Ablakwa Defends Presidential Jet Oversight, Says “Dishonest Spin and Hate Campaigns Cannot Defeat Truth”

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Ranking Member on the Ghanaian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has mounted a strong defense of his parliamentary oversight on presidential jet and presidential travels during the former President Nana Akufo-Addo administration, describing it as one of his proudest legacies “for God and Country.”

In a lengthy statement posted on Facebook, Ablakwa rejected calls by opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament, Rev John Ntim Fordjour and other members of the public for him to apologize or resign over his campaign against former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s use of luxury chartered jets, stressing that his actions were guided by patriotism and a commitment to protecting the public purse.

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“I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever for leading a long-drawn-out successful patriotic campaign against former President Akufo-Addo’s unjustified, wasteful and extremely reckless ostentatious charter of ultra-luxury jets for US$18,000 an hour,” he wrote.

According to the North Tongu legislator, while Akufo-Addo’s supporters now vilify him, they conveniently ignore the former president’s own opposition to the purchase of a new presidential jet under the Rawlings administration in 2000 on the grounds of prioritization and value for money.

“What changed when he became president 17 years later? Why is Akufo-Addo’s conduct in 2000 commendable but my conduct between 2021 and 2024 condemnable?” Ablakwa asked.

The opposition MP, who gained public attention for consistently filing parliamentary questions on the matter, said his campaign eventually compelled Akufo-Addo to abandon the luxury charters in 2023 and return to using Ghana’s presidential jet until the end of his tenure in January 2025.

“That President Akufo-Addo relied exclusively on Ghana’s Presidential Jet for over 18 months until he left office confirms that I wasn’t wrong when I insisted the jet was fit for purpose,” he noted, adding that previous administrations, including those of the late President John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama, had no difficulty using the aircraft purchased under President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2008.

Ablakwa also linked the costly charters—estimated at more than GHS120 million—to what he described as the economic mismanagement that eventually pushed Ghana into a $3 billion IMF bailout. He argued that earlier adherence to prudence and frugality could have spared the country the debt crisis and the financial haircuts that followed.

The legislator dismissed what he called “dishonest spin” and “hate campaigns” against him, insisting that “the intelligence of Ghanaians should not be underestimated.”

“Protecting taxpayers is a legacy I will forever cherish. I did it in good conscience for my country and not for the praises of those who cannot look beyond their stomachs,” he asserted.

Ablakwa ended his statement by pledging that the new Mahama-led government would reset Ghana “with truth, modesty, frugality and deep respect for the Ghanaian people.”