Armed troopers shut down JJ's club

As the sun set over the mountainous hilltops of Afienya in the Greater Accra Region last Wednesday, armed troopers stormed the Sankofa Aero Club - an elite flying school associated with and operated by Group Captain Richard Fordwour and Ex-President J. J. Rawlings - and shut down the facility.

The joint project is a popular playing ground for Rawlings and several top Air Force officers.

The operation carried out at the Afienya premises of the club was provided with aerial cover by a military helicopter effectively ending five years of unhindered running of the club, believed in Air Force circles as a pet project of Rawlings.

Another major name in the blue-chip line up of executive patrons is Supreme Court judge Her lordship Ms. Justice Sophia Akuffo, until last month a member of the Board of Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) whose association with the club and GCAA board raised eyebrows a few years ago.

Rawlings and Fordwuor (Arekpo) who has since left the country are Chief Patron and President respectively of the club. Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey, base commander at the Air Force base at the Accra International Airport and personal pilot of the Ex-President is a member of the governing board.

Two Italian friends of Rawlings Messrs Corrado Salvi and Ansaloni are flight instructors of the school.

An advance team of Chronicle’s investigative team dispatched to the club, which is located some 30 miles away from the main Tema Motorway round-about sighted the helicopter hovering over and around the area.

On several occasions the green-leaf coloured helicopter flew very low, landed occasionally and flew up again as Chronicle continued its monitoring yesterday at the site, known for heavy presence of Rawlings’ loyalist paramilitary forces.

The only gate at the main entrance leading to the premises was also under lock and being manned by soldiers.

Chronicle reporters who posed as students seeking admission at the school were prevented by the soldiers from entering the premises.

Two armed soldiers on sentry duties at the gate appeared unprepared to field questions. They would also not tell when the school would be re-opened.

“You cannot go in. The place has been closed down temporarily. You can come another time,” was all the two AK 47 rifles wielding men would say.

The entire operation Chronicle gathered happened in such a rapid and fast pace that many residents in the area did not witness it. The few who witnessed it though did not seem to know what exactly was going on.

Police personnel at the Afienya Police station, which is a few metres away from the school, appeared nonplused when Chronicle contacted them for confirmation of the incident. We are not aware of any such operation, they chorused.

Students of the Youth Leadership Training Institute known to be a familiar haunt of haunted Ex-Sports Minister Mr. E. T. Mensah and which adjoins the club’s premises however witnessed the incident.

One student told this reporter that she saw soldiers storming the place but could not ascertain the reason for the operation as she was scared. She also complained about the helicopter flying over the area since according to her it was affecting normal academic work at the school.

“The helicopter has been flying around this place for the past three days. We don’t know what this is all about.”

The club started in the early 60’s as a gliding school by Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah but was later turned into an elite school patronized by high rollers of society including children of ministers in the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government. Ezanetor Rawlings was one of the few who trained as pilots at the school.

Other alumnae of the school include Miss Ghana 1999, Mariam Sugru Bugri. Mr. Koen Neven, Managing Director of the African Grounds Handling Operation (AFGO) is another chief patron of the school.

One person who would come out worse from the closure would be Rawlings. With the closure he has lost the opportunity to indulge himself in his favourite pastime. He used to fly the Cessna’s small engine aircraft popularly known as microlites.

Government sources would however not assign any reason for the operation when contacted yesterday though national security considerations appears to be the paramount reason in view of the overt and covert threats flying about from the Ex-President, infamous for carrying out threats.

Government spokesperson, Miss Elizabeth Ohene who confessed her ignorance when quizzed about the closure promised to fish for the detail and report back.

She phoned an hour later and asked to be on the lookout for a release from the Ghana Armed Forces Public Relations department, which would seek to explain or clarify the raison d’etre behind the operation.

Asked whether she agreed with public perception that the closure had anything to do with Rawlings infamous June 4th speech, she replied in the negative. “I don’t think flying is one of the privileges former President Rawlings does not have,” she stressed.

Efforts to reach the Advisor on National Security, General Joshua Hamidu and the Director of the BNI, Mr. Afari, hit a snag as they were said to be attending meetings.

Their Secretaries however promised to get them to return the calls. At the time of going to press their calls had not come through.

The idea behind the establishment of the flying school was mooted by some former Air Force pilots to serve as a cradle ground for the training of pilots to serve the nascent private airline industry.

It was, however, hijacked by Group Captain Richard Fordwuor, the de facto Director General of GCAA, and some officers of the Ghana Air Force. Messrs Corrado Salvi and Ansaloni the two friends of Rawlings came into the country ostensibly to train Air Force pilots on the use of the Aer Macchis which had been acquired from Italy. They however ended up at the flying school.

Ansaloni has since left the country. Chronicle learnt he left last December.

He was one of the few people who received rave praises from Rawlings after receiving his award during the notorious Ashim Morton arranged Millennium Excellence Awards of the year.