StarTimes Deal: My hands are clean – Rebecca Akufo-Addo

First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo has cleared insinuations that her charity organisation, the Rebecca Foundation, played a role in clinching an agreement between Chinese firm StarTimes and the Government of Ghana.

StarTimes on behalf of the Chinese government, will be extending satellite TV to 300 communities in Ghana, but the move has been widely opposed by the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Apart from the 300 villages’ project, StarTimes has also been awarded a deal by the Ministry of Communication to finish the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Network Platform started by local IT firm K-NET.

K-NET, according to Minister of Communication Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has stalled on the project due to financial constraints, thus, the need to bring in StarTimes to finish it up.

Last week, there were reports indicating that Mrs Akufo-Addo had been allegedly bribed to use her influence to secure that deal for the Chinese firm.

Reacting to the claims, the Rebecca Foundation, in a statement said: “StarTimes has never been, at any time, a partner of the foundation, as has been suggested.”

The statement explained that StarTimes only donated football kit to the Rebecca Foundation to be distributed to the SOS Children’s Village, of which the First Lady is the patron.

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