Okudzeto Ablakwa files question over President Akufo-Addo’s foreign trips
Ken Ofori-Atta defers question on Akufo-Addo’s trips to National Security Minister
Ablakwa hints at court action against the government.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a ranking member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, has dismissed averments by the National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, that the cost of foreign trips by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is ‘matters of national secrecy’.
Ablakwa posits that the claim by the minister smacks of dishonesty and unwillingness by the government to be accountable and transparent to Ghanaians.
“After seven months of grand government evasiveness and conspiracy to conceal, National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, finally shows up in Parliament today to respond to my question on the cost of President Akufo-Addo’s sybaritic chartered travels.
“In a despicable disregard for democratic accountability, he refuses to disclose the cost, hiding behind national security fears.”
The North Tongu MP in a social media post said that evidence abounds to reject Kan-Dapaah’s view that it will be inimical to the safety of the president for the cost of the aircraft for his foreign trips to be made public.
“As I pointed out to the Minister with evidence from other jurisdictions, cost of presidential travels are not state secrets and they are well known by citizens.
“The Akufo-Addo administration is embarrassingly allergic to accountability and yet loves the unbridled imposition of draconian taxes, including the obnoxious E-Levy, apparently to satisfy its obscene creature comforts,” he said.
Samuel Okudzeto vowed to use legal channels to ensure that Ghanaians are informed of the amount paid to fly President Akufo-Addo on his trips.
“This shall not be the end of the road in our quest for full accountability as is our constitutional right, and particularly as President Akufo-Addo obstinately continues to charter ultra-luxury jets at US$14,000.00 an hour when Ghana has a Presidential Jet in pristine condition.
“Who would have imagined that the man who promised to protect the public purse now seeks refuge in national security as the public purse remains under unmitigated assault. How tragic!”
Albert Kan-Dapaah, on Thursday, December 16, 2021, responded to a question by Okudzeto Ablakwa about the cost of President Akufo-Addo’s trips to France, Belgium, and South Africa.
He stated that “Mr. Speaker, recent official travels to France, Belgium, and South Africa by President Akufo-Addo are paid for out of the operational funds from the Ministry of National Security. Mr. Speaker payments out of the ministry’s operational funds are glued with rules of confidentiality and state secrecy and it is not the normal practice…to make the suggested disclosures.”
Source: ghanaweb
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