The Defence and Finance Ministers will appear in Ghana’s Parliament this week to answer questions over the president’s alleged misuse of nearly GH2.8 million for the hiring of a private jet for “international excursions.”
NDC MP and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a Facebook post describes the decision to rent a private jet for £15,000 an hour, for the president’s recent foreign travel, as an “outrage” and “betrayal.”
“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,” Ablakwa wrote.
According to the Business Statement (which spells out the planned business of parliament) for this week, Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul will be in Parliament on Wednesday to respond to Ablakwa’s question on “whether the Presidential Jet (Dassault Falcon-9G-EXE) is in good condition and air-worthy.”
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, will on Thursday also respond to a question on “how much the President’s recent official travels to France, Belgium, and South Africa in May this year, cost the Ghanaian taxpayer.”
Ablakwa claims per his calculation that, President Akufo-Addo has spent about GH¢2.8 million on the trip.
Analyzing President Akufo-Addo’s latest trip to Europe in detail, Ablakwa writes that
“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 ¢2,828,432.80.”
He describes the Airbus ACJ320neo owned by Acropolis Aviation based in Farnborough, UK, and registered as G-KELT as “the most luxurious and the most expensive in the Acropolis fleet.”
The manufacturers describe it as “the most outstanding ambassador for Airbus Corporate Jets.”
