Hopeson Adorye, a former member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has accused the Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, of snatching a job earmarked for him at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based Neat FM on Monday, May 7, 2024, Adorye said that plans were underway for him to take charge of the operation of the VIP section of Terminal 3 at the KIA, on behalf of National Security.
He said that but when the executive secretary to the president got wind of this, he schemed and rather got his wife to take charge of the operation at the VIP section.
Adorye alleged that Asante Bediatuo’s wife now charges every person who comes through the VIP section of Terminal 3, an amount of $300, with the state not getting anything from this.
“Nobody knows this, but Asante Bediatuo took my job and gave it to his wife. This is the evidence I have. Go to Terminal 3, at the extreme right there is a VIP section, labelled CID, and check who is working there.
“The work they are doing there is going into their pockets. If a passenger goes there, they charge the person $300. Ask if they have even paid GH₵1 to the Ghana Airport Company. The government borrowed money to set up this CID, but now one person is there taking the money from it to enrich himself. We’re tired,” he said in the Twi dialect.
The former NPP member, who is now a leading member of Alan Kyerematen’s Movement for Change, went on to narrate the supposed events which apparently led to Asante Bediatuo’s wife taking over the VIP section at Terminal 3.
“I was at the VIP section of Terminal 2, and the foreign minister, Ayorkor Botchwey, said she wanted only diplomats to use the place, so National Security should move from there and go and use the VIP (at Terminal 3).
“On 26th December 2018, Boxing Day, we were at the airport planning on how to move to the new VIP… then all of a sudden I got a call and was told that they wanted a private person to take charge of the place for one year,” he said.
He added, “I was shocked but I didn’t say anything. We were there and we saw that they (the private company) had moved to the place. I went to check and I saw it was Asante Bediatuo’s wife who was there, and she had even recruited some of the national service personnel who used to work with me. I was pained, but I didn’t speak about this to anyone.”
Watch his remarks in the video below: