Ghanair Workers To Protest Over Pricewater House Cooper Contract

Workers of the beleaguered Ghana Airways are set to embark on a protest action against the intended approval of a contract to Messrs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), as advisors on the proposed Bid and selection process at the national airline.

The contact which is to sot the cash strapped airline over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars for a period of four to six weeks is seen by the workers as yet another attempt by a private concern to make money at the expense of Ghana Airways.

Checks at Ghana Airways last Wednesday revealed that all sections of the workers are against the PwC proposal and its cost element particularly as they have proposed not to pay tax on the fees they intend to charge.”

According to sources at Ghana Airways, the workers are tired of the seeming inaction of government to take a decision on the national carrier whilst private business concerns continue to make money under the guise of contracts.

“Speed Wing came to make a lot of money under one of such contracts and G.K. Owusu’s group also came to make a lot of money when this government also took office early last year. When will this stop? Questioned a worker.

The Independent says it has a letter dated July 18, 2002, labeled “strictly private and confidential” and titled “RE: Ghana Airways Limited. Phase 2 Advisory-Draft Engagement Letter.” “In the letter, copied to the Minister for Roads and Transport and the Acting Chairman of the Ghana Airways Board, William Bray, PwC is asking to be confirmed as a retainer under its own terms and conditions.

Among the terms and conditions PwC provided is the following, “The Minister and Ghana Airways shall be responsible for the settlement and payment of all PwC expenses in connection with this assignment, PwC’s compensation for the services referred to above will be variable depending on the time input, however we expect the weekly fee to be around $20,000 for a period of 4-6 weeks.

The minister and Ghana Airways will be responsible for all taxes associated with these fees and expenses.” The PwC proposal lists four persons from its Accra office and a Canadian aviation specialist team who will be paid various sums for the work. For the Ghana team, one Felix is to be paid $6,000, Jacob, $2,400 and Vish, $2,400. The Canadian team, which is made up of Albert, Marcus and Jonathan, expects to be paid $2,800 according to the letter. PwC senior partner, Felix Addo, is mentioned as the partner in charge of the job.

Apart from all these payments, PwC is a also demanding that, “the minister and Ghana Airways shall reimburse PwC for its reasonable out-of-pocket expenses in entering into and performing this agreement, including but not limited to, travel, hotel costs communications expenses and courier charges.

The letter further demands “if PwC is requested to perform services in addition to those described above, then the terms and conditions relating to such services will be in addition to fees payable hereunder and will be negotiated separately and in good faith.”

Ironically, PwC in an earlier paragraph in its engagement letter lists four key imperatives against its admission that Ghana Airways is insolvent to the effect that; 1. Failure to seek and obtain court protection from creditors could result in the seizure of Ghana Airway’s assets locally or internationally by creditors who choose to follow a similar route on AJ Walters. Clearly such actions would severely impact on Ghanair’s operations and further damage its credibility.

2. Ghana Airways to run out of cash before any partner deal can be finalized. This will most certainly result in further sizeable emergency cash request from Ghanair to the Government of Ghana to source fuel so that scheduled flights can be maintained.

3. There may be alternative interested parties who could help Ghana Airways extract more value from any deal in addition to the three parties currently on the table.

4. Due to the critical cash situation, it may be necessary for Government of Ghana to provide short-term funding in any event, to provide sufficient time for the proposals to be properly assessed.

PwC by its own letter is proposing to provide five main services by way of advising and assisting the minister and Ghanair provide prioritized recommendations, assist in discussions and negotiations and work with Ghana Airways to prepare documentation to assist the minister.

Ghana Airways workers contend that PwC does not deserve to be paid such a huge sum when what they propose to do will have to be borne by the cash strapped airline. Ministry of Roads and Transport sources could not confirm whether government has signed the PwC proposal yet but Ghana Airways sources insist that the government is likely to be approved it.

Two aviation companies, T&E and Triaton are known to have put in bids for a joint venture with Ghana Airways.