The North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has accused President Akufo-Addo of ostentatious spending even as the country goes through economic hardship.

According to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, per his findings and calculations, the President spent £345,000, i.e. ¢2,828,432.80 at the current exchange rate in flight cost during his nine-day visit to France, Belgium, South Africa, and back to the country.

“Per Flightradar24, the G-KELT aircraft left Accra with the President to Paris on the 16th of May — a 6 and half hour duration. Airlifted the President from Paris to Johannesburg for 11 hours on the 23rd of May.

“Then Johannesburg to Accra on May 25, was a five and half hour flight. This gives us accumulated flight travel of 23 hours, so at £15,000 an hour, it thus cost us a colossal £345,000. At the current exchange, that is a staggering ¢2,828,432.80.”

According to him, “President Akufo-Addo [who] has been a leading voice for debt forgiveness in the international arena has been imposing additional regressive taxes back home, with the justification that the economy isn’t in a good shape.”

“Sadly, he consistently fails to lead by example in a period of austerity where his government is appealing to struggling public sector workers to lower wage increase expectations,” Okudzeto Ablakwah said in a recent opinion piece circulated to the media.

Samuel Okudzeto’s concerns stems from President Akufo-Addo’s decision to charter a “top-of-the-range luxury aircraft” rented by Acropolis Aviation at £15,000 per hour.

This, he described as outrageous since Ghana already owns a Presidential aircraft, which is in perfect working condition.

He added that should the President have traveled on the Presidential jet instead, “it would have cost Ghana less than 15% of this 2.8million Ghana Cedis.”

“The irony is that President Akufo-Addo engaged in this fantastic extravagance on his way to France to go beg President Emmanuel Macron for debt cancellation. Needless to add that President MacRon does not travel in such splendor,” he opined.

Okudzeto noted that such lavish spending in such a period of austerity sends the wrong message not only to the foreign powers whom the President was beseeching for debt cancellation, but to the Ghanaian citizens who in recent times have been agitating for #FixTheCountry.

“I have therefore filed an urgent question in Parliament to compel the Akufo-Addo administration to be accountable to the Ghanaian people on this matter and ultimately to prick their conscience to end this obscene profligacy at this time of considerable economic hardships,” he concluded.

The President’s nine-day working trip was part of efforts to re-engage with the rest of the world after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and highlight Ghana, once again, as a country with an impressive business-friendly atmosphere as well as bright economic prospects for the future.