The Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, says “VVIP or Presidential travel is not about aircraft type or cost but is all about the safety of the Aircraft crew and passengers.”
The Minister noted that Ghana’s current VVIP Jet, Falcon 900 Ex-Easy is in good condition and air-worthy, but can’t be used for the travels the President made to France, Belgium and South Africa days ago.
He gave reasons for the inability of the aircraft to travel as frequent stops to refuel, minimal carriage capacity, cost among others.
Mr Nitiwul gave these responses when he appeared before Parliament to respond to a question on the condition of the aircraft by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Mr Ablakwa asked the Minister whether the Presidential Jet is in good condition and considered air-worthy.
It will be recalled that Mr Ablakwa has been one of the key people who raised eyebrows about the rented aircraft the President used in his tour of France, Belgium and South Africa days ago.
The Member brought the attention of the country to the issue when he took to his Twitter page to share pictures of the Jet and how expensive it was.
Portions of his Twitter post : “President Akufo-Addo has been a leading voice for debt forgiveness in the international arena and back home has been imposing additional regressive taxes with the justification that the economy isn’t in a good place.
“Sadly, he consistently fails to lead by example in a period of austerity where his government is appealing to struggling public sector workers to lower wage increase expectations.
“It is an outrage and a blatant betrayal for Ghana to own a presidential aircraft in perfect working condition which was ordered by President Kufuor, used by President Mills and President Mahama and yet President Akufo-Addo chooses to charter a top-of-the-range luxury aircraft offered by Acropolis Aviation.
“The Airbus ACJ320neo, owned by Acropolis Aviation based in Farnborough, UK and registered as G-KELT is the most luxurious and the most expensive in the Acropolis fleet. The manufacturers describe it as “the most outstanding ambassador for Airbus Corporate Jets.” It costs the Ghanaian taxpayer approximately £15,000 an hour when President Akufo-Addo rents it.”
But yesterday, the Minister gave several reasons why the Jet couldn’t be used for the President’s travels.
Mr Nitiwul said that the Falcon 900 Ex-Easy which was purchased in 2010 can embark on shorter journeys only.Therefore, the Jet, though serviceable, lacks enough range to reach long haul destinations without re-fueling stops, the Minister said.
He indicated that the Jet technically stops at Airports where the President does not intend to do a stopover which usually leads to unnecessary delays.
The Minister also indicated that, the President is unable to travel with most of his staffers because the Jet can carry only eleven passengers.
He said this has created a situation where most of the Presidential staffers who are supposed to travel with the President use commercial aircraft which also comes at an additional cost.
That aside, Mr Nitiwul also said that some of these staffers arrive at program venues late since they don’t get direct flights to the ultimate destinations the President is booked to be.
Request for a multifunctional aircraft
The Minister indicated that Ghana Airforce, which is holding the Jet in trust, would want a multifunctional aircraft to add to its inventory as a requisite command and control asset, to be able to connect National Security to Diplomacy.
According to the Minister, countries like Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Eswatini, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Uganda, Kenya, Congo, Morocco andEquatorial Guinea have a Boeing or Airbus Jet which takes about 70- 100 passengers and Ghana should also have same.
Minority’s disagreement with the Minister
The Minority, who were led by Mr OkudzetoAblakwa, indicated they were surprised at the responses of the Minister and referred to it as flimsy excuses.
He said he was particularly surprised that the Minister said Presidential travel should not be about cost but about safety alone, when cost is the first consideration other countries look at when hiring an aircraft.
On the issue of capacity, Mr Ablakwa said he doesn’t believe that capacity is an issue, because if that was the case, why then did the President go for an aircraft that takes only 17 passengers, which is not different from Ghana’s eleven-passenger aircraft.
Mr Ablakwa also said that there are direct flights from Ghana to France and many other countries, so the issue of Presidential staffers not getting direct flights to their various destinations ends up delaying them is invalid.
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