All Antrak planes must be grounded – Titus-Glover

Tema East Member of Parliament, Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, is demanding that all Antrak airplanes be grounded immediately by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Titus-Glover was one of several passengers on one of the local airline’s flights, which caught fire in mid-air and had to force-land.

He was with three other Legislators on the Tamale-Accra bound flight on Friday morning when the accident occurred in mid-air.

The other MPs who were also on the faulty plane include Deputy Roads and Highways Minister, Isaac Adjei-Mensah who is the Wassa East representative; Alhaji Habibu Muhammed Tijani, MP for Yendi and Alhaji Seidu Amadu, MP for Yapei-Kusawgu.

GCAA and Antrak are investigating the near-disaster, but Titus-Glover says it must not stop there.

“The media should take advantage of this situation to implore the Ministry of Transport, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority [and] the Airforce, so that the aeroplanes of Antrak should be grounded and investigated because our experience was not the first experience about Antrak. A lot of people have shared similar experiences with Antrak a few months and years back,” he said.

According to him, “we should not wait for any senior member of society [to die in an Antrak plane disaster] before we can raise queries or questions about the strength of Antrak aircraft”.

He added that: “Every Ghanaian’s life is important, so they should go and investigate the airworthiness of the aircraft. If we are not careful, people will lose their lives…they should ground their aircraft and do proper investigations about whether the aircraft is airworthy”.