Okudzeto Ablakwa Writes: President Akufo-Addo spends GHS 34m on chartered trips in 13 months
Since May last year when in the true spirit of Parliamentary oversight and an onerous duty to check reckless dissipation of scarce taxpayer funds, I began to track and publish all of President Akufo-Addo’s profligate travels by ultra-luxury chartered jets, not a single exposé has been challenged or impeached till this day.
We Vandals say: Truth Stands.
I even went as far as to offer Ministers of Defence, Finance & National Security the opportunity to refute or discredit my findings in Parliament through the urgent questions I filed which were duly admitted by Mr. Speaker but all the Ministers literally run from the unassailable truth, choosing rather to seek refuge under the shady cloak of national security in a shamefully desperate effort to avoid transparency and accountability.
I provide highlights of 13-months of unimpeachable, unchallengeable and irreproachable tracking publications below:
Publication: 27th May, 2021
Aircraft: ACJ320Neo operated by Aviation Acropolis
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Accra-Paris-Johannesburg-Accra
Travel Date: 16th to 25th May, 2021
Cost: £345,000
Publication: 31st August, 2021
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip to UK and Germany
Travel Date: 27th July, 2021
Cost: $574,000
Publication: 21st September, 2021
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Accra via The Azores-Houston-New York-Accra
Travel Date: 17th September, 2021
Cost: $616,000
Publication: 12th October, 2021
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Accra- Belgrade-Accra
Travel Date: 10th October, 2021
Cost: $588,000
Publication: 17th November, 2021
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip to France
Travel Date: 13th November, 2021
Cost: $314,000
Publication: 11th February, 2022
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Ghana- France- Guyana- Germany- France- Belgium- UK- Ghana
Travel Date: 10th to 20th February, 2022
Cost: $776,000
Publication: 3rd April 2022 (“meet-me-there”edition)
Aircraft: Boeing 737- 900ER BBJ3 (LX-DIO) operated by Global Jet Luxembourg
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Washington- North Carolina-London
Date: 1st April, 2022
Cost: $465,000
Publication: 25th June 2022
Flight: ACJ319 (D-Alex) operated by K5-Aviation
Destination: Akufo-Addo’s trip from Belgium-Rwanda
Date: 22nd June, 2022
Cost: €480,000
A conservatively estimated total cost of Akufo-Addo’s obscenely lavish chartered trips over the last 13-months which has been paid for by the suffering Ghanaian taxpayer works out to a staggering GHS 34 million.
This GHS34million could have been saved because Ghana possesses a functioning Presidential Jet in great condition.
No President in Ghana’s entire history, including ironically those who didn’t make a public pledge to protect the public purse did this to our country.
The rape of the public purse must stop and that is why I am glad to announce that I have led a dedicated team to draft a Private Member’s Bill to regulate Presidential Travels in Ghana.
I hope we shall be successful so that no future president regardless of which political party platform brought them to power would have the unfettered discretion to subject national coffers to such an unconscionable assault.
May God help us. 🙏🏽
Very good article