Stranded Ghana Air passengers demonstrate

Stranded passengers of the national carrier, Ghana Airways, will on Thursday have taken to the streets of Accra in protest of their continuous stay in the country.

The passengers who were scheduled to have travelled to Europe and the United States of America last month do not know when they will be airlifted due to the unavailability of aircraft.


Their street protest comes a day after the Police fired warning shots to disperse hundreds of angry passengers of the airline who had besieged the airline?s head office to protest their continued stay in Ghana.


Ghana Airways has been battling with the problem of aircraft for the past one-month and a half after its long haul aircraft were declared unsafe for flying.


The passengers have put together a two-page petition to be submitted to the Transport Ministry, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the management of Ghana Airways.


They are demanding that the management of the airline take care of their accommodation, daily allowance as well as give them information on when they would be airlifted to their various destinations.

A member of the stranded passengers, Michael Okodor told JoyNews that today?s demonstration would be peaceful.


?All of us will match and submit the petition. It shall be peaceful. We will go through town and appeal to President Kufuor to intervene to give us an aircraft to fly us out?, he said.


Personnel of the Airport Police in Accra on Wednesday had to fire warning shots at the Head office of Ghana Airways to disperse the angry stranded passengers.


The officer in charge of operations at the Airport police station, A. G. Kumah told JoyNews that the police had to fire warning shots to bring the chaotic situation under control.


?when we got here, the passengers were causing mayhem, pulling out glasses, looking out officials and even preventing the Chief Executive from moving her car. There was nothing we could do than to fire just one shot. This really helped in bringing the situation under control?, he said.

Some of the passengers travelling to Europe and the United States told JoyNews that they could no longer endure the disappointments of flight postponements.


They complained that they had been stranded in Accra for well over a month and the fear of losing their jobs was staring at them in the face.


Faced with uncertain future they had no other option than to call at the head office to register their displeasure.