Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is MP for North Tongu
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu has fired at detractors who are questioning his motives in demanding full disclosure of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s luxurious travels.
According to him, such persons are merely attacking him by claiming he has been a beneficiary of the same of similar privileges because they cannot refute facts he has put out about Akufo-Addo’s expensive travels.
“An outmoded ad hominem tactic which some still resort to out of desperation is to attack the messenger when they can’t deal with the message.
“I have at no point in my life chartered a private jet neither have I ever used one. Also, at no point have I been offered a course requiring me to make weekly or monthly travels to the UK at government expense. Those behind these devilish concoctions know they are peddling blatant untruths from the pit of hell,” he wrote in a September 22 Facebook post.
The post was made a day after he disclosed the purported flight expense of the President on his trip to the United States where he is participating in the 76th United Nations General Assembly.
This was the third time in the last three months that he has disclosed Akufo-Addo’s use of luxurious chartered flights for trips to Europe and the United States.
Ablakwa alleged that conservative estimates show that the three times the president used chartered flights cost the state about 10 million Ghana cedis. He is concerned that Ghana’s presidential jet remains in mint condition and could have served the purpose and saved the taxpayer
He also challenged persons accusing him of double standards to prove their claims: “Perhaps as we have provided comprehensive and authoritative information including flight registration details for the President’s chartered jets, I challenge the purveyors of these pathetic fabrications to provide same on the aircraft they are pitiably ascribing to me.”
He stressed that he has not at any point being in charge of the public purse to even make such decisions on which flight arrangement to use as a public officer adding that the Minority in Parliament will not waiver on their responsibility to hold the executive in check.
Whiles having a question on presidential travels pending before Parliament, he has hinted that when the House resumes from recess, he will file another question to demand more answers.