{"id":90604,"date":"2025-08-20T18:33:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90604"},"modified":"2025-08-20T18:33:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:33:04","slug":"kennedy-agyapong-backs-acquisition-of-new-presidential-jet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=90604","title":{"rendered":"Kennedy Agyapong backs acquisition of new presidential jet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Patriotic Party flagbearer aspirant and former Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has reignited the debate over the proposed acquisition of a new presidential jet, criticising what he described as short-sighted and politically motivated opposition to the idea in the past. <\/p>\n

Speaking following the tragic military helicopter crash that claimed eight lives, Mr Agyapong, in an interview on Oman FM, noted that the incident should serve as a national wake-up call to rise above petty partisanship, especially on matters of critical national importance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe recent helicopter crash that claimed eight precious lives should be a wake-up call for us all on the extent to which unnecessary partisanship is destroying our country,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The former legislator pointed to the controversy under the former Akufo-Addo administration, when plans to acquire a modern, fit-for-purpose presidential aircraft faced fierce resistance, particularly from members of the then-opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).<\/p>\n

He singled out North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for what he termed \u201cunwarranted politicisation\u201d of the matter, accusing him of engaging in \u201cunfortunate banter\u201d that stifled a necessary national investment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor the sake of political expedience, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa vehemently opposed the acquisition\u2026 He must bow his head in shame and apologise for his disservice to our dear country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr Agyapong pointed out what he considered the irony of the opposition\u2019s stance, revealing that the parliamentary delegation tasked with overseeing the proposed acquisition was, in fact, led by another NDC figure James Agalga, the Ranking Member on the Defence and Interior Committee.<\/p>\n

He argued that rather than a needless luxury, the proposed presidential jet was a prudent long-term investment that would have ultimately saved the country millions in charter costs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the long term, the acquisition of a fit-for-purpose presidential jet is economically prudent compared to the expenditure incurred on presidential travels devoid of same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr Agyapong further cautioned against allowing populist narratives and political propaganda to derail national progress.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs politicians, we must be wary of the adverse impact of populism and propaganda on our national interest. Let\u2019s rather pursue initiatives that would benefit the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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\"KennedyFormer Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has reignited the debate over the proposed acquisition of a new presidential jet, criticising what he described as short-sighted and politically motivated opposition in Parliament.<\/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":[475,1883,10,9,2875],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kennedy-ohene-agyapong","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-presidential-jet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90604","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=90604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}