President Akufo-Addo Didn’t Spend €480,000 On Belgium, Rwanda Trips – Presidency Debunks Ablakwa Claims

The Presidency has refuted claims by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that €480,000 was spent on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s recent trips to Belgium and Rwanda. In a series of tweets by the MP, he said

“President Akufo–Addo incorrigibly rents €20,000 an hour ACJ319 ultra-luxury jet, registered D-ALEX from German operator — K5 Aviation. This trip is costing the Ghanaian taxpayer €480,000 = GHS4.1million.”

President Akufo-Addo incorrigibly rents €20,000 an hour ACJ319 ultra-luxury jet, registered D-ALEX from German operator — K5 Aviation.

This trip is costing the Ghanaian taxpayer €480,000 = GHS4.1million. /2 pic.twitter.com/GWjWhdTXT2

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) June 23, 2022

Reacting to this, the Presidency, Akufo-Addo did not travel to Belgium aboard a chartered Airbus ACJ319, as claimed by the North Tongu MP, who has in the past criticised the President’s spending on air travel.

Read the full statement below:

“The President travelled to Belgium onboard an Air France Commercial Flight (AF0584), which departed Accra on Sunday at 7:20pm, made a stop-over in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and then continued to Paris.

This was done to ensure that the President made it to Kigali on time to participate in the ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday, 23rd June, for the commencement of work on the Pan-African Vaccine Manufacturing Project, involving Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal and BioNTech SE, the German biotechnology company, as well as attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which also is being held in Kigali, Rwanda.

I do not think the Member of Parliament for North Tongu is suggesting, in any shape or form, that the President, in view of these challenges in Brussels and also in view of the President’s security, should have travelled from Brussels to Amsterdam or London, for example, in the forlorn hope of trying to get a flight to Rwanda.”