brown - whose determination to help Vodafone secure GT (even through strong-arm tactics - if deemed necessary) guaranteed precisely that outcome for the UK telecom giant.

It was for that reason that British officials in London and Accra, worked closely with President Kufuor, to secure the deal for Vodafone - although the deal was not in the long-term strategic interest of the Ghanaian nation-state. Today, at a time of austerity in both Ghana and the UK, and in an era when even Arabian oil sheiks know that excess is foolish, Vodafone Ghana, has spent vast sums acquiring a plush new headquarters building - to add insult to injury. Yet, Vodafone Ghana's over-paid and over-pampered British executives would never dare do so in the UK - especially at a time when its shareholders see the British economy in dire straights: as the Coalition government struggles to re-balance Britain's public finances.

If David Cameron is sincere in his crusade to create a moral Big Society in Britain, he must ensure that British companies are always guided by corporate good governance principles when they invest or operate in Africa. If their actions encourage corruption, and if they engage in any illegalities in Africa, they must be made to face the music back home in the UK.

To encourage the principle of corporate good governance amongst British companies operating in Africa, David Cameron must ensure that rather than being shelved, the UK Anti-Bribery Act comes into force as scheduled, in April 2011. Hopefully, he will then get the SFO to investigate Vodafone's takeover of GT - and have them prosecuted for any complicity in that crime against the Ghanaian people and their nation. That will be proof positive that he is sincere about creating a "moral Big Society" - and leaving that as a lasting legacy. The question is, will he do so: and is he sincere when he talks about the "moral Big Society"?

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