Gunship
26th May 2002, 19:49
I rest my case : Ghana Airways should not take to the sky in these circumstances ... bye the way the Freetown - Accra - Jhb flight of Wednesday arrived on Saturday in Jhb !!!
All links from allafrica.com and the local newspapers in Accra ...
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Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
April 30, 2002
Posted to the web April 30, 2002
Dominic Jale
More bizarre stories continue to pop up at the corridors of the troubled national airline, Ghanair, as the nation still ponders over its tattered state.
Days after the Chronicle story about the whereabouts of two DC9 engines belonging to Ghanair, it has emerged that three additional DC 9 engines that were airlifted from Accra between 1999 to 2000, ostensibly for servicing, are also nowhere to be found.
As officials of the troubled airline continued to give conflicting accounts as to the where- abouts of the engines, Chronicle sources at the airline indicated that almost all the five engines had been sold out.
Documents stumbled upon by the Chronicle indicate that Ghanair even spent $26,000 (about ¢300million) on a team of technicians dispatched from London to Ethiopia to inspect the two engines, on behalf of A.J. Walters Aviation.
When Chronicle reached Mr. Joe Brown, Deputy Director in charge of Engineering, who was assigned by the then Chief Executive Officer of Ghanair, Mr. Emmanuel Quartey, Jnr., to deal with the engines, he refused to comment. "Big man, you have already written what you want to write, what is your problem again?"
Brown, who is now a key figure in the airline's Management Task Force, said and hung up his phone.
Despite persistent denials and conflicting accounts as to the whereabouts of these DC9 engines by some officials of Ghanair and A.J Walters Aviation, the company alleged to have purchased the engines, Chronicle can report that a few days after the first two engines arrived in Ethiopia for the so-called 'servicing,' officials A.J. Walters Aviation, reputable in aviation issues, sent technicians to Ethiopia to inspect the engines.
The crux of the issue is that when the engines arrived in Ethiopia, A.J. Walters engaged engineers for technical assistance from London to assess the engines and at the end of that exercise a bill of $18,000 was presented to Ghanair.
As if that was not enough, Walters again engaged AERO-Propulsion Management Service Ltd on October 26, 2000, for technical assistance and at the end of this exercise Ghanair again parted with $7,335, bringing the total bill to about $26,000.
A glance at the breakdown of the bill reads, 'Charges for Technical Assistance in review of JT8D engine work packages at Ethiopian Airways; UK visit to Ethiopia for AJ Walters, Yellow fever vaccination £33 pounds, Return airline ticket from UK to Ethiopia £1896.50; UK visit to Ethiopia for A.J. Walters visa application and postage £56.35 pounds, Hotel at LHR-one night £57.75; three nights at a Hotel in Addis Baba £291.34 and other expenses brought the total figure to £2379.73."
The bill, which was signed by Mr. John H Davies MD of AERO- Propulsion Management Services Ltd, was first submitted to A.J. Walters, who later passed the bill to Ghanair.
Like the two previous engines airlifted on February 12, 1999, a DC9 engine with number P688118B was airlifted from Accra and to High Flyer, an aviation company, in London, with Ghana Airways Bill (AWB) number 237-04878602.
This engine weight is 2446, while the stand on which the engine was placed before airlifting it from the airport cost Ghanair $12,000.
Again, on April 20, 2000 another engine with engine number 696683B was dispatched to ATITECH in Rome with AWB number 237-0500-3854.
Management of Ghanair later sent a third engine to Alitalia in Italy under the same excuse that they were going to service these engines, but they are yet to take delivery of the said engines.
While one account maintained that the engines had been sold, officials of the Ghanair who were involved in the deals and are still at the helm of affairs are claiming that they did not sell the engines but no one know when the said engines would arrive.
Interestingly, after the first story, AJ Walters Aviation wrote to Chronicle to deny that they had purchased the two engines that were sent to Ethiopia.
"Both engines were routed to Addis Ababa for repair. As they were in unserviceable condition, their value was no more than $100,000.000," AJ Walters stated.
Contrarily, a document signed by John Davies of AERO-Propulsion Management Services Ltd to A.J. Walters for technical assistance indicated that the engines had been sold to A.J. Walter Aviation.
Almost all the engines had one million dollar price tag on it when it was being airlifted from Accra.
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More Trouble At Ghanair: Senior Staff, Workers Union Decry Poor Management
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
April 10, 2002
Posted to the web April 10, 2002
Dominic Jale
"Come to Macedonia and help us," this was the cry by the Ghana Airways Senior Staff Association (GASSA) and the Local Union members to the government during a press conference by the two powerful bodies of the troubled airline on last week.
The two bodies appealed to the government to take a critical look at the management of the troubled airline to avoid past mistakes that pushed the company into its present predicaments.
It was admitted that in spite of the agitation for the state to step in and bail the airline, if the company does not put its house in order, it will continue to wallow in its present predicaments, even if all the national budget is handed over to the company.
According to GASSA and Union members, nothing seems to have changed in the management of Ghanair because the company's debts continue to swell each passing day.
"The same old hands and people, whose commissions and omissions in Emmanuel Quartey administration had brought us this far, are still manipulating the system and controlling the affairs of the airline hence the continued decline of the progress of the company ," Chronicle heard.
"It is not only in the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that we have three wise men. There is another set of three wise men in Ghana Airways whose modus operandi has brought the national airline to its current position," a dejected looking staff pointed out.
GASSA and the Union were of the view that if government does not throw a prompt life-line to salvage Ghanair there was no way that the company could stand on its feet till the completion of the Forensic Audit, which is to be commissioned to look into how the company was mismanaged.
Addressing the press, Mr. Roland Wobil Mosore, President of the Senior Staff Association and national chairman of General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of T.U.C noted that this was not the time to apportion blame to single individuals but "all the workers must be collectively blamed for the present state of the airline."
However, he attributed the present precarious position of Ghanair to lack of transparency in the management of the company, coupled with political patronage that had been the order of the day.
Mosore also blamed the past government for engineering and supervising the destruction of Ghanair.
The President of the Senior Staff Association recounted how masked soldiers stormed KIA one afternoon in 1994 and hijacked Ghanair's ground handling equipment, which was a major source of income to the company, and handed it over to AFGO.
"It is not that when things were going astray we did not alert the management or draw their attention, but at a certain stage we were all living witnessed to the threats and victimization that were going on in the company," he said
According to Mosore, after the NDC government had wrestled the equipment from the company and given it to AFGO, Ghanair continued to service the loans it contracted for the purchase of the equipment.
"Apart from all these, it is disheartening to note that Ghanair pays $263,000 per month to AFGO for using our own equipment to render services for us," he lamented.
To rub salt on the injury, Mosore said, the catering service that was left to support the other source of income was also mysteriously taken and dashed to another company.
"When all these sources of revenue were taken away, the airline was left to make do with only income from the passenger service, which, we are all aware, is not reliable to sustain us," he said.
He also expressed grave concern about the maintenance agreement between Ghanair and Alitalia, the Italian airline.
He noted that under the terms of the contract, Alitalia continued to bill Ghanair the same amount even when it was clear that there was no aircraft for them to service for Ghanair.
It also came to light that the management of Ghanair sold all the company's spare parts to A.J. Walters and Alitalia some years back, but the parts are still stocked in Ghanair's stores in Accra and whenever Ghanair is in serious need of any parts the company then goes to its stores, takes the same parts they have sold out and pays hard earned dollars for them.
According GASSA and the Union, the company is viable but due to mismanagement of the place and the old hands that are still controlling almost everything nothing seems to be moving towards its viability.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I REST MY CASE ..... :(
All links from allafrica.com and the local newspapers in Accra ...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
April 30, 2002
Posted to the web April 30, 2002
Dominic Jale
More bizarre stories continue to pop up at the corridors of the troubled national airline, Ghanair, as the nation still ponders over its tattered state.
Days after the Chronicle story about the whereabouts of two DC9 engines belonging to Ghanair, it has emerged that three additional DC 9 engines that were airlifted from Accra between 1999 to 2000, ostensibly for servicing, are also nowhere to be found.
As officials of the troubled airline continued to give conflicting accounts as to the where- abouts of the engines, Chronicle sources at the airline indicated that almost all the five engines had been sold out.
Documents stumbled upon by the Chronicle indicate that Ghanair even spent $26,000 (about ¢300million) on a team of technicians dispatched from London to Ethiopia to inspect the two engines, on behalf of A.J. Walters Aviation.
When Chronicle reached Mr. Joe Brown, Deputy Director in charge of Engineering, who was assigned by the then Chief Executive Officer of Ghanair, Mr. Emmanuel Quartey, Jnr., to deal with the engines, he refused to comment. "Big man, you have already written what you want to write, what is your problem again?"
Brown, who is now a key figure in the airline's Management Task Force, said and hung up his phone.
Despite persistent denials and conflicting accounts as to the whereabouts of these DC9 engines by some officials of Ghanair and A.J Walters Aviation, the company alleged to have purchased the engines, Chronicle can report that a few days after the first two engines arrived in Ethiopia for the so-called 'servicing,' officials A.J. Walters Aviation, reputable in aviation issues, sent technicians to Ethiopia to inspect the engines.
The crux of the issue is that when the engines arrived in Ethiopia, A.J. Walters engaged engineers for technical assistance from London to assess the engines and at the end of that exercise a bill of $18,000 was presented to Ghanair.
As if that was not enough, Walters again engaged AERO-Propulsion Management Service Ltd on October 26, 2000, for technical assistance and at the end of this exercise Ghanair again parted with $7,335, bringing the total bill to about $26,000.
A glance at the breakdown of the bill reads, 'Charges for Technical Assistance in review of JT8D engine work packages at Ethiopian Airways; UK visit to Ethiopia for AJ Walters, Yellow fever vaccination £33 pounds, Return airline ticket from UK to Ethiopia £1896.50; UK visit to Ethiopia for A.J. Walters visa application and postage £56.35 pounds, Hotel at LHR-one night £57.75; three nights at a Hotel in Addis Baba £291.34 and other expenses brought the total figure to £2379.73."
The bill, which was signed by Mr. John H Davies MD of AERO- Propulsion Management Services Ltd, was first submitted to A.J. Walters, who later passed the bill to Ghanair.
Like the two previous engines airlifted on February 12, 1999, a DC9 engine with number P688118B was airlifted from Accra and to High Flyer, an aviation company, in London, with Ghana Airways Bill (AWB) number 237-04878602.
This engine weight is 2446, while the stand on which the engine was placed before airlifting it from the airport cost Ghanair $12,000.
Again, on April 20, 2000 another engine with engine number 696683B was dispatched to ATITECH in Rome with AWB number 237-0500-3854.
Management of Ghanair later sent a third engine to Alitalia in Italy under the same excuse that they were going to service these engines, but they are yet to take delivery of the said engines.
While one account maintained that the engines had been sold, officials of the Ghanair who were involved in the deals and are still at the helm of affairs are claiming that they did not sell the engines but no one know when the said engines would arrive.
Interestingly, after the first story, AJ Walters Aviation wrote to Chronicle to deny that they had purchased the two engines that were sent to Ethiopia.
"Both engines were routed to Addis Ababa for repair. As they were in unserviceable condition, their value was no more than $100,000.000," AJ Walters stated.
Contrarily, a document signed by John Davies of AERO-Propulsion Management Services Ltd to A.J. Walters for technical assistance indicated that the engines had been sold to A.J. Walter Aviation.
Almost all the engines had one million dollar price tag on it when it was being airlifted from Accra.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
More Trouble At Ghanair: Senior Staff, Workers Union Decry Poor Management
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
April 10, 2002
Posted to the web April 10, 2002
Dominic Jale
"Come to Macedonia and help us," this was the cry by the Ghana Airways Senior Staff Association (GASSA) and the Local Union members to the government during a press conference by the two powerful bodies of the troubled airline on last week.
The two bodies appealed to the government to take a critical look at the management of the troubled airline to avoid past mistakes that pushed the company into its present predicaments.
It was admitted that in spite of the agitation for the state to step in and bail the airline, if the company does not put its house in order, it will continue to wallow in its present predicaments, even if all the national budget is handed over to the company.
According to GASSA and Union members, nothing seems to have changed in the management of Ghanair because the company's debts continue to swell each passing day.
"The same old hands and people, whose commissions and omissions in Emmanuel Quartey administration had brought us this far, are still manipulating the system and controlling the affairs of the airline hence the continued decline of the progress of the company ," Chronicle heard.
"It is not only in the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that we have three wise men. There is another set of three wise men in Ghana Airways whose modus operandi has brought the national airline to its current position," a dejected looking staff pointed out.
GASSA and the Union were of the view that if government does not throw a prompt life-line to salvage Ghanair there was no way that the company could stand on its feet till the completion of the Forensic Audit, which is to be commissioned to look into how the company was mismanaged.
Addressing the press, Mr. Roland Wobil Mosore, President of the Senior Staff Association and national chairman of General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of T.U.C noted that this was not the time to apportion blame to single individuals but "all the workers must be collectively blamed for the present state of the airline."
However, he attributed the present precarious position of Ghanair to lack of transparency in the management of the company, coupled with political patronage that had been the order of the day.
Mosore also blamed the past government for engineering and supervising the destruction of Ghanair.
The President of the Senior Staff Association recounted how masked soldiers stormed KIA one afternoon in 1994 and hijacked Ghanair's ground handling equipment, which was a major source of income to the company, and handed it over to AFGO.
"It is not that when things were going astray we did not alert the management or draw their attention, but at a certain stage we were all living witnessed to the threats and victimization that were going on in the company," he said
According to Mosore, after the NDC government had wrestled the equipment from the company and given it to AFGO, Ghanair continued to service the loans it contracted for the purchase of the equipment.
"Apart from all these, it is disheartening to note that Ghanair pays $263,000 per month to AFGO for using our own equipment to render services for us," he lamented.
To rub salt on the injury, Mosore said, the catering service that was left to support the other source of income was also mysteriously taken and dashed to another company.
"When all these sources of revenue were taken away, the airline was left to make do with only income from the passenger service, which, we are all aware, is not reliable to sustain us," he said.
He also expressed grave concern about the maintenance agreement between Ghanair and Alitalia, the Italian airline.
He noted that under the terms of the contract, Alitalia continued to bill Ghanair the same amount even when it was clear that there was no aircraft for them to service for Ghanair.
It also came to light that the management of Ghanair sold all the company's spare parts to A.J. Walters and Alitalia some years back, but the parts are still stocked in Ghanair's stores in Accra and whenever Ghanair is in serious need of any parts the company then goes to its stores, takes the same parts they have sold out and pays hard earned dollars for them.
According GASSA and the Union, the company is viable but due to mismanagement of the place and the old hands that are still controlling almost everything nothing seems to be moving towards its viability.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I REST MY CASE ..... :(