Parliament: Okudzeto Ablakwa’s Controversial Question on Presidential Jet Missing on Order Paper

A question to probe the cost of President Akufo-Addo’s recent controversial travels to France, Belgium, and South Africa, cannot be found on the Order Paper for Parliamentary sitting for Thursday, June 17, 2021, ghananewsonline.com.gh has observed.

The question had been publicly advertised in the provisional Order Paper the previous day Wednesday, June 16, 2021 and programmed for the next sitting day – Thursday under a certificate of urgency.

The Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was demanding to know the cost of the President’s recent travel.

He filed “To ask the Minister for Finance how much the President’s recent official travels to France, Belgium, and South Africa in May this year cost the Ghanaian taxpayer.”

The President Akufo-Addo led administration has come under serious flak for renting a top of the range luxurious private jet for his recent working visit outside the country at a cost of 15,000 Pounds an hour.

But the Order Paper which is the agenda for the daily sitting of Parliament released for Thursday’s sittings does not contain the said urgent question.

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It is important to note that all other questions that were advertised provisionally for the day have been scheduled except this particular one bordering on the cost of the President’s travels. It is also important to note that the Minister for Finance Ken Ofori Atta to whom the question was directed was also in the House and rightly attended to the advertised questions.

Public criticisms of the President’s travels in the luxurious jet got to its peak on Wednesday, June 17, 2021 when the Minister for Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, in answering questions on the airworthiness of the country’s Presidential Jet, Falcon 900 EXE, told Parliament that though the plane was in good condition

President Akufo-Addo did not use it for that travel because it was too small for his entourage and does not have a shower to enable the President freshen up before disembarking for his official meetings.

Ghanaians have since taken to social media to troll the Minister heavily for justifying President Akufo-Addo’s luxurious private jet travels in the wake of extreme hardships in the country and the president’s campaign promise of protecting the public purse.

By Jeorge Wilson Kingson with additional files from africanewsradio.com