A Senior Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Kofi Bentil, has blamed the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) for the confusion that erupted after the launch of private jet operations by McDan Aviation.

According to him, McDan Aviation cannot be faulted for all the back-and-forth that ensued, stating the Aviation Authority lost track of doing the needful.

His comment was in reaction to a directive issued by the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) to the newly launched McDan Aviation managers to suspend the use of Terminal 1 of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) until further notice.

“It was their job to make sure that the Ghana Airports Company does not go into arrangements that compromise the Airport. But, clearly, the Civil Aviation Authority has not been able to that.

"The Ghana Airports Company, having the right to manage persons like McDan who also have the right to do business in their own country and to prosper thereof, clearly lost track.”

“McDan cannot get up as a businessman and go and start construction at an airport that is internationally rated. If they didn’t do it and McDan proceeded, I will not fault McDan,” he said on Newsfile on Saturday, February 12.

Meanwhile, an Aviation Expert, Dr. Yakubu Akparibo, has stated that the Managing Director of McDan Aviation Services, Daniel McKorley, should have secured the approval of the Ghana Airports Company before constructing the Private Jet Terminal.

This he said is because “the Airports Company needs to know the time, the location of the facility and the number of staff and the kind of jets.”

Speaking on Joy FM's TopStory on Tuesday, February 8, he noted that this is essential due to the safety implications they may have on the operations of the Airport.

“Aviation operation is well structured and before any modification happens in an airport, there are always due processes to follow. I’m very surprised that the Airport company would come out earlier to say that they were not even aware of the construction of the Terminal,” he noted.

In a related development, the Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament, Sam George, says Yaw Kwakwa, who was recently dismissed as Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company, was simply caught in the crossfire between powerful entities flexing their muscle.

“Is the unfortunate victim of powerplay between two elephants. Now we’re hearing roundabout that the President has not terminated, the President has asked the board to consider termination as a shareholder… Was that what the letter said?” he quizzed.

“This post-facto rationalisation and realising that people who may have had interest have used the President’s office to act in ways that may not even sit well with good corporate governance and that they are rerouting it through the board."

He insisted that there is no need to beat about the bush if someone within the chain was seeking to have Yaw Kwakwa axed from the GACL for certain interests.