Staff of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) have assigned reasons to their recent declaration of a strike over the encroachment of aviation lands at the La Wireless Station, adjacent the AU Village in Accra.
According to staff members, the strike action was instigated by a signal jam experienced by the Air Navigation Services (ANS), during a return trip by President Akufo-Addo from Mali this week.
The staff posits that, it was an alarming the ANS – the department within the GCAA and responsible for managing air traffic – could not get clear signals of the President’s Jet which was in Ghana’s airspace due to activities on the aviation lands by a private developer.
The staff say the development is getting scary and action needs to be taken to avert any possible disaster or ruin the nation’s enviable air traffic plaudits.
“With what happened to the Presidential Jet we have all resolved that enough is enough and until we see documentation or get a hard proof that government is going to drive away encroachers on the land we will send a strong signal that we are doing this not for the good of ourselves but for the nation,” said William Amoako, Spokesperson for the Coalition of GCAA workers
According to documents seen by the B&FT, the La Traditional Council, who initially designated the land to the GCAA for aviation purposes, has reclaimed portions of the land legally and sold it to a private developer who is working on it.
But the staff say part of the portion being worked on by the private developer does not only house junior staff bungalows but also sensitive aviation installations underground and activities on the land is disrupting signals from the La Wireless Station.
The Union embarked on a strike action yesterday, Wednesday, October 14, 2020 as part of measures to impress on management and the state to protect aviation lands.
The Ministers for Aviation and Interior as well as Employment and Labour Relations are reported to have engaged in an ad-hoc meeting with the striking staff to resolve the situation.
The Minister for Aviation, Joseph Adda, after the meeting with the striking staff of GCAA, is reported to have stated that Government will need more time to find lasting solutions to the issue.
“We have come to some understanding on the window that we need to resolve the matters that are before us now. That is, to be able to get some time frame to relocate some of our staff that are in bungalows that have to be reconverted into new developments and also some of the developments that have to take place in the government allocated lands which are closer to the transmitters and receivers stations. We will need some more time to be able to resolve these matters,” he said.
