Yentua demo hits Accra
President Akufo-Addo to visit France, Guyana, Belgium, Germany, UK
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzteo Ablakwa, has provided details on what he says will be the total cost of private jet expenses President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will make while away from the country for his 10-day work trip.
On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the president left the shores of the country on a working visit to France, Guyana, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.
President Akufo-Addo’s first port of call will be Brest, France, where, at the invitation of Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, he will participate in the One Ocean Summit, to be held on Friday, 11th February, 2022.
Up to 40 world leaders are due to make “ambitious and concrete commitments” towards combating illegal fishing, decarbonising shipping and reducing plastic pollution at what is billed as the first high-level summit dedicated to the ocean.
But in his latest comments on the ‘profligate’ spending of the president while using the services of rented private jets, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa claims that the taxpayer would have to cough up more than GHc4million.
He made this known in a tweet, detailing how the president flew out of the country around the same time that the youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led a demonstration in Accra called the ‘Yentua’ demo.
He described President Akufo-Addo’s decision to continue to use private jets as a gross insensitivity and utter disdain for the Ghanaian people.
“Yesterday, February 10, 2022 – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo demonstrated beyond any shred of doubt that his blatant contempt, gross insensitivity and utter disdain for the Ghanaian people who made him President have no boundaries, whatsoever.
“On the very same day and literally during the “Yentua March” by thousands of Ghanaians from all walks of life who took to the streets of Accra to register their revulsion in the strongest of terms against the obnoxious E-Levy and government’s profligate dissipation of current taxes, loans and other resources which have led to a downgraded economy now in the ICU; President Akufo-Addo, in the most heartless, scornful and outrightly insulting conduct yet, opted for the umpteenth time to abandon Ghana’s Presidential Jet and fly out of the country aboard his chartered US14,000 an hour ultra-luxury executive jet – the Boeing 737-97Y (ER) (BBJ3), registered LX-DIO.
“In a grotesque imagery of a President who couldn’t be bothered or give a toss about the mass agitations of his employers – President Akufo-Addo took off from the Kotoka International Airport at exactly 13:00 GMT obviously at the same time angry protesters were approaching Parliament to present their petition,” he wrote.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa further explained that on these new trips, the president will pay even higher than he did the first time he was exposed for flying an expensive private jet during a five-nation tour in 2021.
“In addition, we estimate incidentals such as: landing fees, ramp fees, segment fees, federal excise tax, 7-member crew oversight fees, 7-member crew per diem fees, wait time fees, short leg fees, de-icing fees, reposition fees, international fees and one-way fees to amount to a conservative figure of US$300,000.
“In sum, for abandoning Ghana’s Presidential Jet and obstinately choosing an extravagant and sybaritic option, the Ghanaian taxpayer should expect to cough up a staggering US$776,000 or the Cedi equivalent of GHS4,979,328.16 by the time President Akufo-Addo returns,” he added.
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