Member of Parliament for North Tongu in the Volta region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has been exposed by the Presidency over his claims that the President is wasting taxpayer’s money by hiring private jets for official trips.
The Office of the President has described as inaccurate assertions that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo chartered a luxurious flight to Brussels and Kigali at the expense of the Ghanaian taxpayer.
A response issued by Director of Communications Eugene Arhin on Friday, June 24, 2022 said the assertions by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP were only propaganda.
In giving the facts of the matter, Mr. Arhin indicated that before President Akufo-Addo departed from Accra on Sunday, June 19, 2022 Ghana’s Mission in Brussels had sent a notice about an impending strike in the aviation sector in Belgium.
“This was going to result in the cancellation of over three hundred (300) flights, including those from Brussels to Kigali.
“In furtherance of this, Belgium’s largest airport, Brussels Airport, was compelled to cancel all outgoing flights on Monday, 20th June, the day President Akufo-Addo arrived in Brussels because employees at the airport had joined in an aviation strike.
“With the Presidency having been given prior information regarding the strike action before the President’s trip to Brussels, the option to travel using direct commercial flight from Brussels to Kigali was not available.”
It explained that the decision, therefore, to charter a flight for the President was to let him make it to Kigali in time.
Below are the full statements;
BY Daniel Bampoe