Workers of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority have suspended an intended action that was meant to halt domestic air travels today, Friday, July 8, 2016.
The activities would have led to the grounding of all domestic flights with only emergency cases and domestic military flights being attended to at the airport.
Spokesperson for the workers’ union, William Amoah tells Citi Business News the suspension follows an assurance by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, to secure parts of the lands for the GCAA to allow the installation of equipment to aid air navigation.
“We have decided to suspend the decision we planned to embark on today. We were involved in a meeting with the Minister of Lands on Thursday and he has promised to take us to the site to demarcate a sizeable portion of the land for us to install our equipment because that is the immediate need,” he explained.
The action by the workers was to protest against what they refer to 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 a possible cases judgement debt for the Authority or government should Ghana fail to install equipment worth over 600,000 Euros.
The agitations have attracted a number of interventions from the GCAA and government.
The Director General of the GCAA, Simon Allotey allayed fears of a possible threat to air navigation.
He attributed the development to challenges with title deeds which has made it difficult to lay claim to the lands.
William Amoah also indicated that the lands to be handed over are likely to be within the La-Nkwantanan Municipal Assembly.
He however intimated that a final decision on a complete withdrawal of their services will be determined by close of day on Friday.
“After the negotiations, we will discuss on how we can upon appeal we have suspended it for today and we will be considering the decision and if we are satisfied then we can hold on with the whole issue but if we are not satisfied the action will be reactivated tomorrow (Saturday),” William Amoah added.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana