The Native Consortium and Research Center (NCRC) has in a Press Release issued out yesterday, reaffirmed its irrevocable stands on Tariff Increase and presented a roadmap for any marginal increment.

“The Native Consortium and Research Center (NCRC) wishes to unequivocally reaffirm its position after the so-called stage-managed public Dialogue forum base on the undermentioned:

1. That Civil Society Organizations never agreed on any tariff increment:
Contrary to what has been reported that CSOs agreed on tariff increment, the NCRC wishes to inform the public that only two or maybe three trifling CSOs were handpicked to sign that prewritten communiqué and that do not in any way represent or reflect the seven Million Sierra Leonean population. These barefaced CSOs never did any preconsultation with the wider national CSO community and consequently appending their induced signatures can’t represent CSOs across the country let alone representing the seven Million Sierra Leoneans. It is against this background that genuine CSOs find those newspaper headlines as not only blackmailing but fabulously misleading and deceptive. The NCRC has also learnt that for the past weeks lead media houses have been supporting tariff increment for obvious reasons some of which are getting adverts, promotions and brown envelops but that does not mean all media houses are in support of the increment. Let get it straight.

2. The Native Consortium wishes to categorically tell the public that the only two institutions doing consumer protection for over two decades now have been the NCRC, led by one Mr. Edmond Abu (Jr), and Consumer Protection Agency, leads by Mr. Kabia. As the adage goes, you cannot take a carpenter to become a football coach. Activism is all about specialties but it is disheartening to note in our nation that we have shameless activists who have no specialties; their specialty is driven by money and not the interest of the populace to seek to represent. Such activists do not even understand the underlying contextual danger behind this imminent increment. It is therefore in this light and on behalf of the consumers suffering in silence in the hands of Mobile Companies that the Native Consortium wants to come in to educate members of the press and the public at large about the hidden truth and embedded hazards behind this proposed increment

3. Public Education
The NCRC also want to put it clear in the mentality of all a sundry that, what was organized at Country Lodge last Friday was not a Public Private Dialogue but a match-fixing stage-managed game. Therefore we urge the MNOs, NATCOM and all those brown envelop media houses supporting the authorities to do a nationwide public consultation that reflect the true opinions of the masses instead of hand-picking just three CSOs to sign a manipulated communiqué that they are totally clueless about.

4. We also want to say that each and every MNO that will be represented in that dialogue must proffer sufficient justifications for everything and not the broad brush approach we saw at Country Lodge where AFRICEL will justify for ORANGE and Qcell when their challenges are completely different.

The NCRC also frowns on AFRICEL’s threat to short down their towers and sack staff if not allowed to go ahead with the proposed increment but welcomes the stance of Qcell that issued a statement that they won’t do like Africel. So if NATCOM failed to take appropriate action against such bullying mobile operators then the public will see such imminent increment as connivance and a conspiracy to increase mobile tariff against the wishes of poor consumers. Besides if AFRICEL go out of business, so what? Haven’t we seen in the last 15 years CELTEL, ZAIN, AIRTEL, COMIUM, TIGO, DATATEL, MILLICOM, SMART MOBILE, SIERRATEL all short down? Soja go, soja come, barrack will still remain a barracks for more soldiers to come.

ROADMAP FOR ANY MARGINAL INCREMENT

The NCRC also want to put it to NATCOM that in as much it has the power to regulate tariffs it must not misuse such powers to hurt consumers, otherwise the Consortium will put up a stiff befitting challenge against NATCOM as the NCRC frog-matched NATCOM and MNOs to court as the lead consumer protection voice of Sierra Leone. It is therefore in that vein that we want to submit the following roadmap

(a) Our position based on the open letter written to the President remains the same. However for the sake of the Minister and since we want MNOs to exist we will therefore put a hold on our steps to seek for injunction, until the final judgment is out.

(b) The Consortium is not oblivious of the constraints of the MNOs. Infact we even thank AFRICEL for agreeing with our assertions made in the open letter to the President that the key cost driver is fuel running cost to upkeep the Site-Towers. However the public expect a marginal Increment that should not exceed Le 700 per minute Off/On Net Voice tariff calls from the Le 650 per minute in 2017. This is what the media houses and the so-called CSO should understand.

c) Any proposed marginal increment should be tied to quality of service as a precondition
The Consortium want to strongly remind the Minister and NATCOM that the MNOs woefully fail to meet their own part of the contract in March 23, 2017, while the Sierra Leonean meet their own part and they feel cheated that was why we took a Locus Classicus class-action on behalf of the public for breach of contract on the part of the MNOs and breach of statutory obligation on the part of NATCOM. Therefore let the MNOs make such commitment.

(d) Key Performance Indicators (KPI) should be used as a Parameter to assess within an expected timeline to protect consumers. The KPI should be simple and smart but more importantly the KPI assessment focus mainly on site inspection and not on the overall performance of the MNOs.

(e) That NATCOM should immediately discontinue the floor tariff, allow new mobile companies to enter into the market and stop giving anti-competitive advantage to ORANGE and AFRICELL. President Bio is crying for job creation and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The floor tariff only gives advantage to existing players and it is a major barrier for any player. This makes some of us wonder if NATCOM actually understands the path of the new Direction.

e) Lastly the Native Consortium is throwing a staunch warning that NATCOM will be in contempt if they adjusted any tariff without recourse and respect for the court case brought against NATCOM, ORANGE and AFRICELL by the NCRC and 299 Consumers. The danger is that if Justice Fisher decides to respect the 1991 constitution after bastadising the constitution by delaying the judgment for 1 year 5 months, the judgment from the Court will disrupt and create a very big embarrassment.

The NCRC wants to thank the Minister of Information & Communication who respected and accommodated our positions.

END

Signed….Edmond Abu
Executive Director”