North Tongu MP intends to file private members bill to regulate presidential travels
He says in his 13-month tracking of the President’s travels, Nana Akufo-Addo has spent ‘GH¢34 million of taxpayers’ money on chartered flights.
The Member of Parliament for North-Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has indicated that he plans to file a private members bill to regulate presidential travels.
“I am currently leading a team that is working on a private member’s bill to regulate presidential travels. I am hoping that we will get some bi-partisan support along the line so that we can regulate presidential travels in Ghana and legally stop a reckless and insensitive president from this wastefulness on the struggling Ghanaian people," he said.
The MP has since 2021 been on some sort of a campaign, alleging that the President spends millions on luxurious private jets for his foreign trips, instead of using the country's presidential jet.
He says in his 13-month tracking of the President’s travels, Nana Akufo-Addo has spent ‘GH¢34 million of taxpayers’ money on chartered flights.
The Presidency on the other hand has rebutted recent claims by Mr. Ablakwa, that €480,000 was spent on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s recent trips to Belgium and Rwanda.
In a statement dated June 26, 2022, and signed by Eugene Arhin, the Director of Communications at the Office of the President, he stated that the claims by the MP were inaccurate and that the President did not travel to Belgium aboard a chartered Airbus ACJ319, as Mr. Ablakwa had said.
The MP has however responded, explaining how he arrived at the €480,000 figure.
"D-Alex flew 1 hour and 19minutes from Germany to Belgium, 8 hours and 40minutes from Brussels to Kigali, did a layover for some 5 hours before flying back to Germany at an 8hour and 15 minutes flight duration. This is how we arrived at our rather generous 21-hour cost analysis. It should be noted that in addition to the hourly rates, other industry charges such as landing charges, ramp fees, reposition fees etc. always apply.
It is terribly unacceptable and woefully undemocratic that the statement from the Presidency refused to disclose to Ghanaians the cost of the President’s latest sybaritic adventure".
13-months tracking of President Akufo-Addo’s obscene lavish chartered jet travels reveal that the suffering Ghanaian taxpayer has so far paid a staggering GHS34million.
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) June 25, 2022
Glad to announce my draft Private Member’s Bill to regulate presidential travels is ready.
Hope we succeed ???????? pic.twitter.com/X5x6fO9THV
