Akufo-Addo Dragged To Parliament For Allegedly Blowing GHS2.8M On Luxury Jet Trips
Okudzeto Ablakwa drags government to parliament over Akufo-Addo expensive trips
NDC Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that he has filed an urgent question in Parliament over what he considers to be wasteful expenditure on President Akufo-Addo’s foreign travels.
The MP has also alleged that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has spent an amount of GHS 2.8 million on his recent travels to only South Africa and France using the services of a private jet.
“The Airbus ACJ320neo owned by Acropolis Aviation based in Farnborough, UK and registered as G-KELT, is the most luxurious and the most expensive in the Acropolis fleet. The manufacturers describe it as “the most outstanding ambassador for Airbus Corporate Jets.” It costs the Ghanaian taxpayer approximately £15,000 an hour when President Akufo-Addo rents it”, the legislator alleged in a post on Facebook.
He accused the President of blowing the money “to satisfy his insatiable appetite and comfort at the expense of the suffering masses”.
“Let’s further analyze President Akufo-Addo’s latest trip to Europe: per Flightradar24, the G-KELT aircraft left Accra with the President to Paris on the 16th of May — a 6 and half hour duration. Airlifted the President from Paris to Johannesburg for 11 hours on the 23rd of May.”
“Then Johannesburg to Accra on the 25th of May was a five and half hour flight. This gives us accumulated flight travel of 23 hours; so at £15,000 an hour, it thus cost us a colossal £345,000. At the current exchange rate, that is a staggering GHS2,828,432.80”, he posted.
Evidence
When Mr. Ablakwa, who is also a Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament was asked in an interview if he could prove beyond reasonable doubt that the President indeed abandoned the state’s Falcon Jet and chartered a private flight for the trips, he said; “I can confirm on authority”, the MP insisted
He was pushed further to comment on what he knows about the current state of the Falcon.
He was specifically asked whether the Falcon may have developed any fault, for which reason the government had to seek the services of Acropolis Aviation.
He said, “That is why we are summoning the Defence Minister, who has oversight of the Air Force to tell us if the Falcon has developed a fault in these few days because we do know that the Falcon has been in pristine condition and that the other ministers have been using it. So we want to hear from the government on why the President chose that option”, he told Host, Umaru Sanda Amadu.
Government is yet to officially respond to the allegations.
Mr Ablakwa’s full statement
“President Akufo-Addo has been a leading voice for debt forgiveness in the international arena and back home has been imposing additional regressive taxes with the justification that the economy isn’t in a good place.
Sadly, he consistently fails to lead by example in a period of austerity where his government is appealing to struggling public sector workers to lower-wage increase expectations.
It is an outrage and a blatant betrayal for Ghana to own a presidential aircraft in perfect working condition which was ordered by President Kufuor, used by President Mills and President Mahama; and yet President Akufo-Addo chooses to charter a top-of-the-range luxury aircraft offered by Acropolis Aviation.
The Airbus ACJ320neo owned by Acropolis Aviation based in Farnborough, UK and registered as G-KELT is the most luxurious and the most expensive in the Acropolis fleet. The manufacturers describe it as “the most outstanding ambassador for Airbus Corporate Jets.” It costs the Ghanaian taxpayer approximately £15,000 an hour when President Akufo-Addo rents it.
The aircraft in issue is less than two years old and had only returned from Switzerland where it received the highest luxurious spruce up ever known in the aviation world just before President Akufo-Addo chose that particular luxurious monster. The jet can take up to 150 people in ordinary circumstances, however, it has been configured to accommodate only 17 royal passengers. The spectacularly opulent aircraft comes equipped with a lavish master bedroom, an imposing en-suite bathroom, monarchical dining facilities, and round-the-clock IT connectivity.
President Akufo-Addo undoubtedly has the greatest taste any Ghanaian President has ever had, but the question is, should that insatiable appetite for his creature comforts be at the expense of the suffering masses?
Let’s further analyze President Akufo-Addo’s latest trip to Europe: per Flightradar24, the G-KELT aircraft left Accra with the President to Paris on the 16th of May — a 6 and half hour duration. Airlifted the President from Paris to Johannesburg for 11 hours on the 23rd of May. Then Johannesburg to Accra on the 25th of May was a five and half hour flight. This gives us accumulated flight travel of 23 hours; so at £15,000 an hour, it thus cost us a colossal £345,000. At the current exchange, that is a staggering GHS2,828,432.80.
Aviation experts inform me it would have cost Ghana less than 15% of this 2.8million Ghana Cedis had President Akufo-Addo opted for Ghana’s available presidential jet which is in pristine condition. Alternatively, far more affordable travel arrangements are available which could have aligned with the President’s rhetoric for sympathy from the west for African nations.
The irony is that President Akufo-Addo engaged in this fantastic extravagance on his way to France to go beg President Emmanuel Macron for debt cancellation. Needless to add that President MacRon does not travel in such splendour.
Let us imagine what GHS2.8million could do for our country, particularly considering the mess in multiple sectors which has led to legitimate #FixTheCountryNow agitations by the youth.
I have therefore filed an urgent question in Parliament to compel the Akufo-Addo administration to be accountable to the Ghanaian people on this matter and ultimately to prick their conscience to end this obscene profligacy at this time of considerable economic hardships.
The African people deserve better from their leaders.”
By: Stella Annan |myactiveonline.com
This and more is what we get as a nation when we entrust others with responsibilities for them to be servants , yet gave them a framework to be demigods.
We are practicing a system of governance such that the same people we entrust the affairs of the nation should be the same people meant to approve to themselves, investigate themselves, report to themselves and prosecute themselves when they pervert, why wont they misappropriate our funds for their personal gain in the name of taken care of us.
African people deserve better from their system of governance, is the system that is a fraud, the actions and the reactions of the leaders are simply based on the dictates of the system. this system is despotic, is arbitrary, is totalitarian,and is arrant nonsense, the good people of this country don’t deserve this, who does this, who entrust he or her enterprise in the hands of others for them to self-regulate themselves and expect them to live up to expectations, who does this? Listen forget Ablakwa and the so called minority meant to check on the executives,
The oversight responsibilities are the mandate of parliament as a body not the so called minority, i always say that this type of representation is a fraud, when you are married to a woman whose job is to ensure that you are not shortchanged by the workers in your home, and rather is the maid servant, the makeweight, who seeks to be championing this interest of yours , you should know that your marriage is a fraud. Parliament needs to be independent, is the only way parliament can truly check on the executives not what we have. i strongly believe that the surge in irresponsibility of the executives is as a result of having the their rivals acting as a check on them. advice of a rival makes one irresponsible than responsible.
Stella, our system is simply a fraud and i am not surprised of the rot. we need a constitutional reform, where the police, the prosecution department and most importantly parliament are independent. this is what will truly serve our interest, or we shall die trying with this this this this thing.
Bro, I feel the pain and disappointment in your reaction. I have also been say a similar thing always. Why do we need to have our ministers as MPs or vice versa in the first place? Why do we have to have majority of ministers coming from parliament? They would support the side that feeds them more and that is the Executive so the checks and balance virtually becomes a mere paper work. Our Constitution needs total overhaul and until then we shall remain here because the system is designed to support and promote the rot we experience now.