Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu, has advised Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Presidency to show Ghanaians some respect when he is reacting to matters surrounding the President's luxurious overseas trips.
According to him, aircraft are not tracked with phone calls to the companies that operate them but rather with tracking devices.
GhanaWeb monitored his comments in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, during which the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament said:
“The Presidential Spokesperson should take the people of this country seriously. Let’s show some respect to the people of this country. When you want to track aircraft, you don’t make phone calls[…] We are using tracking systems and we have put out the tracking maps in detail, time that the LX-DIO Boeing 737 moved from Global Jet Luxembourg to Accra to pick the President and we have provided specific times when the President was airlifted to Germany and then to the UK.”
He disclosed that the aircraft in question after airlifting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the US for the UN Summit also brought back the President to Ghana on Monday, September 27, at 1.41 am after it refuelled in Cape Verde.
“It is this same aircraft that had sent the President to the United Nations…it is this same aircraft that brought the President back to Ghana this dawn [Monday] at 1.41 am…The President was landed at the Jubilee Pavilion; these are not matters that we are putting out,” Ablakwa said.
The MP had earlier stated in a September 21 write up on his Facebook timeline that he will be demanding full disclosure of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s foreign travels in a yet to be filed urgent question in Parliament.
According to him, when President Akufo-Addo was travelling to the UK and Germany for the global education summit and G20 Compact with Africa summit respectively, he used the ultra-luxury aircraft, LX-DIO Boeing operated by Global Jet Luxembourg.
He said this same aircraft was used by the President to the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in the United States.
Ablakwa in his post stated, “A presidential spokesman should not be desecrating what is expected to be hallowed precincts of the seat of government in this Goebbelian manner.
“I can authoritatively confirm without a scintilla of doubt or any equivocation for that matter that President Akufo-Addo on his current trip to the United States of America has again chartered the same ultra-luxury aircraft he used to the UK and Germany — the Luxembourg-based luxury jet registered LX-DIO and operated by Global Jet Luxembourg. Same Boeing 737-900ER BBJ3 with Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN) 62515 and Line Number 5659.”
Responding to the MP’s claims, Eugene Arhin said, “Member of Parliament for North Tongu had peddled falsehood when he indicated that, the President on July 28 when he went to the global education summit in the UK had used the LX-DIO Boeing aircraft, he again said the President sometime in August when he went for the G20 Compact with Africa summit had used this same LX-DIO aircraft and I still maintain my position that, the MP peddled falsehood. In his statement that he put out recently, if indeed he claimed I peddled falsehood, I’m sure he would have put out the evidence indicating the President had used these particular jets on in these particular days, of course, he didn’t. He didn’t because there is no such evidence.”
He argues while the President was at his July 28 summit in the UK the aircraft in question was parked at a Paris airport.
He again stated that when the President was at the G20 summit in Germany, the aircraft had been rented for a 15-day round trip by a different African President, so it could not be the President for the Republic of Ghana.
“Let me put on record that, on July 28, when the President attended the global education summit in the UK; you can do your own checks and if you think I’m peddling falsehood, you can expose me. Take a phone and call the company that operates that particular jet and ask them for example on July 28, where was that jet and they will tell you that on July 28, during the entire period of the global education summit for three days LX-DIO was parked at the Paris-Le Bourget Airport…and was nowhere in the UK that is being insinuated by the MP.
“Again, you do your checks again, call the company and ask them on August 28, while the President was in Germany for the G20 Compact with Africa summit, where was that particular aircraft and they will tell you that within that period, they had been rented for 15 days by another African president; that president embarked on a round trip to Belgium, Germany, the far East and to the Middle East, 15 days continuously. All of us know that in the cause of this year, the president has not embarked on any such trip so, again, one would ask where did the North Tongu MP get his information from?” Eugene Arhin quizzed.
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You, Mr. Ablakwa might be speaking for the Ghanaians in your constituency but not all of us. You ain't our spokesman. Commot for there.
Did you show respect to Ghanaians when you became a minister and globe trotting to pursue your master’s degree? Are you a better person than the President of the State? What are you talking about! Don’t add salt to our injuries!
This moron flew the entire family of his wife to Dubai in a chattered flight when he became a deputy minister, and he was being praised by his party members that he’s the first Ghanaian to have chattering a flight, and seeing the government chattering flight with his entourage on foreign trips is making him more jealous because he’s not going to be praised as the only Ghanaian to have chatted flight.
This is what happens when non achievers in their private life are voted as MP…this always equate to mediocrity!
This kind of behavior from Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is what I call double standards. It cuts across the whole of the NDC fraternity. And it's born out of desperation and lack of competent political message. Hence, dwelling and exaggerating on trivial issues inappropriately become a political tool. With which they seek to make a point against the political opponent. I hope Okudzeto is not a hypocrite to assume that Ghanaian taxpayers would rage against our President for allowing President Weah of Liberia to use our Presidential jet for short distance journeys. Knowing, Ghanaians value good neighborhood and friendliness more than the cost involved in this gesture. Ghanaians are aware the Presidential jet is not safe for long-distance journeys and that President Akufo Addo equally uses it for short distances. My sincere advice to the NDC and Mr. Abrakwa is to formulate a policy message to compete Ghana beyond aid NPP's policy. The policy program will go a long way to convince the Ghanaian voters that the NDC has better alternative programs in store as a competent Government in waiting. And that is the only reasonable way to garner their votes. I strongly desist the diabolic opposition-politicking of insinuated lies.
ablakwa shd. account to Ghanaians how much it cost the nation when helicopter flew small small boys and girls flew to WA whe he was to do his wedding.