Jubilee House Admits Akufo-Addo Hired Jet To Rwanda

Hajara FuseiniJune 24, 2022

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The Jubilee House has admitted President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo chartered a private jet for his trip from Brussels in Belgium to Kigali in Rwanda on June 22, 2022.

However, the seat of Ghana’s presidency said the President didn’t use Airbus ACJ319, a flight costing €20,000 per hour as stated by the Member of North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

The Jubilee House also dismissed Ablakwa’s allegation the president used the private jet from Sunday when he left Ghana for Belgium to Thursday when he made a stop at Kigali in Rwanda.

It however put out that President went to Belgium onboard an Air France Commercial Flight when he was departing from Ghana on Sunday, June 19, 2022, made a stop-over in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso and then continued to Paris.

It said upon arrival in Paris, the President, together with his delegation travelled by train to Brussels to attend the European Development Days event.

Due to a strike action that has hit the aviation sector of Brussels, the president opted for a private jet to travel from Brussels to Kigali, according to the Jubilee House.

“This was done to make sure that President Akufo-Addo made it to Kigali to participate in the ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday 23rd June…”, it justified.

Touching on the First Lady’s travel to Rwanda on the Presidential jet, the Jubilee House said that was planned so that the President and his delegation would tavel back to Ghana on board it.

It however failed to name the flight used by the President to Kigali.

Background

Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa claimed President Akufo-Addo’s trips to Belgium and Rwanda amounted to a sum of four hundred and eighty thousand euros.

The President on Sunday, June 19, 2022, left Ghana to attend the 15th Edition of the European Development Days Forum in Brussel and then stopped in Rwanda to attend the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an mRNA vaccine factory in Kigali.

Even before his return on June 25, Ablakwa revealed the President, after using a commercial vehicle for his trips to the United States of America and the United Kingdom in May, has fallen back to the use of luxurious flights.

This time around, he said the president gave up his usual LX-DIO operated by Global Jet Luxembourg and opted for another luxurious private jet, the Airbus ACJ319 operated by K5 Aviation, based in Germany.

Airbus ACJ319, he said, costs the Ghanaian taxpayer €20,000 per hour.

“For President Akufo-Addo’s current trip to Belgium and Rwanda beginning Sunday the 19th of June, 2022 to attend the 15th Edition of the European Development Days Forum in Brussels, Belgium, and the 26th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations in Kigali, Rwanda; we can confirm a conservative bill of €480,000.00.

“The 480,000 Euros which is derived from 21 hours of total flight time plus other industry charges works out to some 4.1million Ghana Cedis at current exchange rate”, he explained.