...I'll Reward Anyone Who Identifies the House Afgo Has Given
Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority(GCAA), has dared any one, especially those he described as his detractors, to come up with information of the address and location of the property they claim Africa Ground Operations Limited(AFGO), owned by Marwan Traboulsi, had given him not to pursue the move to break the company's monopoly over cargo handling at the Kotoka International Airport
"I want to let my adversaries know that the stories they are peddling about me, Traboulsi, AFGO and others are all absolute lies," he declared.
Speaking to the Chronicle in an exclusive interview in Accra yesterday, he stressed he had never met Traboulsi before and junior officials of AFGO who came to see him sometime ago met him in the presence of GCAA officials and the interactions were "crisp and sharp."
Dr. Tuffuor said he has enough assets from his own sweat and tears and by God's grace to succumb to someone else's cheap and possibly ill-gotten wealth of any sort.
"I've heard of some wicked lies of somebody buying a house for me and I challenge anybody, anywhere and at anytime to come up with information of the address of the property and its location," he shot out, adding that he would personally reward that person if he could do such a thing.
According to him, his delay in taking action against AFGO stems from the fact that he should be most sensitive about how the government would be looked at and viewed against the background of government protection of foreign investment and matching that against what is fair play and what is rough tactics, so that he could come up with a clear- cut decision that will protect the government's stand and interests.
"My closeness to the President makes it absolutely important for me to act properly, since wrong actions will be bad publicity for the President, even though good actions will not be talked about," he contended.
According to Dr. Tuffuor, he was and still is personally angered about the AFGO monopoly and its implications to the promotion of the export sector of the economy through the airport
He said was currently at the position when he had established a well balanced committee that will come out with the exact actions that need to be taken, given the background of what happened historically and the court actions that took place and are still going on.
He explained that at the appropriate time when the committee is ready he would crave public indulgence and come out boldly and dismiss the monopoly.
The GCAA board chairman said he would be introducing the committee to the Minister of Roads and Transport, who is in charge of GCAA and Ghana Airways.
"For the moment, I want to warn the management of AFGO trying to find ways of meeting me. I've never been interested and will never be interested," he asserted.
When asked to give an update on AFGO monopoly and steps being taken to break it, Dr. Tuffuor said since the NPP government believes in the rule of law, in establishing the kind of procedure, he was still pursuing a systematic approach in dealing with the situation.
He said his first line of action was to establish certain modalities as to how to handle cargo at the airport, indicating the kind of benefits in having competition which will bring down handling charges lower to the average Ghanaian or exporter, and the type of efficiency or security that will be needed.
He said they had also looked at the kind of smuggling activities going at the cargo village and how to curb it in the event that other cargo stations or depots are established.
According to him, Ghana Airways lost a lot when they were forced to abandon their cargo handling.
"We are therefore looking at how Ghana Airways can efficiently get back into cargo handling, so that GCAA can assist the national carrier that probably handles about 80 per cent of all cargo that passes through our airport."
Dr. Tuffuor said he was more than convinced that the action by the NDC government to give AFGO the monopoly was totally unfair against Ghana Airways and against the nation's economy in the promotion of businessmen and indigenous people, especially those in the export sector
He assured he would honestly discharge his duties to the best of his ability, working solidly with his board members and the management of GCAA "to put to stop all those lies and fabrications that are making the rounds, mainly propelled by parties whose sole aim is to create confusion so that they can continue their smuggling and other nefarious activities the airport."
