Unlocking The Puzzle of Ghana Airways

5 AIRPLANE ENGINES DISAPPEARED

It has emerged through investigations by The Enquirer that engines on liquidated Ghana Airways’ DC 9 and DC10 aircraft got missing in 2003 under very bizarre circumstances.

The Enquirer gathered that when the national carrier began crumbling, some officials of the then Ghana Airways clandestinely sent the engines to Ethiopia but never brought them back.

The Enquirer’s investigations revealed that the DC9 had two engines, while the DC 10 had three.

According to the paper’s investigations, the senior staff association of the defunct Ghana Airways Limited took it upon themselves to pursue the matter and wrote to former President J.A. Kufuor and reported the issue to him in 2003, but they did not hear anything from him.

Incidentally, Office of the President had direct oversight responsibility over the affairs of Ghana Airways.

A member of the association yesterday told The Enquirer that the ‘operation’ to send the engines to Ethiopia was carried out by somebody with connections within the government at the time.

The Enquirer’s investigations also proved that the senior staff association wrote to former president Kufuor for the second time in 2003, complaining about the disappearance of the engines, but again, nothing was done. The Enquirer gathered that other soft furnishings on the aircraft also disappeared under very strange circumstances.

The member of the senior staff association told The Enquirer that those who perpetrated that dastardly act are still around and that it would be prudent for the current government to look into the matter. The Ghana Airways Limited, before its demise under the watch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, had several assets that could have saved the airline from collapsing at the time. The company, in 2004, had landed properties worth over ¢106 billion ($7,313,380).

However, those properties were also sold under a process that was shrouded in secrecy to the extent that it would prove very difficult to trace the buyers. A particular officer at the office of the President, bought one of the assets of Ghana Airways in Tesano for his girlfriend.

The Kufuor administration liquidated Ghana Airways because they refused to raise $2million requested by the then management of Ghana Airways to turn round the national carrier.

Instead, the government at the time promised to set up a completely new and modern airline, which was profitable.

By the time the NPP left office, the new airline was indebted to the tune of $55million, with no assets to show for it, unlike Ghana Airways. Most of the properties that were disposed of were in good shape at the time they were sold off at prices that were ridiculous and insulting.