A video of President John Dramani Mahama’s arrival in Cote d’Ivoire for the 2025 African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Annual Meetings aboard a private jet owned by his brother, Ibrahim Mahama, branded “Dzata” has surfaced.
It will be recalled, that social media some months ago was set on fire with Ghanaians speculating after President Mahama travelling on the private jet owned by his businessman brother, Ibrahim Mahama, to The Gambia.
John Mahama was criticised for using his brother’s Dzata jet but was defended, by government officials as cost-saving and timely for the state.
The viral video showed the jet landing and President Mahama disembarking, greeted by officials and a red carpet as he arrived in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to attend the 60th Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank.
A key highlight of the meeting is the election of a new President to replace Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who is ending a second five-year term and is ineligible to contest
The trip marks Mahama’s participation in the annual meetings, scheduled from May 26 to 30, 2025, in Abidjan.
John Mahama was accompanied by his Executive Secretary, Dr. Callistus Mahama, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stan Dogbe, Mahama was received at the airport by Ivorian Transport Minister Kone Amadou. The meetings, themed “Making Africa’s Capital Work Better for Africa’s Development,”
The erstwhile Akufo-Addo had planned to acquire a new presidential jet before leaving office.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah has accused the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of mismanaging the country’s official presidential jet, the Falcon, to the point of causing significant damage, including corrosion of the aircraft’s fuel tank.
His comments came on the heels of the NPP quizzing what stopped the vice president Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyeman from using a first-class or a business ticket for her return to the country.
The NPP accused the presidency of causing a purported financial loss to the state, by chartering a private jet for the vice president from London to Accra.
Edward Omane Boamah in a post on Facebook wrote, “Let the NPP that suffered the most humiliating defeat in recent memory in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections know this: Akufo-Addo’s administration rundown the Presidential jet. Among others, its fuel tank is even corroded”.
“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’. The Presidential jet is unfit for use presently,” he added.
Watch the video below:
Pres. Mahama arrives in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire to participate in the 2025 African Development Bank (AfDB) Group Annual Meetings…#GHOneNews #EIBNetwork#GHOneTV #NewsAlert pic.twitter.com/GKhzKIZ1CM
— GHOne TV (@ghonetv) May 26, 2025
