Presidency’s statement confirms Akufo-Addo used €20K per hour chartered jet – Ablakwa insists

The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that a statement by the presidency confirms that the president really spent €20,000 an hour of taxpayers’ money to charter a jet.

In a statement he shared on social media, the MP said that the statement issued by presidential spokesperson, Eugene Arhin, did not deny that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hired a luxurious jet during his recent trip to Rwanda.

“It is absolutely noteworthy that the statement signed by Mr Eugene Arhin confirms that indeed President Akufo Addo chartered an executive jet. The Presidency’s statement did not and could not have denied that they chartered the ostentatious €20,000 an hour ACJ319, registered D-Alex and operated by German-based K5-Aviation,” the MP’s statement posted on social media read.

He also said that the explanation given by Arhin that Akufo-Addo travelled to Belgium via a commercial flight makes no difference because the private jet waiting for the president still comes with a cost.

“To reasonable patriotic Ghanaians, it is certainly immaterial at what point the President who promised to protect the public purse decides to unconscionably and cruelly raid the purse – be it from Accra, Brussels, Kigali, London, Kabul, Nur-Sultan or Tbilisi – the value is the same.

“Mr Eugene Arhin ought to know that when you charter an aircraft, you are billed for the distance covered to arrive at the pick-up point, you are also billed for the waiting period which includes waiting time for the passenger, layover period for crew rest and the return. leg (as this was not an “empty leg” or “dead head” charter),” he said.

How Akufo-Addo traveled from Accra to Brussels

The Jubilee House statement indicated that the president did not travel to Belgium aboard a chartered Airbus ACJ319 as was being claimed. According to the statement, the president boarded a flight using the Air France Commercial Flight (AF0584)

“The President travelled to Belgium onboard an Air France Commercial Flight (AF0584), which departed Accra on Sunday at 7:20 pm, made a stop-over in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and then continued to Paris. In fact, all of President Akufo-Addo’s 12-member delegation travelled commercial,” the statement added.

“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 stressed.