Prof Adei: A new national airline will be wasteful

The attempt by Ghana's government to establish a new national airline will be another opportunity for government officials to abuse state resources and misapply taxpayers' money, a former rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Professor Stephen Adei has said.

According to him, government officials cannot be trusted to be prudent with managing a national carrier.

The Ministry of Transport has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with PWC Ghana and the World Bank for the commencement of Technical Advisory Services to enable the nation get a national carrier.

The government said the establishment of a new airline for Ghana would bring back Ghana’s pride in the aviation sector and also establish a reliable home-based national airline to provide regional, sub-regional and inter-continental air transport services.

But speaking on Accra-based Adom FM, Prof. Adei said the government must rather convince the various domestic airlines to “fly the national flag” instead of pursuing a new national carrier.

“If we venture into another airline, our money will be wasted. They should speak to these smaller ones to fly our flag. In this present condition, we can’t afford to manage a national airline.

“Our political appointees will seat in the business class and will not pay. I appeal to president Mahama to forgo that idea, the wastage is too much in the system” he added.