The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has repeated his penchant for monitoring the President’s travel with accusations of wastefulness, but Jubilee House has contradicted his claim.
According to Jubilee House, the Falcon 900EX was out the country for major repair works, which are long overdue.
The North Tongu MP had accused the Presidency of jettisoning the Presidential Jet for a commercial flight for his current trip to the Netherlands and France, when the same jet had flown to Paris, France, at a time the President was billed to go there.
He indicated that the government should have pursued judiciousness by harmonising both travels to save taxpayer funds, citing the economic crisis.
This is not the first time the Office of the President has had to correct what it described as propaganda by the North Tongu MP over the President’s travels.
Before this, in September last year, the MP put out that the President had charted LX-DIO, operated by Global Jet Luxemborg, for his Global Education Summit in the United Kingdom.
The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, addressing the Presidential Press Corps, said the MP had peddled falsehood, as the President did not use that flight. He, therefore, challenged the MP to put out his contrary evidence, but that never materialised.
CURRENT TRIP
Hitherto, Okudzeto Ablakwa had been consistent on tracking the President’s trip and had been criticising the Presidency for chartering aircraft for almost every travel.
He took to his Facebook page on Tuesday that the excuse of the Presidency that the Falcon 900EX could not travel direct beyond six hours could not be held, as the jet had flown six hours and twenty minutes from Accra to Paris.
His post sought to know who flew the Presidential Jet to France, and for what purpose, adding that:
“Why did government not pursue judiciousness and frugality by harmonising both travels to save taxpayer funds, particularly in this period of IMF bailout economic crisis, especially considering that the Presidential Jet flew to the same enclave within the same week of the President’s travel?”
Mr. Ablakwa expects President Akufo-Addo to return to Ghana tomorrow with the Presidential Jet “or the wastefulness will continue with the apparently needless multiple opaque flight arrangements?” he asked.
PRESIDENCY RESPONSE
However, Jubilee House responded to the claims by the MP and said contrary to those insinuations no one used the Presidential Jet which left Ghana on Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who published the response on his Facebook page, indicated that the only people who flew the jet to France were the crew, made up of pilots from the Ghana Air Force.
According to him, the Falcon 900EX was in France “for major repair works to be carried out on it—repair works which were very much long overdue.”
The Ghana Air Force has indicated that the Presidential Jet would be out of service for a total of four months, and would return to Ghana and be available for use in December.
The Presidency said it beat the imagination how Ablakwa expected the President to return to Ghana tomorrow from his current trip to the Netherlands and France on board the jet, which was not available.
“In view of this, how Hon. Ablakwa expects President Akufo-Addo to return to Ghana on Saturday, 10th September, from his current trip to the Netherlands and France on board the Presidential Jet, which is undergoing major repair works and is scheduled to return to Ghana in December, beats my imagination.
I would urge Hon. Ablakwa to minimise his penchant for engaging in propaganda regarding the Presidential Jet, to avoid further embarrassments to his person,” he ended.
DEFENCE MINISTER
Meanwhile, in an interview with JoyNews in May this year, the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, said the Presidential Jet would, by the end of that month, go to France for re-servicing.
He said: “By the end of this month, we will not have a presidential jet because the one we have is going to France for re-service; it’s one of the reasons the President will not use it for four to five months.”
