Ghana will reap GHC1.5 billion from KelniGVG’s common platform - Ursula

The Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful says the implementation of the KelniGVG’s revenue assurance and traffic monitoring centre for Mobile Network Operators should save the country GH¢1.5 billion in “potential tax under declaration”.

The Minister addressing the media in Accra stated that prior to the introduction of the KelniGVG’s platform, more than GHS 300 million in taxes was lost from potential under-declarations between 2015 to the first quarter of 2017.

She said that after March 2017, when the new contract came into force, there had been a notable improvement in the Value Added Tax and National Health Insurance Levy declared by the mobile network operators to the regulator, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

“The question that one should ask is: what has happened between prior to March 2017 to post-March 2017 for us to witness those wide revelations in the declarations made on VAT and CST [Communications Service Tax] to the GRA.

KelniGVG was in 2017 awarded the contract by the government for the design, development, and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance, and mobile money monitoring and fraud management in the telecom sector.

Justifying the government’s decision to award the US$89 million to KelniGVG, the Communications Minister stated that CP has resulted in a savings of US$1.1 million monthly over the previous contracts, resulting in a total of US$66 m over the 5 year contract period.

“Additionally, unlike the previous contracts, the CP offers real-time monitoring of 2.5 billion transactions per day within the telecom sector (e.g. Calls, SMS, Mobile money transactions, etc.) as well as Mobile Money Monitoring as an added component,” the Communications Minister added.