All domestic flights in the country will be grounded from Saturday due to a strike by the workers of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
The decision follows what the workers refer to as unsatisfactory, the size of acres of land offered for the installation of air navigation equipment.
Citi Business News understands a visit to the site by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on Friday concluded with an offer of 20 acres out of a total of 640 acres of land belonging to the Authority.
But the workers’ union insists the offer is inadequate hence their decision to halt services to the domestic unit of the Kotoka International Airport.
Per the directive, only emergency and military flights of the domestic unit of the airport will be attended to.
The workers earlier on Friday, suspended this action but reverted to it after the said meeting with the sector Minister for the Lands and Natural Resources ministry ended with a dissatisfaction with the offer made.
The strike forms part of protests against what the workers describe as the failure by the management of the GCAA and the government to stop the encroachment of lands belonging to the GCAA.
The workers have warned of some dire consequences on air safety and in possible cases, judgment debts for the Authority or government should Ghana fail to install equipment worth over 600,000 Euros.
GCAA allays fears over threats to air safety
Despite the insistence of the staff of the GCAA, management of the Authority has allayed the fears of a threat to air safety.
The Director General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey, earlier this week assured that his outfit will continually engage the Ministry of Transport to find a lasting solution to the development.
“The Management of the Authority and the Ministry of Transport are liaising with the relevant departments to have lands restored to the GCAA. Management is also engaging with the workers and we have appealed to them to exercise constraint,” he observed.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana