Member of Parliament(MP) for North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is asserting that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo may not spend Ghc2.8 million Cedis again to rent a private jet upon sober reflection.
According to him, he has the conviction that the NPP Government led by President Akufo-Addo is embarrassed to the extent that since the Minority raised this matter of the private jet, there has not been any official response from the government.
“They have been embarrassed because this is a government communication that is very sharp. Just imagine if the government was not embarrassed about this, if they feel that our facts are not accurate, what they would have done because of even the national outrage that greeted this revelation. It is clear that the government was hoping that they will get away with this; they would not be caught, but it is wrong. You don’t even conceive this in the first place; you don’t contemplate such obscene extravagant,” he indicated.
Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, the former Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary said that it is outrageous for President Akufo-Addo to charter a private jet for 23 hours for Ghc2.8 million when there are legitimate concerns calling for attention.
“We should ask ourselves that this 2.8 million Cedis, how many incubators could they have bought? With the ‘No Bed’ syndrome, how many hospitals could have been expanded? With the 88 hospitals the government promised that they would be completed by now while one of them has not even started, such amount of money could have at least started this project,” he chided.
“Incubators are not in our hospitals, we don’t have potable water to drink and so some people have been fetching water from gutters in Tema. When you have all these challenges, you don’t use taxpayers’ money as you have admitted that the economy is not on a sound footing to go and pay for such obscene luxury; you don’t do that,” he added.
He mentioned that the vetting of Minister of State-designate at the Finance Ministry, Charles Adu-Boahen in Parliament revealed that there was additional cost as some government officials joined the President using first-class and economic class.
“ . . all of these additional costs, we need to know because two years ago, Ghanaians were outrage that when it came to budget approval, it came out that in 2019, the President had spent 65 million Cedis on presidential travel, and with the way we are going, if parliament does not step in and carry out our financial oversight, that figure may double or triple because this is just one trip,” he asserted.
To him, in order to develop the country, set the priority right, and protect the public purse, it is prudent for the Minority to summon the Defence Minister and the Finance Minister to tell Ghanaians the state of the Presidential Jet and the total cost spent on the Presidential travel for the 23 hours.
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