The broadcast journalist Paul Adom-Otchere has been appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to serve as the board chairman of Ghana Airports Company Ltd (GACL).
The seven-member GACL board also includes Yaw Kwakwa, the managing director of GAACL; Teye Adjrackor, Kwabena Mantey Jectey Nyarko and Philomina Sam, all nominees of the president; Francis Kofi Nunoo of the Ministry of Transport; and Group Captain Gervase Wienaa.
The Adom-Otchere-led board will be expected to spearhead the GACL to provide world-class airport facilities and services for the benefit of stakeholders and to position Ghana as the preferred aviation hub and leader in airport business in West Africa.
About GACL
Ghana Airports Company Limited was established as a result of the decoupling of the existing Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), in line with modern trends in the aviation industry.
The company was registered in January 2006 with specific responsibility for planning, developing, managing and maintaining all airports and aerodromes in Ghana, including Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Kumasi Airport, Tamale Airport, Sunyani Airport, Ho Airport, Wa Airstrip and various other aviation facilities.
GACL is an implementing agency under the Ministry of Aviation. The company launched business on 1 January 2007.
GACL rolls out roadmap to settle staff arrears
Meanwhile, the management of GACL, in consultation with the board, led by Madam Oboshie Sai-Cofie, has outlined a six-month roadmap which aims to address all statutory and welfare deductions of staff which have been the source of agitations against the company recently.
Management resolved that all welfare and statutory deductions would be settled beginning August 2021. The welfare deductions include departmental welfare, senior staff, trade associations and credit associations. Payment of Tier 2 pension contributions will commence in October 2021 and will extend over a period of six months.
Arrangements have also been concluded for the payment of SSNIT contributions from August 2021 over a period of 12 months. AYE payments will also begin in October 2021 and extend over a period of 12 months.
The move is expected to bring to an end the hostility between management and staff of GACL.
The roadmap was agreed following a meeting between management and the GACL board. The decision was subsequently communicated to workers and the Divisional Union of GACL, which was present at the staff durbar, held on Wednesday 11 August 2021.
Restoring confidence
Commenting on the issue, GACL’s managing director, Yaw Kwakwa, said: “Management of GACL will continue to deepen staff engagement at all levels on the financial status of the organisation.”
He said management will duly follow and comply with the six-month roadmap that has been set for payment of all outstanding statutory and welfare deductions, in the belief that this will help restore staff confidence and improve the working relationship between staff and management.
“I take responsibility for all that is happening in the organisation. The workers have every right to complain when they are going through hardship. What I don’t condone is to take the law into your hands and attack management members,” Kwakwa said.
“We’ve worked together for some time now and I know how they feel when certain things are not going well for them. But management is working very hard to address all their challenges.
“We are going to stick to our roadmap and I believe that, at the end of the day, there will be all smiles and the bond that existed between management and staff will greatly be improved,” Kwakwa said.
He added: “Our number-one challenge had to do with the refinancing of the over US$400 million asset-backed corporate loan we took to finance our capital expenditure requirements under two separate components. But like I said, we will continue to engage our workers and resolve all outstanding issues.”
Wilberforce Asare
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