Using Taxpayers’ Money to Fly ‘Luxurious’ Jets ‘Unpardonable Disrespect’, to Ghanaians – Mahama to Akufo-Addo

Former president John Dramani Mahama has taken on the President, Akufo-Addo for resorting to private jets in most of his travels outside the country.

According to him the “ostentation and opulence that have characterised the spending of taxpayers’ money” by the Akufo-Addo government “contrasts sharply with the suffering of the people”.

“The misuse of scarce resources on the avoidable creature comforts of the President and other leading officials must come to an end”, the 2020 flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress said on Wednesday, 10 November 2021 in a thank-you address to Ghanaians for the support they showed him in the last election. 

He said: “It is an unpardonable show of disrespect and insensitivity to the plight of the suffering masses for millions of Ghana cedis to be spent renting luxurious aircraft for Presidential travels at a time when the state of Ghana has a fully fitted and airworthy Presidential aircraft that can ferry the President anywhere in this world”.

“The staggering GH¢68 million spent on Presidential trips for the first nine months of 2019 alone constituted an unconscionable waste of very limited public resources at a time that the population was being asked to tighten their belts”, he noted.