Government to salvage Ghanair

The Minister of Roads and Transport, Dr Richard Anane, has assured Ghanaians that everything possible would be done to save the embattled national carrier, Ghana Airways, from collapse.

“It is a commitment of the government to make sure that Ghana Airways continues to fly,” he said at a presentation of report on the ailing airline. The report, submitted by PriceWater House, a consulting firm tasked to chart a way forward for the distressed airline, contains recommendations that would held the government save the ailing national carrier.

Dr Anane, flanked by Agyemang Manu, Deputy Minister in charge of Transport, John Osei-Asamoah, Chief Director and some senior officials of the Ministry said the present state of Ghana Airways does not necessarily mean that it cannot be saved. Ghana Airways is undergoing crisis owing to poor management and corrupt practices.

The company is indebted to its creditors to the tune of over $150 million. But Dr Anane’s assurance, was greeted with relief from industry watchers who have been wondering whether the airline would suffer a similar calamity, which befell the Black Star Line, the country’s shipping agency.

Ghana Airways indebtedness, the Minister said, does not mean that the airline cannot fly. He said the desire to save the airline was the motivating factor for engaging the consultants. He stressed that the recommendations proposed would thoroughly and expeditiously be examined to find out the right prescriptions to be administered on the ailing airline.

He did not rule out consideration of other proposals already on the table. He said, however, that the PriceWater House assignment was different from the ongoing forensic auditing of the company.

Felix E. Addo, a Managing Partner of the firm, said the ailing airline has high prospects that should keep it flying. He added that having looked through the books, the government should make urgent arrangements and negotiate with the company’s creditors for possibly breathing space to enable it get back on its feet. The assignment was executed within four weeks.

With this reassuring statement by the Minister, the striking pilots subsequently suspended their day old industrial action. The pilots had embarked on the strike to protest against poor and inept management.

Following their decision to call off their strike, the Minister assured them that the government would address their grievances. The Statesman learnt that Thursday’s scheduled flights of the airline were honoured. Earlier, at a different forum, the Senior Minister, J.H. Mensah, had given a similar assurance of government’s intention, to take measures to save the ailing airline.

Speaking at a workshop on Fraud and Corruption in the Workplace organised by the Office of the Auditor-General in collaboration with KPMG, an international accounting firm in Accra, Mensah said the airline got to that level of decadence because of management problems and endemic corruption. “The system was endemically corrupt,” he emphasised.

The Senior Minister said the battle to save the life of Ghana Airways involves President Kufuor who has pledged that the airline must not die. He said a number of proposals submitted by the company’s management, board and interest groups are being examined. The present condition of Ghana Airways, Mensah said, was very bad.

The Ghana Airways’ case, Mensah added, is replicated in several state-owned enterprises, where forensic audits had been carried out. He said the issue of corruption is of great importance to the government hence the declaration of zero tolerance for corruption. The government, he said is determined to root out corruption from the society. He noted that bribery and corruption are enemies of progress. “The work-place should be cleaned of corruption,” he emphasized.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, said with increasing sophistication in corruption, new strategies have to be devised to sanitise the society. The acting Auditor-General, Edward Dua-Agyeman, called on the private-sector to join the government crusade to eliminate the canker of corruption.