President Akufo-Addo pulled a fast one on all Ghanaians after he picked a commercial Emirates flight to Dubai last month leaving many Ghanaians impressed with the President’s decision to fly commercial at a time the nation needed resources and had to pass its controversial e-levy.
At the time, the President’s most preferred private jet had increased their charges from USD14000 to USD18,000 and many thought that dissuaded the President from hiring them again.
Again, on Thursday 31st March, 2022, President Akufo-Addo flew commercial to the US on the invitation of T.D Jakes to speak at his International Leadership Summit.
Unbeknownst to all Ghanaians, President Akufo-Addo had arranged for his favourite luxury jet to fly to US to wait for him from where he continued his one week trip at an extravagant USD18000 per hour flying up to 8 hours that day from US to London minus the plane’s waiting time and parking, according to Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, NDC MP for North Tongu.
“It is imperative to note that so far, the Ghanaian taxpayer must cough up an astronomical US$465,000 in luxury rental charges. At the current exchange, that is a scary GHS3,505,515.49. This will mean that since May last year, the Ghanaian taxpayer has spent at least GHS28.5million on President Akufo-Addo’s ostentatious travels,” Mr Ablakwa wrote on his Facebook page Sunday evening.
“How duplicitous is that for a government that claims to be cutting expenditure drastically in the wake of widespread excruciating hardships and economic mismanagement, and yet our President has the conscience to spend a whopping 3.5million Ghana Cedis attending a church service and a fanciful tourism event in London.” he added.
The National Security Ministry has initiated moves to clarify the cost of Akufo-Addo’s foreign trips.
Ashantibiz
