Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
The Ministry Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has said there was no impropriety in giving the presidential jet to Liberia’s President George Weah to return home.
The issue was started by NDC MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who created the impression that the government had given out the country’s property to a foreigner.
However, a statement from the ministry said that the opposition MP’s “insular posture comes as a surprise.”
“In the light of the strenuous and concerted efforts by ECOWAS leaders to broker peace in the region, the Ministry finds it rather unfortunate that Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa would seek to deliberately muddy the waters with these negative comments,” the statement said.
“In the latest of such utterances, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa sought to suggest that transporting the President of Liberia, His Excellency George Weah, aboard Ghana’s presidential jet to participate in the emergency ECOWAS Summit during the recent political crisis in Guinea, constituted an impropriety. Nothing could be further from the truth”.
“It must be emphasised that the practice of sharing travel resources among West African Heads of State and high-ranking officials, is not a recent phenomenon. Indeed, in the past, some Heads of State have, in their capacity as Chair of ECOWAS, extended this courtesy,” the ministry explained.