Human trafficking at Kotoka airport takes one life

Officials of British Airways in Ghana are tight lipped over a dead man found in the under carriage bay of the British Airways flight Ghana to London’s Heathrow Airport 14 May this year. Whilst British Airways is maintaining silence on the matter and would not answer questions from the media, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) says the dead man found on the British Airways flight cannot be a Ghanaian.

Speaking to the Ghana palaver in his office, the Acting Director of GCAA, Capt (rtd) Joe Boachie, said since the dead man was not discovered on the British Airways on arrival at the Heathrow Airport on the it arrived and the plane had to travel to Saudi Arabia and back before the dead was discovered, means that the dead man cannot be a Ghanaian. He however said, his outfit is waiting for a report on the matter from the London office of the British Airways.

Before the death of the unknown passenger on the British Airways, GCAA had been granted a category one status by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the United States of America (USA) after a security Audit Check at the Kotoka International Airport.

This enables most of the world’s reputable airlines to fly into Ghana without any fear of security threats and Ghana’s only airline- the Ghana Airways, was granted permission to fly direct to U.S. At the time, Col (rtd) Nat Kpikpitse, was the Security Manager but was asked to proceed on leave as soon as the new administration of President Kufour assumed office. The Security Coordinator was also sent on secondment.

Capt (rtd) John Amoah, who was in-charge of training, was therefore elevated to the position of Security Manager. Capt (rtd) John Amoah himself did not stay long at the post and had to be reshuffled and sent back to the Training school because Dr Amoako Tuffour wanted him to absorb forty (40) men into the GCAA security network without training but he refused.

His reason for refusing Dr Amoako Tuffour’s request was that such an arrangement was against the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) regulations to engage untrained people into the Aviation security network.

As a result, he did not give the forty (40) untrained security men identity cards to operate at the Airport, especially the sensitive areas namely, the arrival and departure halls and the VIP. These untrained security men, Ghana Palaver’s investigations reveal are currently engaged at the Airport and they are the security guards engaged in the Human Trafficking going on at the Airport.

These men are made up of party supporters brought in by top New Patriotic Party (NPP) leaders as a way of fulfilling their election campaign promise of offering them jobs.

The GCAA Security network is now being coordinated by Ms Rita Asobayere, who once worked with the Authority but vacated her post for various malfeasances, in connection with duties. When some members of staff opposed her re-engagement and her ?2 million a month salary, the management of GCCA quietly sent her to Kumasi, where she spent just two weeks and came back to Accra.

Not even a single one of the GCAA security guards passed a security test conducted by the KLM and British Airways for which the airlines wrote to GCAA management expressing their disappointment at the falling standards of security at the Airport, Ghana Palaver investigations has revealed.

The paper’s sources have established that some members of the security network at the airport have taken advantage of the security weakness to smuggle people unto aircraft during departure. Those smuggled unto the aircraft and are able to survive the journey find their destination, but those who are not able to survive die like the dead man found on the British Airways flight. The discovery of the dead man on the British Airways plane has sparked off serious security lapses at the KIA.