Ghana TV News, 13.07.2010 | | | | Ghana International Airlines Phases Out * Source: Daily Guide | Ghana International Airlines (GIA) is gradually collapsing as government has decided not to fund its operations.
The airline, established in 2005, has not paid the salaries of its staff for about three or four months as a result of the support freeze. And what is puzzling is the fact that Government has refused to allow interested investors to assist the airline. 
At a press conference on Friday in Accra, Sylvia Lawson, Revenue Accounting Manager of the airline, said Government’s release of funding to GIA in tranches has affected the operations of the airline since its inception.
GIA, she noted, initially requested for $55 million as part of the original business start-up, but Government provided $4.9 million while the minority shareholders provided $2.1 million. Funds invested into the business stood at $7 million leaving a wide difference of $48 million.
“There has been a significant cash flow challenge ever since and as a result of the manner in which the support to the airline is released; we have found it very difficult to execute the company’s business plan,” she stressed.
She explained that the previous government invested an amount of $46.7 million between January 2006 and December 2008, noting that $16 million was obtained from the Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
In the case of the incumbent administration, she said it provided $16.6 million between January 2009 and April 2010, stressing that Government has provided a total amount of $63.3 million to GIA.
“Government knows that it does not have the means readily to support the airline but it will also not allow other people who are interested in investing in the company to do so.
We just don’t understand the execution of this deliberate plan to wind up GIA,” another aggrieved senior staff person, who pleaded anonymity, told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in an interview. Since May 8, 2010, the airline has had no flights.
He also revealed that a chunk of GIA’s market was in the Ghanaian community resident in the UK and therefore such a development did not augur well for the airline. “We have suspended sales of our tickets because we could not serve passengers who we booked earlier.”
In addition to the above-mentioned problems, GIA has had to pay GH¢120,000 in hotel bills for affected passengers. The airline has been served with an ejection notice which expired on June 30. It is also contemplating the payment of some $62,000 due to a problem it had with passengers recently.
“Investors cannot take equity stake in GIA because of the shareholder disputes with Government which owns 70 percent shares. What Government needs to do to solve the shareholder impasse is to convert its loans into equity and offload part of it to any willing investor so that it can recover every pesewa of the taxpayer’s money.”
The airline has been victim to a series of seizures from aircraft owners and fuel providers to whom huge amounts of money were owned.
| Sekou Nkrumah: Mills Is Not A Political Leader * Source: The Statesman | Dr Sekou Nkrumah, Kwame Nkrumah’s third son and a member of the National Democratic Congress has giving a damning verdict on the leadership of President John Evans Atta Mills.
In an exclusive interview in the influential Africawatch, Dr Nkrumah said Prof Mills lacks the charisma, dynamism and strong will to lead Ghana. In the brutally frank interview, Dr Sekou said the National Democratic Congress government has so far failed Ghanaians.
“A lot of people see Mills as an academic and a gentleman. But, in the political arena, you need to be strong-minded, and it looks like this leadership quality is missing in Mills. So I guess we need a more strong-willed, dynamic personality, a charismatic person to inspire national confidence, and also to let the population see the national agenda and feel part of it.”
Dr Nkrumah, who is the National Coordinator of the National Youth Council, said more of the President of Ghana, “there is the impression that he is not able to make decisions. But again if you do not go through the democratic process, you are not strong enough to handle such a situation because those small battles that take you to the top shape you, they make you strong, and give you the courage to face the challenges that come your way in office.”
But, he blames the founder of the NDC, former President Jerry John Rawlings for imposing Mills on his party.
“I think, to a large extent, [Rawlings] is to blame for the situation because really, he put Mills in the leadership position of the NDC, and it was not done through a proper internal democratic process.”
Dr Nkrumah continues, “In leadership, you need to struggle to emerge, anything in life you need to struggle for it. So in a sense Mills did not struggle for the leadership, and you can see that right from 2004 when Kwesi Botchwey stood against him, the latter flopped miserably; and in 2006 Spio Garbrah also flopped miserably against Mills.”
He adds, “So nobody could stand against Mills because he was Rawlings’ man. Rawlings created that situation. If he had allowed somebody to succeed him democratically in the NDC, it would have been different. I mean Mills as vice president was fine but to lead, the person must, on his own, struggle to emerge as a leader, sometimes based on what he or she has done; but Rawlings did not allow this process a chance at all.”
In the interview, Dr Nkrumah supported calls that a new candidate within the NDC must challenge Mills in 2012. | Think of resettling Fulera before Nana Konadu - CPP Youth * Source: GNA | Accra, July 13, GNA - The Convention People's Party (CPP) Youths have faulted the Government for rehabilitating the house of the mother of Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings for her to move in, while neglecting Mrs Fulera Limann, who was a First Lady before her. A statement Mr James Kwabena Bomfeh, Youth Organiser of CPP, signed on Tuesday said: "We the youth of the CPP and PNC (People's National Convention) dare say that until Mrs Fulera Limann (the wife of Former President Dr Hilla Limann) is well settled let no one disturb us with the urgency of resettling the Rawlingses.
"They came to overtake some in line already. So if the course of providence has allowed us the opportunity to revisit the situation and correct the dastard anomaly, then why don't we use the occasion to wipe the slate even cleaner, and do what is logically right, humane and proper for all concerned."
The statement said: "The issue of Dr Hilla Limann is coming up because of the many versions of attempts to resettle Former President Rawlings. History teaches us that Dr Hilla Limann and the PNP (People's National Party) were dragged out of office by the PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) under the leadership of Jerry John. The PNDC also stole the right of the people to choose their leaders at the point of gun.
"It was the same Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd), who signed the 1992 Constitution into being. Could it be that it was a deliberate ploy or government policy to disregard Former President Limann and humiliate him to death to the extent that the payment of his hospital bills became a huge issue as to who was to pay?"
The statement said: "As a country we have failed woefully to recognize our Past Heads of State and to accord them the respect their offices require. Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah (The First President) was demonised and criminalised by the NLC (National Liberation Council) that overthrew him. Prof Busia (Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister of the Second Republic) was also demonized. Dr Limann was disgraced and humiliated to abject poverty till he died."
The CPP Youth said any careful study of this phenomenon would reveal that it was discouraging well meaning, patriotic citizens from offering themselves for national service.
The statement said: "In the end, the failure to get the true selfless leaders, we get cheats and charlatans, who present themselves as sheep though they are in reality, energy suckers, hence the extent of our underdevelopment in the face of abundant resources. "If the future of this country is going to be any different, then we must begin today, to change our attitudes and embrace best practices that can help us to take our rightful position in world affairs. "Let the nation show regret to Dr Limann and the PNP family. Let Former President Rawlings and his wife apologise unreservedly to Mrs Fulera Limann and the PNP for the unnecessary and unjustifiable treason they committed against the sovereign will of Ghana," the statement said. | | |
_____________________________________________________ ----- | - Ghana International Airlines Phases Out - Sekou Nkrumah: Mills Is Not A Political Leader - Think of resettling Fulera before Nana Konadu - CPP Youth | _________________________________ | Your Opinions | Have Your Say!
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