Revealed: Presidential aircraft was in France but not used by Akufo-Addo

• Randy Abbey has revealed that the Falcon was in France during President Akufo-Addo’s recent trip

• He says the plane was however not used by President Akufo-Addo

• He is unable to confirm if the plane was in South Africa

It has emerged that the Presidential jet, Falcon 900 EX Easy, was in France during President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s recent trip which was made possible by a chartered luxurious plane by the name Airbus ACJ320neo.

While it has been confirmed that President Akufo-Addo entered the European country with a £15,000-per-hour aircraft, the presidential jet arrived in the country with a different set of people.

This was revealed by Randy Abbey, the host of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana program with corroboration from veteran journalist, Kweku Baako.

Randy Abbey on Thursday, June 17 edition of his show, revealed that the Falcon arrived a day earlier than the president touched down in the country.

“I know that the Falcon was in France. In fact, it appears it went before the president. What I don’t know is whether it went to South Africa.”

His revelation comes on the back of a statement by the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, in which he attempted to downplay the integrity of the presidential aircraft and justify the hiring of the expensive aircraft.

Nitiwul among others listed security, comfort and capacity as some of the reasons that informed the decision to charter the Airbus ACJ320neo ahead of the Falcon.

“Secondly, I have also said the aircraft has to do refuelling stops, and also in this Covid-19, when you are travelling to multiple destinations like the President’s recent travel, the Falcon couldn’t have been taken because he would have had to do technical stops which are not desirable.

“Again, when he is travelling with more than 20 people for a business trip, as he has done and brought huge sums of money for this nation, he will need more than just a Falcon, otherwise, the others would have to go a day ahead before the president to prepare themselves.”

“In fact, the President would also have to go a day ahead because no president can shower in this aircraft. He cannot move from this aircraft straight into a meeting.”