Christmas Decorations At Airport Cost GH¢120,000 In 2016 – Paul Adom-Otchere

The Board Chairman of the Ghana Airport Company, Paul Adom-Otchere has lauded the prudent use of state resources to beautify the Kotoka International Airport during the yuletide.

He said the expenditure of GHS 84,000 to beautify the Airport is way less than what have been spent in the past.

Speaking on an editorial on the controversial expenditure on Metro TV, Mr. Adom-Otchere said the figures being bandied around should be disregarded.

He said under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration in 2016, an amount of GHS 120,000 was used in Christmas decorations just for one terminal.

“We didn’t use this invoice, and people have gone round and talked about the cost on this invoice being the cost of the inspirations. That is totally wrong because this invoice is the one that has four Christmas trees for GH¢84,000.”

“In 2016 the spending on Christmas inspirations was GH¢120,000 and this was at just one terminal. In 2021, GH¢128,366 is the total amount of money that was [supposed to have been] spent on two terminals; terminal 2 and terminal 3.”

“We called on Ghanaian advertising companies and one of them, DPP, came out and helped us to pay for the Christmas inspirations. That has not happened in a very long time, but it happened this time. DPP decided to support us with GH¢50,000. That total cost [of the inspirations] is GH¢78,366. That is the amount of money spent [by the state] in 2021 compared to 2016.”

We didn’t use this invoice, and people have gone round and talked about the cost on this invoice being the cost of the inspirations. That is totally wrong because this invoice is the one that has four Christmas trees for GH¢84,000.”

“In 2016 the spending on Christmas inspirations was GH¢120,000 and this was at just one terminal. In 2021, GH¢128,366 is the total amount of money that was [supposed to have been] spent on two terminals; terminal 2 and terminal 3. We called on Ghanaian advertising companies and one of them, DPP, came out and helped us to pay for the Christmas inspirations. That has not happened in a very long time, but it happened this time. DPP decided to support us with GH¢50,000. That total cost [of the inspirations] is GH¢78,366. That is the amount of money spent [by the state] in 2021 compared to 2016.”

The Minority in Parliament is set to file an urgent question directed at the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, on the procurement processes used recently to acquire Christmas trees and inspirations at the Kotoka International Airport.