Minister for Defence Dr. Edward Omane Boamah has disclosed Ghana’s Presidential Jet Dassault Falcon 900EX-Easy is not serviceable. According to him the jet is currently undergoing maintenance abroad and will not be available for use for the next three months.
The revelation by the Defence Minister follows criticisms from some opposition elements including Old Tafo MP Vincent Ekow Assafuah and former Sekondi MP Andrew Egyapa-Mercer against the use of a chartered flight by Vice President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang when returning from her medical leave in the UK.
The vice president who has been away for more than a month returned from a rousing welcome from the President, first lady, Chief of Staff among other high ranking government officials. The means of her return has however not been well received by some opposition elements who question why she had to use a chartered flight when immediate past President Akufo-Addo received condemnation especially from North Tongu MP and Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for using a private jet while in office.
However in a social media post, the minister for Defence accused the Nana Addo administration of running down the Presidential Jet to the point where even its fuel tank was left corroded.
“Let the NPP that suffered the most humiliating defeat in recent memory in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections know this:
1. Akufo-Addo’s administration rundown the Presidential jet. Among others, its fuel tank is even corroded.
2. The Presidential jet has been in the ‘hospital’ abroad for maintenance, repair and overhaul and may be put in fairly usable state after three months of ‘therapy’.
3. The Presidential jet is unfit for use presently.” He wrote on Facebook
