It was in the year of our Lord 2025, on the 7th of May, to be precise, when a respectable procession of coats and kente-clad technocrats posed dutifully before a blank projector screen. Smiling, possibly hopeful, or dutifully resigned, a 10-member task force had just been inaugurated by the Government of Ghana to oversee the establishment of a national airline.
A moment of déjà vu, as the eagle’s egg was once again placed in the incubator of Ghanaian bureaucracy, warmed by patriotic chants, yet chilled by the winds of history.
History, as they say, is a better teacher than the Ministry of Transport. Ghana Airways, founded in 1958, was the feather in Nkrumah’s cap, a bold post-independence symbol of Black excellence with wings. With its iconic red, yellow, and green livery, it danced in the skies from London to Monrovia, commanding pride from Accra to Tamale.
But alas, it wasn’t long before the eagle got tired mid-flight.
By the 1990s, our beloved airline had become less a symbol of sovereignty than of insolvency. Politically appointed managers flew first class while bills flew higher. Aircraft aged, debts ballooned, and fuel tanks ran dry. By 2004, the once-proud carrier had racked up over $160 million in debt and was finally grounded, not because it ran out of altitude, but because it ran out of accountability.
The ghost of Ghana Airways still haunts our tarmacs, its memory embalmed in rusting hangars and unpaid terminal benefits.
Ghana International Airlines: Another Chicken Without Feathers
Then came the phoenix, Ghana International Airlines, a so-called public-private partnership. But as is custom with our national experiments, we handed over the plane before we asked who would pay for the fuel. That airline, too, went down without a proper autopsy.
So here we are again, repacking old dreams in new briefcases. A task force has been formed, because when we lack wings, we create committees.
Let’s be honest. This move is not an act of economic vision but of national nostalgia, like trying to bring back NS Roméo because someone misses cassettes.
Firstly, the skies over Ghana are already crowded. Emirates, KLM, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, and a dozen others shuttle passengers across continents, offering reliability, safety, and meals that don’t require local subsidies.
Secondly, we are a country where teachers strike for chalk, nurses reuse gloves, and basic roads are sculpted by potholes deep enough to require archaeological permits. In such a country, should government funds taxi toward an airline hangar instead of a district hospital?
Thirdly, private airlines like Africa World Airlines (AWA) are already proving that Ghanaians can run a decent airline, quietly, without parading ten board members before cameras. Perhaps it is time we supported such ventures rather than shadowbox them with nationalistic ambition.
Let’s glance eastward to Kenya Airways. Dubbed “The Pride of Africa,” it now requires state bailouts just to pay ground staff. South African Airways? Flown into bankruptcy. Nigeria Air? Still stuck in traffic on the runway of bureaucracy. Are we flying into this turbulence with our eyes wide shut?
If wisdom were wings, perhaps we would stay grounded.
Policy by Press Conference?
The most worrying part of this initiative is not even the initiative itself, but the absence of an aviation policy that explains why. What does the task force seek to do that hasn’t already been done, or undone? Where is the feasibility study? The market gap? The business plan? Or is this merely another ribbon-cutting ceremony awaiting its inevitable obituary?
Redirecting Our Radar: A Better Flight Plan
If we are serious about aviation, let us:
- Strengthen the Civil Aviation Authority so it can police the skies, not politicize them.
- Modernize our airports and regional terminals, not just Kotoka.
- Provide incentives for private players who already know how to fly without a parachute.
- Focus on education, healthcare, power, and job creation, the things that actually keep Ghanaians on the ground alive.
The Verdict: A Cockpit Without Controls
Ghana’s fixation with a national airline is like our obsession with rebranding ministries, changing the signage without changing the systems. In a country where ECG can’t power a fan consistently and water rationing is the norm, should we be romanticizing the clouds?
Let the metaphor be clear: not all eagles should fly, especially when they’re made of cardboard.
Let us not invest scarce national resources in a second Ghana Airways just to attend its funeral in a decade.
Because sometimes, the bravest thing a country can do is not take off.
