Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Eugene Arhin
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has challenged Eugene Arhin to tell Ghanaians how President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo travelled to Germany and the UK while attending the G20 Compact with Africa summit and global education summit respectively.
The Presidency through Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications, denied President that Akufo-Addo travelled on a chartered luxury jet, LX-DIO Boeing 737, to Germany and the UK.
Speaking to the media in Accra on Monday, Arhin accused the MP of peddling falsehood regarding the aircraft the President used for his UK and Germany trip.
He said, “Let me put on record that, on July 28, when the President attended the global education summit in the UK; you can do your own checks and if you think I’m peddling falsehood, you can expose me. Take a phone and call the company that operates that particular jet and ask them for example on July 28, where was that jet and they will tell you that on July 28, during the entire period of the global education summit for three days LX-DIO was parked at the Paris-Le Bourget Airport…and was nowhere in the UK that is being insinuated by the MP.
“Again, you do your checks again, call the company and ask them on August 28, while the President was in Germany for the G20 Compact with Africa summit, where was that particular aircraft and they will tell you that within that period, they had been rented for 15 days by another African president; that president embarked on a round trip to Belgium, Germany, the far East and to the Middle East, 15 days continuously. All of us know that in the cause of this year, the president has not embarked on any such trip so, again, one would ask where did the North Tongu MP get his information from?” Eugene Arhin quizzed.
Responding to the claims from the Presidency, Ablakwa, who is also the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament asked, “why is the Presidential Spokesperson failing to tell Ghanaians how the President went to Germany; this is a simple matter. If you say you didn’t use the LX-DIO expose me by telling us how the President got to Germany and the UK.
“Because after providing details on the LX-DIO, I have also provided incontrovertible evidence…I must add that the Presidential jet of Ghana was here in Ghana, it was not used by the President, a day after, the Presidential jet was flown to France by who, we did not know…the Presidential jet was flown to Kumasi subsequently, it was flown to Zambia; two other periods that the President was in Germany and the UK.”
The MP further indicated on Joy FM that, it is easy to track on which aircraft the president is travelling and whatever statement he has put out is the truth which the Ministers of Finance and National Security have not issued a statement to debunk.
He said, “We’ve done painstaking work and in the aviation industry, these matters are easily verifiable. Just key in the LX-DIO and you track its movement and you will see that the LX-DIO was flown to Ghana and airlifted the President to the global education summit in the UK and subsequently it flew the President to Germany. Our case is even made much stronger by the fact that it is this same aircraft that the President used at the UN General Assembly meeting. Indeed, before he went to New York, the aircraft took him to Houston Texas and he flew three hours to New York and it is that same aircraft which brought him to Ghana…
“They are refusing to be transparent in Parliament, the Finance Minister will not provide details with the National Security Minister pussyfooting, he appears to be saved by the bell during the Parliamentary break; we have put this information out consistently, not one statement…”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa observed, “there is considerable disquiet within the Ghana Airforce Communication Squadron who are in charge of the President’s travels, (they) feel that they are professionals, they have been trained…the President is safer with them because they owe allegiance to the state of Ghana, they are loyal to the President; the President is not using them but rather on a chartering spree…”