The Defence Minister, Dr Omane Boamah, has said Ghana’s presidential jet is sick and heavily corroded.
According to the Defence Minister, the Presidential jet is in France due to serious technical faults.
Omane Boamah further revealed that the return date for the Presidential jet keeps changing.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, July 21, Dr Omane Boamah stated, “It is sad to note that for some time now, whenever the president’s jet goes for either maintenance or overhaul, the date that is scheduled for it to return to Ghana keeps changing”.
“They have extended it to two months before, and later two and a half. In this case, as we speak, the aircraft is still not in.”
“We are hoping that the date that has been given will see the Falcon in Ghana,” he said.
“The truth is that the presidential jet is heavily corroded… However, that does not in any way justify hiring or renting luxurious aircraft persistently for presidential use,” he asserted.
The absence of Ghana’s presidential jet has reignited public argument over whether Ghana should invest in a new aircraft for the presidency.
It will be recalled that social media, some months ago, was set on fire with Ghanaians speculating after President Mahama travelled 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.
Also, some months ago, Dr Edward Omane Boamah 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.
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 ran down 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 a fairly usable state after three months of ‘therapy’. The Presidential jet is unfit for use presently,” he added.
