The opposition New Patriotic Party is convinced government’s agreement for the Embraer 190 aircraft is laced with corruption, the purchase of which must be suspended until independent verification is done on the use and actual cost of the jet. The Minority in Parliament only last week approved the purchase of four other aircraft but abstained from approving the purchase agreement of the Embraer 190 raising doubts about the credibility of the $105 million aircraft. But the Majority side, convinced about the sanctity of the deal, went ahead to approve it and its members have since not missed the opportunity to defend the necessity of the five aircraft. Not satisfied with the abstention in Parliament, the Minority at a Press Conference on Wednesday, called for the entire deal to be subjected to thorough scrutiny to purge it of its "stinking" corruption. “The Minority will join the call by well meaning Ghanaians on President Mills to stop proceeding on the purchase of the $88 million Embraer 190 and the 17 million Hanger. “But we call on him to have an independent body and there are several of them that are credible that can do a value for money due-diligence assessment on this deal so that we know what we are getting as a country,” MP for Okaikoi North Nana Akomea said. “Otherwise the majority of Ghanaians will believe that the government is not aware of their needs; that prices of the Embraer and the Hanger are inflated; and that there is corruption in the deal to purchase the Embrarer and the Hanger." The MP claims the use to which the Embraer 190 will be put is even murky, quoting some government officials as saying the Embraer will be used in fighting armed robbery. He was however unequivocal in his belief that the Embraer 190 is an Executive Jet but which government wants to hoodwink the populace into believing that was being purchased for use by the military. “The minority insists that this is not true; we insist that the Embraer 190 is basically a commercial aircraft which the NDC government at great cost to the tax payer is having configured as an executive jet. “We insist that the Embraer 190 is to serve the same purpose as the Airbus 319 which the NPP wanted to procure in 2008 and to which the NDC objected,” Akomea stated. Joy News’ Sammy Darko reported the Minority brought as evidence detailed agreement the military sent the executive in 2008 when they (military) wanted the aircraft bought. He said the Minority also has prices of airplanes taken from the internet as proof of the price inflation and corruption they are accusing the government of. According to Darko the Second Deputy Speaker, Prof Mike Ocquaye is intrigued at the haste with which the deal was approved by the Executive. Prof. Ocquaye claimed the deal did not even get approval from cabinet and that it was only President John Mills who signed it, passed it on to the Attorney General who also signed before the deal proceeded to Parliament for approval. An all of it was done in a day, he argued. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana