The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has described the reply by the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, on the President’s expensive flights as one that appears to say much about nothing.
Commenting on the reply by Mr. Arhin, Mr. Ablakwa intimated that the Director of Communication seems chronically allergic to truth.
“It was Chief Joseph who famously remarked that ‘it does not require many words to speak the truth’. The 6-page prolix from Mr. Eugene Arhin appears to say much about nothing.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
According to Okudzeto Ablakwa, at the end of a rather circumlocutory and depressing read, one is left with a clear impression that officials at Ghana’s presidency are now being tormented by pangs of conscience and the fury of the Ghanaian people after being exposed, that despite a loud promise to protect the public purse, President Akufo-Addo has engaged in the most obscene dissipation and utter profligacy on chartered ultra-luxury jets when Ghana owns a Presidential Jet in pristine condition.
“I must, however, express gratitude to the lavish Presidency for yet another confirmation and affirmation of the outcome of all our diligent and unimpeachable tracking of President Akufo-Addo’s ostentatious escapades over the last 13-months — during which period, the President’s 8 oligarchic charters have cost the struggling Ghanaian taxpayer a frightening GHS34million.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The North Tongu MP stated that Ghana’s Presidential Jet, the Dassault Falcon 900EX, was not manufactured for short haul travel as Mr. Arhin claims. He disclosed that Ghana’s Falcon 900EX can fly at least 9-hours non-stop before requiring a refueling break.
“The Falcon 900EX version is a long-range business tri-jet aircraft which features three Honeywell TFE731-60 turbofan engines, improved central fuel tank capacity plus an additional rare tank, with a range of 8,340km (4,501nm; 5,180 miles).”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Mr. Ablakwa posited that he notes a wearisome effort to provide a long list of self-serving achievements from President Akufo-Addo’s trips abroad. “Mr. Eugene Arhin suggesting that the President wouldn’t have achieved same if he had used our Presidential Jet?”. He stated that it is quite apparent that apart from frugality, empathy and transparency, logic is the other missing commodity at the seat of government.
“Like many, I wonder about the relevance of touting the President’s extensive travel history before joining public service, particularly, when the Presidency failed to provide any scintilla of evidence that Nana Akufo-Addo as a private citizen ever chartered a €20,000 an hour ultra-luxury jet.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The North Tongu MP averred that many Ghanaians miss the legendary and inspiring modesty of the Mills/Mahama era. According to him, it was the genuine desire of both leadership and the citizenry after the 2008 elections that Ghana did not have to purchase two Presidential Jets and the decision to cut back remains one of the party’s proudest moments, irrespective of what the “aristocratic Akufo-Addo presidency” thinks.
Public funds belong to the people
Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that the Akufo-Addo-led government must understand that public funds belong to the people and leaders have no choice but to be accountable to them.
“It is most offensive and absolutely abominable that after 9-pages of two long-winding statements, Ghana’s Presidency refuses to address the following: The cost of Akufo-Addo’s Arabian King travels; who advised the President not to use the Presidential Jet for long-haul travel, why the choice of the most expensive jets in the fleets of the luxury aviation companies so far contacted, why is government refusing to account to the people’s representatives in Parliament after I offered the Ministers of Finance, Defence and National Security golden opportunities with my Parliamentary Questions?”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The Lawmaker intimated that financial oversight and rigorous checks and balances remain the cardinal responsibilities of Members of Parliament in every functioning democracy. As such, he will not shirk that noble obligation imposed on him by the 1992 Constitution, regardless of the personal attacks and pathetic diatribes from lackeys of the President.
“As MP, Hon. Nana Akufo-Addo ensured President Jerry John Rawlings (God bless his soul) was democratically ‘kept in check’ including opposing his decision to purchase a new Presidential Jet (the Gulfstream GIII), as the Parliamentary Hansard affirms.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Mr. Ablakwa averred that President Akufo-Addo cannot promise to protect the public purse, appeal to Ghanaians facing the harshest economic conditions in more than two decades, and be compounding the nation’s economic predicament by the financial burden his extravagant lifestyle imposes on suffering Ghanaians.
“Ghana’s battered public purse still belongs to we the people, and absolutely nothing is going to stop us from demanding prudence and accountability. A luta continua; vitória é certa!”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
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