By Liberty Amewode

Royalties in the sum of $2million paid to Ghana Airways from 2005 to 2008 have not been accounted for. The payment, by KLM, was made at the time Ghana Airways was not in operation, raising questions as to who received the money and to which account it was paid.

Some former workers of the defunct company are therefore calling on the government to investigate the royalty payment in particular and the liquidation of Ghana Airways in general.

According to the former workers, the entire liquidation of Ghana Airways was very ‘stinky’ and disgraceful and went against professionalism and good governance, saying it was also unconstitutional to deprive citizens of their jobs and also distribute national assets without due care.

Speaking on behalf of the workers, a former Senior Staff Association Chairman of the Ghana Airways, Roland Mosore, told journalists that the circumstances under which the airline was liquidated made them to believe that it was a deliberate move to collapse the company, dispose its assets and form a new airline solely for the benefit of a few persons in the former administration, including the then President, John Kufuor.

He said during the period of challenges of the airline, the workers sacrificed 30 per cent reduction in salary for a period of seven months, got reduced payment of all allowances by 40 per cent and worked overtime without collecting any payments, all in a bid to contribute to the survival of the airline. Furthermore, he added, the then government rejected a loan request of $7million and $2million respectively by the airline to help in its resuscitation. “All these we believe were steps to ‘kill’ Ghana Airways, because airlines like KLM, Kenya Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Fidelity, among others had expressed partnership interest”, he said. According to Mr. Mosore, all these reputable airlines were disqualified to partner with Ghana Airways and in rather mysterious circumstances, the airline was declared liquidated and a new so-called Ghana International Airline formed with tax payers’ money taken from SSNIT contributions.

Interestingly, he noted, while the company needed less than $9million to stay afloat, the NPP government spent $6.5million in retrenching workers of the airline and spent an additional $5million to form a new airline in partnership with GIA USA, which, according to him, had never even operated a ‘bicycle rental business’.

“How then could Ghana Government partner such a business in aviation?” he asked.

Mr. Mosore said the ‘salivating NPP politicians’ and their cronies took charge of the assets of Ghana Airways and wrongfully decided to share them under the guise of liquidation, thereby forcing the airline into extinction without any steps to restructure or discuss with the experienced aviation professionals to find suitable methods of solving the problems.

He held that the government, in forming a new airline, has much to learn from the experience of Ghana Airways and GIA, and this would ensure that the new airline succeeds.

“The government’s developmental agenda will be enhanced with the formation of a New Ghana Airways and drawing from the lessons of the previous NPP-led and failed GIA, the NDC-led government shall not fail in the formation of a better state-of-the-art national carrier”, he said in a statement co-signed by Alex Koufie, a former Union Chairman of Ghana Airways.

Mr. Mosore said there were hidden ‘vampires’ in the administration of the aviation industry in the Transport Ministry and suggested to government to engage the representatives of the former workers to be part of any decisions and formulations of any policy or formation of a national carrier. He called on government to inform Ghanaians about the cost of the liquidation exercise and how the assets were disposed (who bought what and at what price). He requested also for a full disclosure on the total income realized from the sale of the assets of the company.

According to him, the information would not be hard to come by since a Chief Director, Mr. T.A. Selby, who was an advisor of the previous administration at the Ministry of Transport, and later at the Aviation Ministry, who played super active roles in halting the operations of Ghana Airways and the formation of GIA, is still at post, steering the affairs and advising the current Minister for Transport.

The then acting Registrar General, Mr. J.K. Harlley, who presided over the liquidation exercise of the company, is also at post, he added.