Reports of missing Ghana Gas helicopters strange and ill-fated – John Jinapor

The former Deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor has strongly debunked claims that some helicopters purchased by the previous Mahama administration for the Ghana Gas Company are missing.

He indicated that the helicopters are in the care of the Ghana Air Force because Ghana Gas has no helipad to accommodate the helicopters.

He told the Gold Power Drive host, Samuel Eshun Wednesday that the man who made the claim has retracted the statement.

“This morning Dr Steve Manteaw retracted his statement on the issues of the helicopters. According to him, he says they went to Atuabo Processing Plant and requested to see the helicopters, and management said they were not aware of those helicopters.”

“But we made it clear to them that on 25th of September 2016, President Mahama, the Chinese Ambassador and the then CEO of the Ghana Gas Company, Dr. Sipa Yankey, commissioned these four Z9EH helicopters and those were handed over to the Ghana Air Force to be use for the protection of the area as well as maintain these helicopters. So it cannot be true that those helicopters were not procured,” he revealed.

The co-chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw had earlier alleged that three out of the seven helicopters procured at a cost of one hundred and fifty million dollars ($ 150 million) for the Ghana Gas Company cannot be traced.

However, Mr. Jinapor described the claim as strange and ill-fated.

“The four helicopters were commissioned by former President John Mahama, Chinese Ambassador and the then CEO of the Ghana Gas Company, Dr. Sipa Yankey in public. Ghana Armed Forces are the ones managing the helicopters; we all know that. Ghana Gas does not have the pilots to fly the helicopter.”

“I am surprise that management say they are not aware of any procurement of the helicopters but we are ready to make every document available to the Ghanaian populace,” he explained

The former Deputy Minister of Power said the allegation is an attempt to throw mud at the previous administration questioning the competence of the managers of the facility.