Board room wrangling at Ghanair

Ghanair’s Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Owusu last Friday, showed his other side to colleague board members when he walked out of a Board meeting, threatening never to return. At the meeting, Mr. Owusu expressed his frustration at certain actions of the Board Chairman, Dr E. R. K. Dwemoh. When matters got to a head, he stormed out of the meeting with two other Board members, Albert Osei and Mrs Adu-Gyamfi chasing him to rescind his decision.

But Mr. Owusu will not budge and left for home. The Board Chairman therefore issued a notice after the meeting that since the airline cannot afford to be without a Chief Executive at this critical point, the Airline’s Head of Administration, B.K. Amonoo and Chief Pilot, Captain Fosu have been appointed by the board as joint Chief Executives in Mr. Owusu’s absence.

When the Independent newspaper reached Mr. Owusu, he denied that he had resigned his position but could not tell when he is to resume work. Asked if he was aware of the two appointments and if it meant he was no longer in charge, he said “Go and ask the board chairman since he made the appointment”.

But in an interview with JOY FM, the Board Chairman, Dr Dwemoh said the appointment of the two new Chief Executives was temporary pending the return of Mr. Owusu. He explained that the Airline’s Board was last Friday, scheduled to meet President Kufuor to present measures they had taken to resuscitate the airline. They therefore held a meeting to review the measures, but the Chief Executive walked out of the meeting after the Board insisted that certain measures (he didn’t mention the measures) ought to have been taken before the meeting with the President.

“It appeared the Chief Executive thought that we were trying to interfere in his work, because each time the Board met, we raised the same issue. The Board on the other hand wanted to impress upon him that we thought that point was very important, that is why we kept talking about it”, Mr. Dwemoh added.

But the Chief Executive walked out of the meeting and didn’t return until the meeting closed. The Board, according to Dr Dwemoh, had no alternative than to temporarily appoint two people to act in his stead.

Dr Dwemoh said the Board expected Mr. Owusu to resume work today, Monday, to take over from the two acting Chief Executives. Nothing has been heard from him so far, although he has told sections of the press that he has not resigned.

The Board is now waiting to hear a word from Mr. Owusu. Dr Dwemoh was however emphatic that no decision has been taken to sack Mr. Owusu. “We haven’t come to that conclusion and I don’t think we want to come to any such conclusion, because he is doing well and if he would probably co-operate with the Board, it will not be necessary to take any such action”, he added. The Board Chairman dismissed rumours that there was acrimony between him and Mr. Owusu.