Eugene Arhin cannot justify Akufo-Addo’s ‘Luxury Monster’ flight – Ablakwa
The North Tongu MP says the Director of Communications at the Presidency cannot justify the claim that President Akufo-Addo chartered a German-based private jet operator – K5-Aviation, on his recent trips to Belgium and Rwanda.
In an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Friday, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that the explanation by Euegene Arhin does not suffice.
“It cannot suffice. You see, these people should credit Ghanaians with some intelligence. When you were entering Brussels, you went through France by train, so it is immaterial, totally irrelevant that there was some strike in Brussels.
“The same way you entered Brussels via train through Paris, you could have gone via train through any European destination…There can be absolutely no justification for the kind of confirmation that Eugene Arhin is giving us in that statement,” he stated.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had criticised the President for costing the Ghanaian taxpayer €20,000 an hour for flying the “luxury monster”.
“For President Akufo-Addo’s current trip to Belgium and Rwanda, we can confirm a conservative bill of €480,000.00. The €480,000 which is derived from 21 hours of total flight time plus other industry charges works out to some ¢4.1 million at the current exchange rate,” the MP said in a Facebook post.
But Mr Arhin, in response to the allegations, explained that the Office of the President had earlier been notified by Ghana’s Mission of an aviation strike in Brussel.
This strike, he said, could not allow the President to use a direct commercial flight from Brussels to Kigali. Hence, the decision to charter a flight for the President and his entourage to make it on time to the event in Kigali.
However, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said the explanation is “irrelevant”.
Responding to the issue about the security of the President for which the flight was chartered, the North Tongu MP argued that the Presidential Jet could have been used.
“All of these afterthoughts, these totally illogical explanations would have relevance if Ghana did not have a functioning Presidential jet.
“We have a functioning Presidential jet that his predecessors used. It is only 12 years old now. There are other Presidents who are queuing to use our jets,” he said.
According to him, three Minority MPs, together with himself, have a pending motion for a full-scale bi-partisan inquiry into presidential travel with private jets.
“My colleagues; Zanetor Agyemang Rawlings, James Agalga, Ato Forson and I have a pending motion, and one of the things we will do is go back to the motion and respectfully plead with the Speaker so we can have this bi-partisan inquiry because this cannot continue,” he noted.
Source: Ghana News
