North Tongu Member of Parliament (MP), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for flying in a commercial airline to Dubai.
The President left Ghana on Monday, March 7, 2022, to lead a delegation to the Dubai Expo 2020.
But according to him, President Akufo-Addo, on this trip, opted to fly First Class on Emirates to avoid another extravagant charter.
“President Akufo-Addo, who has defiantly flown on ultra-luxurious chartered executive jets for all his trips outside Africa since May last year, deserves some credit for finally listening to an outraged public and surrendering to legitimate patriotic pressure from struggling Ghanaians reeling under an economy in tatters,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
The development, the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament, has explained has saved the Ghanaian taxpayer an impressive US$468,000.00 equivalent to a staggering GHS3,306,139.20.
“So, instead of doling out another colossal instalment of 3.3million Ghana Cedis to a European company, we get to keep it in Ghana, and hopefully, use it for something more prudent,” he added.
The MP has for several months now been at the neck of the president for hiring luxurious private jets for his foreign trips which cost the taxpayer millions of Ghana Cedis, instead of using the presidential jet.
Mr Ablakwa, since June 2021, has filed urgent questions in Parliament to know the cost involved in the trips but his efforts have proved futile as the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah, told Parliament he cannot make public the cost of the trips.
