General News of Tuesday, 28 October 2003

Source: Joy Online

Ghanair Chief Executive Returns To Work

The controversy over the status of Ghana Airways Chief Executive, Philip Owusu has been resolved following his return to office after storming out of a board meeting last week. Two joint Chief Executives appointed temporarily to run the airline in his absence have been withdrawn after Mr Owusu resumed full-time duty on Tuesday.

The airline’s Board had been expecting an official letter from Mr. Owusu to indicate whether or not he intended to terminate his appointment over an apparent disagreement with the Board. Mr Owusu is alleged to have threatened to resign over what he felt was the Board’s attempts to frustrate his plans to revive the struggling national airline.

But the Board Chairman, Dr. Edward Dwemoh told JOY FM that they did not receive any letter of resignation from the Chief Executive. Rather, the Chief Executive reported at a scheduled meeting between the Board and the Council of State on Tuesday morning signifying his return to post. He has since resumed work.

Dr Dwemoh insisted that what led to the Chief Executive’s walkout at the Board meeting last week was normal routine discussions, which the Chief Executive misconstrued as an interference with, his work.

JOY FM enquiries revealed that the disagreement between the Board and the Chief Executive was over the lease of DC-10 aircraft to transport the airline’s backlog of passengers. But the Board Chairman says the issue has been appropriately resolved with the return of the Chief Executive to work. “Since he is back, it means that there are no other problems. When we meet tomorrow (Wednesday), I hope that everything will be back to normal”, Dr Dwemoh noted.