Indigenous Ghanaian companies providing security services for airlines are worried that security at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) stands compromised as a foreign company is providing security services for airlines at the airport with the support of National Security.
A petition by indigenous Ghanaian companies to the National Security Co-ordinator and copied to the Chief of Staff, Minister of Interior, Minister of Transport, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and Ghana Airport Company Limited said, “We raise red flag about this unnecessary compromise to our sovereign security as a nation at the instance of that permission given to a foreign company”.
What is even alarming is that the foreign company, Pathfinders International from Nigeria, started operating at KIA in 2009 with the support of National Security, which gave the company a letter at a time when the company did not even have Ghanaian license to operate.
According to the indigenous companies, “the foreign company is not properly licensed to operate in Ghana and but have a Ghanaian fronting for them in a clearly flawed partnership arrangement of 90% Nigerian and 10% Ghanaian”.
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According to the petitioners, they complained to the state security apparatus regarding the issue but nothing has been done about it.
The petitioners noted that in 2006, the Nigerian company tried entering the industry in Ghana but was refused.
The indigenous Ghanaian companies accused Pathfinders International of abusing the system by constantly undercutting the service charge prices in order to get the business, and has succeeded in taking business away from Ghanaian companies in some instances.
“These negative acts are gradually weakening Ghanaian businesses and disposing us in our own country”, the petition said.
Some indigenous Ghanaian companies say they are on the verge of losing some contracts to the Nigerian company, which will result in many employees losing their jobs.
For example, one company has said some 60 workers could lose their jobs if the foreign company should take away one of their clients.
The Finder can report that GCAA, in a letter, acknowledged receipt of the petition and pledged to revert to the local companies as soon as investigations are completed.
In response to the petition, the Ministry of Transport has also written to the Ghana Airport Company to investigate the matter and report back.
