The Ghanaian Government said on Wednesday that it was searching for private investors to partner it on its proposed new national carrier in which it would not hold more than 10 percent shares of the company.
Ghana’s Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, who disclosed this on the side-lines of a stakeholder meeting on the establishment of a home-based carrier, with interested companies or potential partners, in Accra, explained that the government was not interested in owning controlling shares of the proposed aviation company as it would not want the company to be under state control.
The event was organized as part of processes which will lead to the selection of a suitable company to partner the government to establish the national carrier.
Acrnment is looking at is not more than 10 percent of the equity, possibly have one or two representation on the board of the company and not interfere in the operations of the new company in terms of policy, strategy and operations.
Adda clarified further: “Ghana has travelled the road of having a national airline before. Indeed, more than once, Ghana Airways and Ghana International Airlines existed before, and we have learnt some lessons, and it goes without the saying that this time around, we would not repeat those mistakes.
“We intend to get it right and the government will not attempt to be involved in owning and running an airline. This is not a government’s business.
“The lessons from the past are very clear and we all know them. Ghana Airways and Ghana International Airlines were companies set up and dominated by the state, and that made it difficult for the board and chief executives to manage it independently.
“The government was always interfering; telling them what to do and that was a real difficulty that we had in the past”, the minister added.
Abba cited abuses, poor planning and misapplication of funds, among others, as some of the lessons that were learnt in the government’s past learnt in the government’s past experience in running a national airline, saying that “we lost so much money running Ghana Airways and Ghana International Airlines but that won’t happen again”.
