This is the second time the Minority in Parliament has scolded the President for utilizing a private aircraft to visit abroad.
President Akufo-Addo departed Ghana on Thursday on a 10-day European tour.
Contrary to the views of North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the President’s current tour exemplifies his insensitivity to the suffering of Nigerians at a time when the contentious Electronic Transfer Levy is being rejected.
Mr. Ablakwa claimed the President’s current trip costs GH14,000 per hour, or approximately GH5 million, and Ghanaians should not accept it.
“The President’s latest actions came as thousands of Ghanaians protested the backward, vulgar, and loathed E-levy. We are outraged that the president chooses to jet overseas when the American people are screaming enough… Many Ghanaians say this government is unaccountable, inefficient, and wasteful. A president who vowed to protect the public purse has blown millions of Ghana cedis on these excursions.
Effutu MP Alexander Afenyo-Markin thinks his colleague’s suspicions are baseless.
“It’s vital to bring up transportation. As a nation, we must also tackle it. It won’t add up if an MP says why [would the President go] but spends that money for anything else. Yes, certain frameworks are necessary. In that case, I won’t argue that the President traveling on a jet not bought by the government is callous, but I disagree.”
North Tongu parliamentarians have been pressuring the government, accusing President Akufo-Addo of squandering public funds to fly on expensive private aircraft.
Mr. Ablakwa’s attempts to persuade the government to divulge President Akufo-foreign Addo’s travel costs failed.
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
