… Aviation Ministry, Airport Company deny ownership
By Cecil MENSAH
As the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is preparing to execute its plan at resurrecting the defunct national airline – Ghana Airways – Business Day Ghana would like to draw attention to the rotten state of the defunct airline’s imposing office property which sits on an expensive acreage of land in the prime Airport Residential Area of Accra.
The building, located near the office of the Embassy of Palestine, is nothing to write home about almost a decade and half since the collapse of the national airline.
In its current state, the building has no apparent colour as the paint on the walls are dented and continue to peel off.
Besides, the glazing windows are all gone while the air- conditioners that used to hang on the walls of the multi-storey building have been removed.
With its beauty marred, the building, which used to serve as the headquarters of the defunct national airline, is now the home of some squatters.
The only indication that someone intends doing some work on the building is the fact that the entire acreage of land, located in close proximity to the Diplomatic Street, has been barricaded with aluminium sheets.
Some food vendors around the office building, who spoke with Business Day Ghana, narrated that they intermittently hear loud noises from the compound of the building, indicative that some work was on-going.
In a related development, the skeleton of the DC ten aircraft – one of the most noticeable memories from the Ghana Airways – has been turned into a chop bar in the Airport city enclave of Accra.
Value of the Building
Business Day Ghana has been unsuccessful at securing an independent valuation of the building but our checks indicate that the land on which the office building sits is worth several millions of dollars.
Our research revealed that an acre of land in the Airport Residential Area can sell for as much as $3 million (GHC12.9 million).
Minister Silent
Business Day Ghana’s attempts at eliciting the Aviation Ministry’s position on the property’s ownership were fruitless as she failed to respond to our inquiries.
The Airport Company Services Limited (ACSL) also denied ownership of the said building in an interaction with the Business Day Ghana.
How Ghana Airways folded up
Ghana Airways Limited was a Ghana government airline established to be the national carrier in 1958.
It was established as a business entity with the aim of making profit.
It has emerged that the cessation of the company’s operations was due its inability to make profit or enough revenue to cover its operational costs.
Ghana Airways as business entity went through so many changes just to stand on its feet. However, all efforts made could not provide the necessary results that the company needed to survive.
The company finally folded up on June 22, 2005. The official liquidators, Registrar-General’s Department and Price Water House Coopers said the main factor that brought Ghana Airways to its knees was government interference.
Other factors such as poor management practices; lack of working capital; and the use of obsolete equipment also contributed to Ghana Airways’ collapse.
The task for President Akufo-Addo
When the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took office, one of his major announcements was that he created the Ministry of Aviation to herald the establishment of a new national carrier.
He did so, recognising that African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and Rwanda have national carriers that continue to fly high their national flags and make profits, while that of Ghana was defunct and its properties were sold to some government officials at the time.
Apart from that, stakeholders at the Second International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) meeting on the ‘Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa’ have lauded the idea of Africans having not only national carriers but also a continental carrier.
The special meeting was to build upon the Declaration on Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa, adopted in Antananarivo, Madagascar on March 27, 2015.
Through the strategic document, participants from all 34 states, international organizations and aviation stakeholders, decided to take action for the sustainable development of air transport in Africa.
Key areas were: liberalization of market access and air carrier ownership and control, cooperation throughout the air transport value chain, consumer protection, taxes and user charges in the continent
Writer’s e-mail: cecilm@businessdayghana.com
