Civil Aviation Authority owes GMet over GH¢50 million in statutory payments - Dr Asuman

The Director-General of the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), Dr Eric Asuman, has revealed that the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) owes the agency more than GH¢50 million in statutory payments.

According to him, the outstanding payments are putting financial pressure on GMet and affecting its ability to sustain some of its operations.

He said the agency requires adequate funding to strengthen weather forecasting, aviation meteorology and other critical services.

Under the amended Ghana Meteorological Agency Act, 2019 (Act 1002), the GCAA is required to remit 10% of en-route, overflight and landing fees to GMet.

The Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) is also required to pay 5% of airport passenger taxes to the agency.

Dr Asuman said an agreement was reached in March 2026 for the GCAA to settle the outstanding arrears; however, the payments have not been fully made.

Speaking in an interview with Channel One TV on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, he identified GMet's lack of access to the GCAA's flight database as one of the major challenges facing the agency.

According to him, GMet has made repeated efforts to gain access to the database but has been unsuccessful.

He said the lack of access prevents the agency from independently verifying flight movements and determining whether the statutory payments made by the GCAA are accurate.

He noted that the dispute has persisted for several years and has even required the intervention of Parliament's Select Committee.

“Somewhere in 2023, Ghana Airports Company started paying its share of its contribution to the Ghana Meteorological Agency as stated by the Act. What they did was to request IATA, as an international air transport institution, to set GMet up in their system so that GMet’s share of the fund would be sent to GMet directly,” he explained.

“IATA advised that Civil Aviation should give them an authorisation letter, authorising them to do the same for their share that should come to GMet,” he said.

“But as we speak, since 2023 till now, that letter has not been sent. And when they also receive their funds, they don’t transmit the GMet component, which is 10% of landing fees and 10% of en-route fees, as stipulated by law, to GMet,” he added.

Dr Asuman therefore called for a mechanism that would allow GMet to independently verify flight data and ensure that all statutory payments due to the agency are properly calculated and paid.

ANAS/MA