The Chief Executive Officer of the McDan Group, Kwaku Ampromfi in a signed statement has refuted claims concerning a debt of $3m which has led to the closure of the company’s terminal at the Kotoka International Airport.
The management of GACL shut down operations of the Private Aviation company on Monday, December 30, 2024, after many discussions seeking to negotiate payment plans with the group had seemed futile.
According to an earlier statement from the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) which preceded the closure of the terminal, the GACL stated that the McDan Group owed the GACL a sum of US$3m which has been a long-standing debt.
The debt supposedly included, rental fees, land leases, terminal charges and other operational costs accumulated over some time.
The Chairman of the Ghana Airport Company Divisional Union of the Public Service Workers Union of TUC, Alhaji Issaka Bamba also in an interview with Starr FM, emphasized that the outstanding debt has been long overdue.
The McDan Aviation, a Private Jet terminal and air transport services company begun its operations at the Terminal 1 of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) since last three years after the terminal 3 of the KIA was commissioned for international use.
Although the decision by the GACL to grant McDan Group access to the Terminal 1 for private use as a Fixed Base Operator (FBO) Terminal met some criticisms, the GACL granted authorization to the group until February 2022 when the Terminal was closed for the first time due to operational breaches just few weeks after the company began its operations.
Being the second time, a similar incidence is occurring, Mr. Bamba expressed the union’s support for the management’s decision to shut down the terminal and warned that any other parties owing the GACL would face same consequences at the right time.
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However, the group CEO, Mr. Ampromfi argued that the said debt is not the actual debt owed as the company has made some payments to the GACL last week and has planned to resume paying from January 2025.
Acknowledging the company’s financial obligations, the group went on to explain that the said $3m debt included a $2m debt for a parcel of land they acquired from the GACL which is presently under litigation thus cannot be paid until the legal issues are resolved.
“So, we have told the Ghana Airport Company several times we have had conversations with them, that because it is under litigation, let’s suspend that for a moment until we clear the legal issues around it. The land is about $2 million thereabout.
Until it is resolved in the court, it doesn’t make business sense for anybody to be paying any hefty sums of money. So, we have communicated that several times to Ghana Airport,” explained the McDan Group CEO in an interview with Channel One News.
McDan Aviation expresses disappointment at the turn out of events, arguing that the action of the GACL would have adverse effects on the company and its operational services which includes financial loss to both parties, a stink on the company’s reputation, an indirect effect on employees of the group among many others.
“It is regrettable that the GACL has chosen this course of action, especially given that the matters at hand are unrelated,
Nevertheless, we remain committed to engaging in constructive dialogue to achieve a favorable resolution.” the statement concluded.
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