By Ralph Simeon Sesay
Orange Sierra Leone has yesterday hosted the parliamentary oversight Committee on Information’s and Communications at their headquarters in Freetown.`
Welcoming the Members of Parliament headed by the Chairman of the parliamentary oversight committee in parliament who also doubles as deputy leader Government Business Honouable Mathew SahrNyuma ,Chief Executive Officer,Orange Sierra Leone Madam AminataNdiaye Kane noted that they are oppourtuned at Orange Sierra Leone to host the members of parliament who according to her are integral in the telecoms sector.
He thanked the MP’s for honoring their invitation and continued that, she is exactly one year in office and that the purpose of this session is to make a detailed presentation MP’s on the achievements of Orange Sierra Leone since they took over from Airtel in July 2016.
Madam HaffieHaffner made a detailed and comprehensive presentation to the lawmakers on a wide range of issues such as products and services, Orange Money, Corporate Social Responsibility and the regulatory gains made to date.
She particularly drew the attention of members of parliament to what they have described as the stiff regulation of international and local calls by the National Telecommunications Company (NATCOM) which according to her is only practicable in Sierra Leone.
She also disclosed to parliament moves by the NRA to impose Goods and Services Tax on Free Calls and Promotional activities.
HaffieHaffner called on the MP’s to come to their aid in ensuring that mobile companies operates in a fairer tax regulatory environment where there is also neutrality in terms of the usage of technology. She told the MP’s that they pay for the spectrum to NATCOM and hence it would be very unfair to also pay another tax to NRA.
On the taxes levied on outgoing international and onnet calls she observed that the practice of NATCOM regulating such prices is only peculiar to Sierra Leone and largely affects their efforts at achieving mobile penetration which according to her is significantly low in Sierra Leone compared to Mali,Senegal and other countries in the sub region.
Despite these huge challenges, Orange Sierra Leone was able to showcase to members of parliament huge investment amounting to billions of Leones in several activities such as the President Free and Quality Education,the Freetown City Council Clean Freetown drive,womens empowerment and involvement in the ICT sector,rehabilitation of the Orthopedatric unit of the Connaught hospital amongst others as key interventions undertaken by the company in 2018 as a way to give back to society and their numerous customers.
The CEO of Orange added that they are willing to do more but are constrained by the tax environment and the recent decision of the NRA to levy GST on free calls and promotional activities.This will have a devastating effect on the customers who according to her are immensely benefitting from such offers.
She also asked the members of parliament to look into the issue of heavy fees on outgoing and incoming international calls which she noted is heavy citing the fact that callers from Guinea and Liberia are now exploiting such heavy fines to the detriment of the company and them the mobile network operators.
Madam Kane told the MP’s that they have invested over 50,000 United States Dollars in expanding and modernizing the network and this according to her has been able to provide mobile and internet connectivity to over 925 new localities.
This madam further noted is in line with the aspirations of President Bio and his new government.
She praised recent efforts by the new government at increasingly opening the space to competition citing the issuance of the 4G license which had taken them over three years.
Responding the Chairman of the Parliamentary oversight Committee in Information’s and Communications told Orange that they are impressed with the Corporate Social Responsibility achievements of the company noting that they are concerned around the issue of scam and the need to protect the identify of people which according to him is increasingly under threat due to the activities of scammers.
Hon.Nyuma called on Orange to increase their interface with members of parliament who according to him are the lawmakers.He continued that Ministers and other agencies including NATCOM are the policy makers that can be influenced by parliament with a view to create a sound policy environment for private investment to thrive.
He disclosed that another session would be convened to critically look at the issues together with the key players such as the Ministry of Information and NATCOM.
We are concerned about the various issues raised in your presentation as they relate to price regulation,double taxations and a lot more and more ready to resolve them collaboratively to ensure that they protect private investment in the country for the benefits of the people of Sierra Leone, Mathew Nyuma noted.
The Oversight Committee Chairman noted that, they as members of parliament have the responsibility to ensure that the policy and tax environment is conducive for private investors.
They cautioned the company to treat employees welfare with all the importance it deserve noting that the employees are the treasure of the country.
Various members of parliament in the committee expressed similar sentiments as the one expressed by their Chairman with regards creating the enabling environment for private investment to thrive and also bringing the company to speed with workers welfare conditions.
The Members of parliament were later taken on a conducted tour of the company’s data center.