General News of Tuesday, 2 July 2002

Source: GNa

Probe disposal of BSL asserts - Chief

Nana Opoku Agyemang III, Adumakasse-Kesehene and member of the Kumasi Traditional Council, has called on the government to institute a high-powered probe into how the assets of the Black Star Line, the national shipping line were disposed of.

Nana Agyemang, one-time Manager of the Black Star Line in London, made the appeal when he met members of the Ghana Maritime Officers Association in Kumasi. He said before the December 31st coup, Black Star Line owned 20 ships with lots of assets in Takoradi, Tema and London but these were sold under mysterious circumstances without Ghanaians knowing how much the then government made from the sale.

Nana Agyemang, formerly known as Mr Kwadwo Takyi Berko, Member of Parliament for Offinso in the Third Republic, described as a "pity" that after 45 years of independence, Ghana, a pace setter in African politics, did not own a single shipping vessel. "In the light of this the government as a matter of urgency should institute the probe to find out if there is a way of retrieving any of the lost assets to the state", Nana Agyemang said.