As aviation expert petitions gov`t for probe

STORM OVER SALE OF G.A AIRCRAFT
Sale raises more questions than answers -Mike Hammah

Posted: The Chronicle |Friday, February 12, 2010



The report of the official liquidators of Ghana Airways (GA) to the Chairman of the Ghana Airways Assets Disposal Committee of 2007, rescinding its earlier decision to lease one of its aircraft 9G-ANB to the lowest bidder, has sparked a heated controversy in government circles.
This follows a petition sent to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Mike Hammah, by one Duke Odiasempa, an Aviation expert who has an insight into the activities and operations of the defunct national airline, Ghana Airways.

He is asking for a thorough investigation, and review into the circumstances that led to the virtual sale of the aircraft to Messrs. Thameside of the United Kingdom, rather than CSDS Aviation of the United States, which bid the highest.

The sector Minister, Mike Hammah, has duly acknowledged receipt of Mr. Odiasempa’s petition, a copy of which is in the possession of The Chronicle.

He has however declined to make any categorical statement on it, except to say that it was under serious consideration, since “it raises more questions than answers.”

In his petition, Mr. Odiasempa raises questions about the property valuers of the aircraft - Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) - and how such a consultant was selected among others to evaluate the bids/bidders.

Officials of Price Waterhouse Coopers are however tight-lipped about their role in the entire liquidation of the airline. An official of the company, Richard Hodasi, yesterday told The Chronicle that the company does not disclose its dealings with their clients to third parties, and for that matter they cannot make any substantive input to the paper’s enquiries.

In the sales agreement of both Thameside and CSDS Aviation, Mr Odiasempa noted that Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) deliberately put different clauses in the various agreements to frustrate the highest bidder - CSDS.

According to him, the sales agreement itself was drawn by one of the most expensive legal firms in the UK, Beaumont and Sons Limited, which incidentally were solicitors for Ghana Airways. To him, the contentious clause that was in the sales agreement for Thameside was the aspect which stated: “the buyer of the Ghanaian aircraft shall indemnify the Ghanaian government for 2 years in a sum of $50 million,” asking whether this was done to make it easy for a supposed friend of the seat of government, the Castle, to get purchase the aircraft.

Mr Odiasempa indicated that CSDS Aviation petitioned the then President on the bad business practice on the sale of the aircraft.

He therefore could not comprehend why Price Waterhouse Coopers advised the official liquidator (Registrar General) to cut and ship the aircraft in boxes as scrap metal, when it was bought.

Meanwhile, he said CSDS had arranged for a heavy maintenance programme of the subject aircraft at an engineering base in Belgium to the tune of $4 million.

When the negotiations stalled, he noted, the Minister of Aviation at the time told Parliament that it would be solved in a month, in favour of CSDS Aviation.

Though Ghana Airways was said to be owing Agence pour la Securite de la Navigation Arienne (ASECNA) and Esblissement National de la Navigation Arienna (ENNA) at the time of the liquidation, both companies were said to have not chased Ghana Airways out of business, since according to Mr. Odiasempa, “they only made a claim when they knew Ghana Airways was not going to be in existence anymore.”

He therefore accused Price Waterhouse Coopers, its network, and Ghana missions abroad, of aiding the official liquidator to close the 12 Ghana Airways overseas offices that were still open at the commencement of the liquidation.

“Staff were not notified before the closure of various offices, and any payments made to the staff would amount to deliberately causing financial loss to Ghana as a whole,” he stressed, insisting, “It requires looking into by competent professionals, to ascertain if Price Waterhouse Coopers handled that aspect of issues properly.”

According to the expert, there should not have been any legal suit by the leasing company against the Ghana government and Ghana Airways, noting: “The suit came about as a result of Ghana Airways’ improper husbanding of resources to pay the BCI aircraft.”

Furthermore, Mr. Odiasempa stated that the overall financial summary of Ghana Airways would have to be properly interpreted to get qualified accountants, with the support from some commissioned people by the Minister, to better understand the figures and sale of its assets, saying, “one does not understand why the Ghana Forex Bureau Limited and Ghana Distribution System Limited yielded zero amounts during the liquidation process.”

Also, he indicated: “Price Waterhouse Coopers continued to tell a pack of lies to Ghanaians, and to frighten them that the Italian government was after the blood of Ghana Airways at the time the two DC 10 and others were strangely scrapped, according to the PWC report.”

Up till date, he says, older DC 10s still fly across the globe, including a freighter that flies in and out of Ghana.

“PWC had in effect indicted Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), who are the regulatory authorities in Ghana representing ICAO, so to speak,” and that “Ghana Airways had a poor maintenance record, thus casting a heavy slur on the regulatory body.”

According him, this was ordinarily not true, stressing: “otherwise, GCAA inspectors would let any Ghana Airways aircraft fly.”

He noted that the scrapping of the equipment, especially the DC 10 aircraft, was doubtful, and was therefore calling for proper investigations to unravel the mystery surrounding the whole sale. More anon!

Rawlings rants at Mills again

Posted: The Chronicle |Thursday, February 11, 2010

By Charles Takyi - Boadu

Former President Rawlings went ballistic on Tuesday when he brought the entire Mills administration to question. In his usual self, the former President could not fathom why after several criticisms, President Mills was still not firm in his decisions, and is allowing some of his men, including Ministers and appointees to have a field day.
Addressing a gathering of party foot soldiers and a number of parliamentarians during a reception held at his Ridge residence in Accra, Mr. Rawlings said - “I want Professor Mills to understand that, that seat at the Castle, that throne, I’ve had it before for 18 years. I want NPP (New Patriotic Party) to know, I want everybody to know, I’ve had it for 18 years.”

Furthermore, he said “I had no time to hold it – that you know, I’ve put my foot on it… and it’s like I’m grabbing it, don’t come and take it off me kind of thing. I had no time to even sit on it.”

He added “The way I consolidated my hold over the seat was actually to leave it alone and concentrate on the work that needed to be done…Nobody could touch it because the power was where productivity was – the power was where we were providing water, the power was where we were providing electricity, the power was where we were providing schools, etc, as we were empowering people.”

This was the reason why he said the other day that “the people he surrounded himself with, most of them have worked with me before”, saying “that’s when I said who born dog.”

Mr. Rawlings went bonkers when he said that during his days as President of the Republic, “none of them would dare do the foolish things (they are doing) around him”, asking rhetorically “I’m disciplined and I know Prof is a disciplined man, but why is he not putting his foot down to make sure the nonsense going on around him is brought to a halt? If I could do it why can’t he do it?”

“If he can do that, we will begin to see some change and if they are not changing, he should boot them out. If not, if not, he will go down with them. And if they want to take us with them, I’m afraid we will not go down with them”, he emphasized Mr. Rawlings complained about lots of developments in the party, warning that “ if we continued at this rate for another year, the third year would be difficult, and the fourth year would be very, very difficult.

We’ve lost one precious year; we’ve got one more year to prove that we can turn this thing round.”

One person who incurred the displeasure of Mr. Rawlings was one of Mills’ boys at the Castle, in the person of Ludwig Hlodze, who doubles as a Presidential Staffer and the National Youth Organiser. Mr. Rawlings accused the young and innocent-looking Ludwig of using the services of dispatch riders to go home.

“That Ludwig, who comes home using dispatch riders, look for somebody to film it and give it to Professor Mills and ask him what is Ludwig, that little twitch, what does he need dispatch riders to go home for?”, he asked rhetorically.

According to the former President, Ludwig goes home late in the night in the company of siren-blowing dispatch riders, disturbing and waking people up from their sleep. But the man described by Mr. Rawlings as a ‘little twitch’, Ludwig Hlodze is not the least happy about the former President’s reference to him.

This became glaring when The Chronicle contacted him yesterday for his comments about the allegation leveled against him by the former President. He vehemently denied ever using any motorcade or dispatch riders as Rawlings claimed. Ludwig, however, refused to comment on Rawlings’ reference to him as a ‘little twitch’, choosing to leave the man to his fate.

The former President did spare the sitting President either, asking Prof. Mills to put his house in order before matters get out of hand, before Ghanaians show NDC the exit, come 2012.

Contrary to public expectations

BAGBIN LEFT OFF THE HOOK
...treated with kid gloves by Minority
Posted: The Chronicle |Thursday, February 11, 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Linda Akrasi Kotey & Stephen Odoi Larbi

After subjecting Professor Dominic Fobih to a bout of tortuous questions which exposed his inability to recite the national pledge, many were those who thought the outgoing Majority Leader, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, would also be subjected to the same treatment, but the minority, surprisingly, treated him with kid gloves when he appeared before the Appointments Committee yesterday.
After he swore the oath and took his seat, Edward Doe Adjaho, Chairman of the Committee, asked whether Bagbin could recite the national pledge, since many people including members of the committee themselves, wanted to be sure he could recite it.

Bagbin laughed it off without any categorical answer, and rather chose to tell the tale of a frog and a lizard, which he said, had a foundation in the old and new testaments of the bible, to dodge the substantive question. At the tail end of the story, he implied that people were up in arms to seek revenge against him, typical of the case of a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

Later, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Abuakwa-South Constituency, Atta Akyea, came in to ask Bagbin why he was not that much critical about the government on the issue of ex-gratia, unlike when he was criticising some ministers in the present administration.

But, Bagbin insisted that he and his other colleagues were vocal on the issue of ex-gratia when they appeared before the Yamson Committee, and added that he followed up in subsequent radio interviews. He could therefore not agree with Atta Akyea’s position.

At this point, the entire vetting process was virtually reduced to conversation.

What surprised most people was when the Minority Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, who is known for his hard-line questions, for once, lost his steam and engaged in friendly banter with Bagbin over the issue of who is older, since the Majority Leader had often created the impression that he was older than him (Mensah-Bonsu), and proceeded to ask him his date of birth.

Though Bagbin, clad in a white smock and a white hat to match, failed to openly say his date of birth, since it was on his curriculum vitae, a copy of which was before each member of the Committee, he admitted that the Minority Leader was his elder brother, in terms of age.

Knowing the challenges that Parliament, as an institution faces, the Minority Leader urged his colleague Majority Leader to help acquire more accommodation for members.

All this while, the Chairman sat in laxity and sometimes joined in the conversation.

Bagbin also declined to answer a question on whether he finds pleasure in the work of the Legislature (Parliament) or the Executive (Minister), asked him by Mensah-Bonsu.

Petty as it was, the issue dragged on for sometime, until the chairman intervened, probably when he thought the verbal exchanges were becoming too personal, only to appreciate the fact that the committee did not have any adverse findings about his tax declaration and police report.

Bagbin thanked members of the committee, and the entire House for their good working relation, stressing that long as he remains in Parliament, he would help to build and strengthen its imitative to develop the culture of the country’s democracy, which according to him, had not yet deepened.

Earlier, the incoming Interior Minister, Mr. Martin Amidu, told the hearing, presided over by the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, that “crime should not be attached with any political coronation.”

“Crime is crime, no matter who is involved,” he told the Appointments Committee of Parliament yesterday, when he appeared before it for the public hearing.

His response was in connection to concerns raised by Mr. Ambrose Derry on why the government was being selective in pursuing justice in flashpoint conflict areas.

Calm-looking Amidu, dressed in a black political suit, demystified the perceived notion raised by Mr. Derry.

He told the Committee that highlighting on certain conflicts in the country does not mean the government had paid deaf ears to the others, and appealed to the members to be calm, as the government was equally up to the task in addressing the numerous conflicts that have hit some parts of the country.

According to him, there was the need to institutionalise conflict education, and let “the people know that each person in a conflict area is the result of that conflict.”

He stressed the need to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach towards solving conflicts in the country.

“Anybody who takes the law into his own hands, must be dealt with by the law,” he emphasised.

Of late, there have been conflicts in some parts of the country, including Agbogbloshie, Bawku, Swedru and Dagbon, among many others.

Dealing with the issues in these conflict areas has been a headache for the government of the day, especially the Dagbon conflict, because of political connotations attached to it.

Mr. Amidu, in response to the Dagbon crisis, said the problem was “intractable, and which builds layers along the road,” and therefore called for all hands on deck in solving the problem.

Mr. Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, MP for Suame, and a Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, appealed to the incoming Interior Minister to critically examine all the incidents relating to conflict in the aforementioned areas, and let the law takes its course in dealing with anyone found guilty of having a hand in the conflict.

Mr. Martin Amidu promised to work hand-in-hand with the Police Council in addressing the issues raised. Touching on his plans in flushing out corrupt personnel in the Police Service, Mr. Martin Amidu said that would only be possible, if people were willing to report corrupt officials to the Police Council.

“None of us is prepared to report anybody who is perceived to be corrupt. If we get reports on corrupt officials within the service, we will act accordingly, since the Police Service is willing to flush out corrupt personnel in the service,” he noted. He believes that when personnel of the Police Service, together with other law enforcement agencies in sensitive areas, are paid very well, corrupt practices would be a thing of the past.

He made reference to the police personnel who were recently arrested in Accra for extorting money from drivers, and shared the belief that the Police Council did the right thing by interdicting them.

“Nobody should condone corruption in any institution, especially in government. If there is evidence to show that those police personnel arrested are corrupt, they must be prosecuted,” he added.

Stressing on the slack attitude on the part of the police in enforcing the law, the incoming Interior Minister attributed it to the insufficient number of police personnel in the country.

“The inability to enforce is also the problem of numbers. Because, if the police are overstretched, definitely, they would not be everywhere to enforce the law,” he noted.

He said that law and order were the context within which development can take place, and therefore promised to collaborate with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who is responsible for the operation control and administration of the Police Service, to ensure that proper personnel who understand the importance of enforcement, are recruited into the service.

“Without peace, without tranquility, we cannot survive. Life and property are important. Detection of crime is also important. So, I will try at the Police Council level to ensure that we put in maximum efforts to increase the ability of the police in policing the law,” he added.

On insulating the Police Service from political interference, Mr. Amidu said he, together with the Police Council, would ensure that the legal framework of the country was respected.

According to him, there was nowhere in the Police Act that permits policemen to deal with citizens on the basis of political persuasion, adding, “ethically, it is reprehensible to treat a person just on the basis of where he belongs to.” He promised to deal with issues objectively, when giving the nod as Minister of the Interior, regardless of a person’s ethnic origin, gender, and sex.

At the initial stages of his hearing, Mr. Amidu had problems with his Curriculum Vitae (CV) and tax records, but the committee members decided to deal with those issues, especially that bordering on tax, behind closed doors.

Prior to Mr. Amidu’s appearance before the Committee, the Minister-designate for Employment and Social Welfare, Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, dazzled his way through in answering questions relating to his new role, if given the nod.

His articulate nature, coupled with his in-depth knowledge about his new role was amazing, as he distinctively showcased the experience he has had in the public sector.

According to him, there should be a paradigm shift in the way things are run in the country by providing the right infrastructure and tools, coupled with good conditions of service to public servants in giving out their best.

On his part, the nominee to the Information Ministry and outgoing deputy Majority Leader, John Akologo Tia, said if he was given the nod, he would restrict himself to his task, spokesperson for the government.

According to him, his reassignment to another field was still a call to duty although the constant touch with Parliament may not be there, but to him it wa another experience, in another part of life as a politician.