The recently adjudged best airport in Africa, Kotoka International Airport (KIA) leaks very badly anytime it rains.
This came to light when about 300 workers of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) who wore red shirts with red arm and head bands were agitating for a 20% increase in their salaries as against management’s decision to give them what they described as a paltry 5% last week.
After holding a durbar which was addressed by the chairman of the local union to fashion out ideas on the way forward, the workers decided to, as they put it, inspect some ongoing renovation works being undertaken at the airport for which management had denied them their request of 20% increment in salaries.
At the arrival hall leading to where relatives expect their love ones, it was detected that the best airport in Africa had crakes at a part of the roof which according to the workers, water seeped through anytime it rains.
“The roof leaked at several places anytime and badly when Accra is showered with heavy rains,” a worker said.
According to the workers, security scanners and other equipment were damaged, switched off or had to be taken off the hook because officials feared a short-circuit from the leaks.
“The domestic flights terminal of the airport is worse, just look at the holes up there, this project was started by the erstwhile government and is still the same and you call this the best in Africa, God have mercy on us.
“Anytime it rains there, the ticketing and reservation officers don’t work my sister “stressing that the award was bought.
When DAYBREAK’s reporter pushed him to validate his assertion, the worker said “We cannot even compare ourselves to airports within the suburb region….so it should tell you that in Africa we are no where. Go and check the world’s number one airport magazine and see where we are ranked, not in the first 100 because Johannesburg with all the facilities is ranked 70 something.
“They should let us know the passenger traffic, traffic movements and cargo movements so that we can judge, we lack the necessary infrastructure and if you say at a staff durbar that passenger movement was 1.5 million compared with prior year of 1.3 million with others on the same continent above that mark how can you be the best in Africa”.
DAYBREAK learnt that after the mini demonstration, leaders of the local union went to lodge a formal complaint with the National Labour Commission to help resolve the impasse
