Bitter battle rages over Ghanair

No state business can survive purely on national pride. As the national airline writhes on life support, with essential tubes to its crucial oxygen mask within reach of euthanasia doctors, an amazing scrap for its carcass is in the final days of playing out. The desperate desire of the NPP government to stave Ghana Air not going the way of the Black Star Line is fading.

On one side of the grueling contest is a company called T&E, an established Lebanese owned group already with a toe hold on Ghana Airways. On the other side is Triathon, a Swiss-British consortium.

In the middle is the President, who, Chronicle gathers, is anxious about the airline and very concerned about any good deal that can keep it afloat and save the jobs of, at least, a good number of Ghanair staff. Both have smelt and felt the pulse of Ghana Airways and conferred with the management and board of the ailing airline and can tell that the patient would have to be cut off life support in a matter of months, possibly weeks.

Enter the most unlikely pair of saviours, the Palestinian Ambassador to Ghana, who is also the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and one of Ghana’s leading business moguls, Alhaji Asoma Banda. The name of the controversial Ekow Awoonor also lurks in the background on the deal. They are in the forefront of a deal to bail out Ghana Airways with a wet lease proposal that appears to have found favour with the President as it appears to have been the only workable deal short of filing for immediate bankruptcy protection.

T&E envisages to keep all the Ghanair pilots after running the first six months with their own crew (pilots and air hostess), but offering to audit and prune down the ground staff. A profit share arrangement is also on the cards.

There are suggestions that a competing offer is the product of plagiarism. Sources swear that the proposal of T&E was leaked by insiders at Ghanair management to the second group, a Swiss-British group, Triathon, that is highly favoured by the Acting Managing Director, Mr Kofi Kwakwa, and has as its frontline backers, another highly respected business tycoon, Mr Kwabena Darko, and a redoubtable American deal maker Warren Warnstein.

Chronicle has learnt that the Minister of Transport, Dr Richard Anane, has recommended Triathon. Apart from Darko, another young businessman, Mr Danny Darko, is linked to the group which is coming with the additional leverage from British Midland, a strong short and long haul UK airline operation with concessionary linkages with US Aviation.

Triathon is proposing to offer 20 per cent royalties, plus keep the Ghanaian pilots whose reputation is well known. All is not quiet in the boardroom at Ghana Airways as Kwakwa, promised by Triathon to keep his job, slugs it out with another senior member of the Board, Mr Albert Osei, over issues around both proposals.

Over all, the Triathon proposal that appears to have gone through new fine-tuning has swung the stakes against the original offer from T&E which has not shown an impressive record of access to ‘liquid.’ The Darko group are offering to be part of management and not just lease planes and have also done a painstaking examination of all the systems at Ghanair.

The chill at the tail of Asoma’s group is the colour and scent of its proposal; the Lebanese connection in the wake of September 11 terrorist attacks. “They will have problems with licensing deals in America and Europe,” said one independent source close to the deal.

At the top, there seems to be a consensus even among the management and the board that money cannot be found to keep the airline in its present state alive, a position that appears to have resonance with those of the Minister of Finance who has expressed reluctance to bail the airline. Mr Osafo Marfo has been choking with anger at the level of fraud that has consumed the airline over the years and ordered a forensic audit, which has just about been completed.

The airline’s Managing Director, a prot?g? of Mrs Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has left the jurisdiction with his wife and family in tow and is currently holed up in London. His solicitors, F.K. Quartey, on Monday night offered only his e-mail address as a medium of communication with the Chronicle.

According to Mr Quartey, he has no telephone number or address for him and agreed to speak to the Chronicle on a number of issues pertaining to ‘Junior’ Quartey.