GOV’T Devalues Ghana Airport Company To Make Easy Killing For Turkish Takeover

The Akufo Addo administration is being accused of deliberately undervaluing the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) to make it easier for it to be handed over to Turkish consortium, TAV-SUMMA.

In September 2016, the GACL was valued at over GHC7 billion by a company called Valuation & Investment Associates, however, the Akufo Addo administration is in talks with TAV-SUMMA for a capital injection of some US$70 million to take over 66% of the GACL.

Last Sunday, former President John Dramani Mahama corroborated this revelation during a radio interview in the Volta Region.

“So why would a whole nation give up 66% of an asset worth over GHc 7 billion for a mere US$70 million. By simple logic, if we are getting paid $70 million for 66% of GACL, then the implied value of 100% of KIA should be $107 million. Who is keeping the difference?” Former President Mahama asked.

“This is shamefully unjust, unfair, corrupt, and embarrassing to Ghanaians. Why should we under-value such a national asset and give away management and control to a foreign entity.” 

Mid-July 2020, the Minister of Aviation, Joseph Kofi Adda, admitted that the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) needed to renovate its runways at a cost of US$40 million and that that money is expected to come from the Turkish.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Adda “The runway has to be redone. It has been thirty years and nothing has been done. They need to redo it. The last time I heard they did some work to get the tar out of it, there was a huge stuck of that. It needs to be redone. Now we need about forty million dollars to do the work. With this debt now, they cannot even do that. Is it something we can push the new company to do? We are not sure. There are a whole lot of options we can look at,” he said.

The intrigue deepened when during the same time, the Deputy General Secretary of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), John Sampa, h confirmed that the Akufo Addo administration has indeed sold the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to private companies from Turkey.

According to Mr. Sampa, official documents available to the PSWU shows that the government of Ghana will control only 34 per cent shares of KIA in the questionable “strategic partnership” with the Turkish consortium, TAV-SUMMA Consortium

The agreement between the Turks and the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) is being presented as a management contract, but the PSWU boss said it is pure privatisation of Ghana’s main international airport.

“They showed us a proposal from the government, which centres on public-private partnership and one that when approved will give the government only 34 per cent and the Turkish company consortium 66%…If you enter into an agreement with someone who will have 66 per cent shares, then it simply means you have sold the company,” Mr. Sampa told Accra 100.5 FM on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Aviation, the GACL and the entire Akufo Addo administration have been attempting to deny the reported sale, saying it was a mere proposal that has not been considered yet.

The denials started in 2019 when the inside dealings of the transaction leaked.

However, Whatsup News can report that the government has already granted executive approval to the deal to privatise KIA, much to the disappointment of workers who have been given false assurances.

The deal which is not so clear if it had been approved by the Ghanaian Parliament or not was given executive approval by President Akufo Addo on March 24, 2020.

The executive approval referenced OPS18210L.9/20/2, dated March 24, 2020, and signed by Nana Asante Bediatuo, the Executive Secretary of the President read: “The President has granted executive approval for the Ministry of Aviation to facilitate the engagement of TAV-SUMMA Consortium as strategic partners to the Ghana Airports Company Limited for the improvement of service delivery and expansion of infrastructure at the Kotoka International Airport.”

This official approval flies in the face of the denials by the GACL, the GACL Chairperson Oboshie Sai Cofie and the Minister of Aviation Joseph Kofi Adda.