A government spokesperson Kwaku Owusu Banahene has alleged that the previous administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) set multiple traps for President John Dramani Mahama in a bid to harm him.
According to him, some NPP members poured acid on parts of the presidential jet to corrode vital components as part of their plot against the President.
Without providing evidence, he added that after setting such traps, the NPP later insisted that President Mahama use the same jet for his official trips.
Speaking in an interview on Angel TV on August 13, 2025, Banahene said, “Some of the issues have to do with the presidential jet we are now discussing.
“The NPP poured acid on all the pipes, and they are corroding. They set multiple traps for President Mahama on the presidential jet and then forced him to use it. That is why they opposed him using his brother’s jet.”
His comment follows the crash of the Z9 helicopter, which belonged to the Ghana Armed Forces, that claimed the lives of Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Environment, Science and Technology Minister Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed and six others.
The other six are: Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna; former Central Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong; and Samuel Aboagye, a former parliamentary candidate.
Members of the helicopter’s crew are Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Malin Twum-Ampadu and Sgt. Ernest Addo Mensah.
What Defence Ministers have said about the presidential jet:
The late Defence Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, in May 2025 accused the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government of running down the presidential jet and leaving it in a deplorable state.
“Among other issues, its fuel tank is even corroded,” the minister disclosed, adding that the jet has been effectively grounded and is receiving a complete maintenance, repair, and overhaul regimen.
Dr Omane Boamah noted that the jet may only return to a “fairly usable state” after three months of what he described as “therapy.”
Former Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul, while in office in 2021, characterised the presidential jet as unfit for purpose and insufficiently safe for then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s travel in June 2021.
He defended the former president’s use of private jets by highlighting the non-airworthiness of the presidential jet, in response to a question raised in Parliament by North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
“This aircraft will carry a load of 11 persons minus the crew. When this aircraft is travelling to the eastern part of the USA or Asia, it will not load a crew of more than eight plus the luggage. So it depends on where it is going.
“Secondly, I have also said the aircraft has to do refuelling stops, and also in this COVID-19 period, when you are travelling to multiple destinations like the president’s recent travel, the Falcon couldn’t have been taken because he would have had to do technical stops, which are not desirable, and when he is travelling with more than 20 people, like he has been doing for business trips that brought huge sums of money for this country, he will need more than just a Falcon; otherwise, the others would have to go a day ahead before the president to prepare themselves.
“In fact, the president would also have to go a day ahead because no president can shower in this aircraft. He cannot move from this aircraft straight into a meeting,” he was quoted as saying by citinewsroom.com.
Source: Ghanaweb
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