Airports disinfection contract not diverted — Aviation Minister
The Ministry of Aviation has said due process was followed in engaging Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, to disinfect airports in the country.
It explained that the company was engaged because it had the requisite capacity to carry out a “rapid exercise”.
The ministry said following the lifting of the lockdown of Accra as part of measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it became necessary to prepare the airports for the commencement of domestic flights, after the airlines had expressed their readiness to begin flights.
Statement
This was contained in a statement issued in Accra yesterday in response to media reports that suggested that the ministry had diverted a contract which had earlier been awarded to LCB Worldwide (LCB) to embark on the disinfection exercise.
The statement, which was signed by the sector Minister, Mr Kofi Adda, said the allegation had no basis.
“The attention of the Ministry of Aviation has been drawn to media reports accusing the Minister of Aviation, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, and the Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Mr Yaw Kwakwa, of diverting a contract that had been awarded to LCB Worldwide (LCB) for the disinfection of airports in Ghana.
“The allegation is designed to force the ministry and the GACL to contract the company’s services under duress,” it added.
No contract
According to the ministry, as far as available records showed, the GACL had co contract with LCB.
“Inasmuch as the ministry and its agencies welcome companies interested in any aspect of business in the sector which they qualify to undertake, especially the likes of LCB, which may have specialised products and services relevant to the operations of the aviation industry, the ministry and its agencies will not countenance any engagement that does not go through due process, as provided for under the Public Procurement Act.
“By the standards and procedures of the sector ministry and its agencies, LCB has no contractual relationship with the GACL and, therefore, the accusation of contract diversion is blatantly false,” it said.
Concerns
The statement further said recent media interviews granted by Messrs David Kwadwo Amoateng and Nana Poku, who are the Greater Accra Regional Branch Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), were not only “ill-informed” but also calculated to cause disaffection for Mr Adda and Mr Kwakwa.
According to the statement, matters of aviation policy and airport management principles and standards, as well as internationally approved procedures, were highly specialised subjects which Messrs Amoateng and Poku were not sufficiently qualified to make pronouncements or pass judgment on.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we state emphatically that neither the Minister for Aviation nor the MD of the GACL has diverted any contract for LCB, and may we also add that the latter has no contract with either the MoA or the GACL to undertake any form of disinfection or installation of any types of gadgets, as the governing board of the GACL has not approved such a contract for LCB.
“We nonetheless, concede that LCB has a contract with the ministries of Transport and Health, and the scope of work in that contract, as we understand it, is squarely for the disinfection of the ports of Tema and Takoradi, and not airports, which are not under the purview of the two ministries which entered into the contract with LCB,” it stated.
Proposal
The statement, however, indicated that the LCB had earlier offered to undertake a similar disinfection exercise for the GACL at a cost of $19 million.
“The Governing Board of the GACL did not find this acceptable and turned down the offer, as it would further add to a higher ticket cost for travellers,” it added.
It said the development did not in any way prevent the LCB from continuing with its bid to make installations of appropriate gadgets at the airports, subject to approval by the Governing Board of the GACL, and given consideration to costs and related matters.