A statement from the presidency, according to North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, “confirms that the president indeed spent €20,000 an hour of government money to lease a jet.”
The MP claimed in a statement he posted on social media that Eugene Arhin, the presidential spokesperson, did not deny that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had rented a posh jet for his recent trip to Rwanda.
It is quite notable that the declaration made by Mr. Eugene Arhin verifies that President Akufo Addo did, in fact, charter an executive plane. The ostentatious €20,000 per hour ACJ319, registered D-Alex and run by German company K5-Aviation, was chartered by the Presidency, which the Presidency’s statement neither confirmed nor could have refuted.
He added that it doesn’t matter that Arhin claimed Akufo-Addo took a commercial aircraft to Belgium since there is still a fee associated with the private plane that is waiting for the president.
“To logical, patriotic Ghanaians, it makes no difference from where in Accra, Brussels, Kigali, London, Kabul, Nur-Sultan, or Tbilisi the President decides to unjustly and ruthlessly rob the national coffers; the value is the same wherever.
‘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, as well as the waiting period, which includes waiting time for the passenger, layover period for crew rest, and the return leg (as this was not a ’empty leg’ or ‘dead head’ charter),’ he said.
How Akufo-Addo traveled from Accra to Brussels
According to the Jubilee House statement, the president did not, as had been stated, fly to Belgium on a specially chartered Airbus ACJ319 aircraft. The president boarded a flight utilizing the Air France Commercial Flight, the statement claims (AF0584)
On Sunday at 7:20 p.m., Air France Commercial Flight (AF0584) from Accra to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, with a destination of Paris, made a stopover there before continuing to Belgium. The 12-person team led by President Akufo-Addo actually all took commercial flights, according to the statement.
“On Monday, June 20, the day President Akufo-Addo arrived in Brussels, Belgium’s major airport, Brussels Airport, was forced to cancel all departing flights due to airport staff members joining an aviation strike.
“The alternative to fly utilizing direct commercial flight from Brussels to Kigali was not accessible,” it stressed. “The Presidency had been given prior knowledge of the strike action before the President’s journey to Brussels.
In a statement written by Mr. Eugene Arhin, the Ghanaian Presidency reveals its most recent extravagant ACJ319 D-Alex, which costs €20,000 per hour to charter.