{"id":104612,"date":"2025-11-29T08:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104612"},"modified":"2025-11-29T08:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:11:07","slug":"presidential-jets-its-all-verbal-acrobatics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=104612","title":{"rendered":"Presidential jets: It\u2019s all verbal acrobatics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>4 Minute, 34 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Has anyone noticed how holy, wise and caring the NPP and NDC become when they are in opposition? Suddenly, they have all the answers. Constitutional experts had them in mind when they said that \u201cin Parliament, the Opposition criticises everything and proposes nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

But our situation in Ghana is worse. The opposition becomes holier-than-thou. It is always from opposition parties that we hear the expression, \u201cprofligate expenditure\u201d.<\/p>\n

On October 2, 2021, the National Democratic Congress, through its Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, said as follows: \u201cI want to submit very forcefully that the decision by the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia NPP government to buy a new presidential jet is a misplaced priority and will amount to a waste of the public purse if allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was reacting to the NPP government\u2019s decision to procure a new presidential jet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Mr Sammy Gyamfi would hear none of this. \u201cIf President Akufo-Addo and Bawumia cared about the sufferings of Ghanaians, they would not even think of buying a presidential jet at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to November 13, 2025. The NDC is in power. Its Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in presenting the 2026 Budget in Parliament, announced that the government \u201cwill, beginning in 2026, commence procurement processes for the acquisition of four modern helicopters, one long-range aircraft and one medium-range aircraft to strengthen the operational efficiency of the Ghana Air Force. \u201c<\/p>\n

In reaction, hear the language of the NPP Minority. Through Reverend John Ntim Fourdjour, MP for Assin South, the NPP described it \u201cas a misplaced priority at a time of economic hardship.\u201d The NPP said the decision \u201creflects insensitivity to the prevailing economic challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to September 2021. To a disclosure by the then MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that the President\u2019s travel to Germany with a private jet cost $14,000 per hour, the then NPP Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, said the existing jet was not fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cNO PRESIDENT CAN SHOWER IN THIS AIRCRAFT,\u201d he said, adding, HE CANNOT MOVE FROM THIS AIRCRAFT STRAIGHT INTO A MEETING\u201d<\/p>\n

A worse insult was to come. Even as the then Defence Minister spoke of the presidential jet not being in functional use, news broke that the Falcon jet had been lent to Liberian President George Oppong Weah for his trips outside Liberia.<\/p>\n

As a journalist, Yours Truly sincerely hoped that this disclosure would be denied. It wasn\u2019t. All that the then NPP government said was that \u201cit is a normal practice for countries to lend their aircraft to other Heads of State\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Kufuor bought the Falcon 900, which was delivered in 2010 when he was no longer the President. In 2021, NDC\u2019s President Mills inaugurated the new aircraft and flew in it. In justification, the Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa explained that the NDC did not oppose the purchase of the aircraft but did not support the idea of buying two aircraft at a time.<\/p>\n

Sounds familiar? Sounds like an expression you heard from NPP Parliamentarians this week?<\/p>\n

Away from Presidential jets and all their hoo-haws, I have other worries. In tough times, African nations are at their most vulnerable because coup plotters are on the prowl. Every unguarded utterance seems to be an invitation to groups of desperadoes with access to arms to begin plotting.<\/p>\n

That is why I want to plead with our civilian politicians, especially Parliamentarians, to pipe down on some of their rhetoric.<\/p>\n

A case in point is the reaction of Minority Leader Afenyo Markin to the ruling by a Tamale High Court, which this week ordered a rerun of the Kpandai parliamentary election.<\/p>\n

To slam the \u201ckangaroo judicial system Ghana now has\u201d shows an adult who could not control his emotions. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Tamale High Court on Monday, November 24, 2025, ordered a complete rerun of the December 7, 2024, Kpandai parliamentary election within 30 days. The ruling followed a petition by an NDC candidate challenging the victory of the NPP candidate.<\/p>\n

Afenyo Markin criticised the judiciary for what he described as \u201cactions and inactions that serve the interests of their paymasters\u201d. My question to him is: can judges, as humans, not err? Must every error amount to \u201cserving the interests of paymasters\u201d?<\/p>\n

I remind Afenyo that there are seniors of his who were confronted with worse legal provocations but remained calm. One is Akufo-Addo. The former President, in his reaction to the ruling of the Supreme Court in the 2012 election petition, which he lost, simply said, \u201cWhile I disagree with the court\u2019s decision, I accept it\u201d That was statesmanship. That was maturity.<\/p>\n

If that example is too far off to be recalled, Afenyo Markin should listen to a playback of the reaction of Speaker Bagbin in his (Afenyo\u2019s) suit at the Supreme Court in 2014.<\/p>\n

Afenyo describes the Tamale judge as doing the bidding of a \u201cpaymaster\u201d. The question is, was Justice Torkonoo doing the bidding of a \u201cpaymaster\u201d when she empanelled the Supreme Court within two hours to hear his (Afenyo Markin\u2019s) suit? All Alban Bagbin did was file an application asking the Supreme Court to overturn its decision.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on October 18, 2024, hear the words of Afenyo-Markin (then the Majority Leader) after the Supreme Court ruling against the Speaker. He challenged the Minority in Parliament to \u201cpursue a legal course if they believe they have a solid case regarding the recent parliamentary dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Easier said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PresidentialBut Mr Sammy Gyamfi would hear none of this. \u201cIf President Akufo-Addo and Bawumia cared about the sufferings of Ghanaians, they would not even think of buying a presidential jet at this time.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,10,9,2875],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-politics","category-popular","category-presidential-jet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}