The Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region, Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa’s consistent call on President Akufo-Addo to desist from travelling on expensive chartered private jets seems to be yielding results.

According to the MP, Ghana’s presidential jet has just made its longest journey in more than four years after it ferried President Akufo-Addo to the United States, landing at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey yesterday at 8:21 a.m. US time.

He said the presidential jet made the trip requiring only one brief refuelling stop at Santa Maria following an 11:33 p.m. departure from Accra on Monday, March 27, 2023.

He explained that this 13-hour trip has finally exposed and totally silenced all government propagandists who claimed the Dassault Falcon 900EX was not a long-range aircraft fit for flying to the Americas and, therefore, President Akufo-Addo was justified in wasting over a GHS100million of taxes on €20,000-an-hour chartered luxury jets for his earlier sybaritic travels to Europe and the United States of America.

The Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs said this clearly shows that the presidential jet is fit for purpose. 

In a Facebook post, the lawmaker noted that he is absolutely convinced that without the revolt and palpable revulsion of the masses in reaction to this ‘sky bath scandal,’ President Akufo-Addo would have obstinately continued with his obscene extravagance at the expense of suffocating taxpayers as he was initially determined to do for more than 24 months.

Read Mr Ablakwa’s full post below:

Ghana’s Presidential Jet has just made its longest journey in more than 4 years after it ferried President Akufo-Addo to the United States landing at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey yesterday at 8:21am US time.

Requiring only one brief refueling stop at Santa Maria following an 11:33pm departure from Accra on Monday March 27, 2023; this 13-hour trip has finally exposed and totally silenced all government propagandists who claimed the Dassault Falcon 900EX was not a long-range aircraft fit for flying to the Americas, and therefore President Akufo-Addo was justified in wasting over a GHS100million of our taxes on €20,000-an-hour chartered luxury jets for his earlier sybaritic travels to Europe and the United States of America.

It seems to me that after 2 years of a sustained, spirited, selfless, courageous and patriotic campaign to get President Akufo-Addo to stop his countless profligate luxury charters and return to using Ghana’s coveted Presidential Jet, the Ghanaian people can now breathe a great sigh of relief because our collective democratic pressure has yielded the conduct we demanded. 

Regardless of Ghana’s current economic tribulations, and judging from the President’s overall track record as typified by his reckless refusal to reduce the size of his bloated government despite the economic meltdown and strong appeals from multiple quarters; I am absolutely convinced that without the revolt and palpable revulsion of the masses in reaction to this ‘sky bath scandal,’ he would have obstinately continued with his obscene extravagance at the expense of suffocating taxpayers as he was initially determined to do for more than 24 months.

People Power Always Wins!

We saved the battered public purse. This is Ghana’s Victory and not a personal triumph.

For God and Country