Editorial: Re-Equipping Our Air Force

It's becoming an issue of patriotism now. Must we equip our Armed Forces or not? We believe that for as long as we have a military establishment, we must do all we can, within our limited resources to provide the services within it the necessary tools with which to attain a certain professional efficiency and readiness.

It is for this reason that we believe the government has taken the right decision in swapping the Gulfstream III aircraft for four jet trainers and a flight simulator from China to beef up our Air Force.

Last week, Minister of Defence, Dr. Addo-Kufuor had a question and answer section in the speech he delivered in response to media and political inquiries regarding the swap deal. We present an excerpt below.

Ladies and Gentlemen, a few questions are regularly asked by journalists and our friends on the other side of the political divide which must be answered:

What is the transaction cost of the acquisition of the K8 Chinese military jets?

Some speculators have put the cost of a single jet as high as $20 million. The answer is that the cost of jets to be acquired for Ghana would be much lower. Less than 30% of the figure speculated. I would be prepared to show the exact figure to the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior.

Are the jets to be acquired brand new?

Yes.

Do the jets and the simulator have a combined value of more than $80 million?

No, much less, the Parliamentary Committee will be shown the draft contract document.

Is there any provision made for consulting parliament in the purchase contract?

Yes, definitely.

That settles it for us. Parliament would perform its constitutional role at the appropriate time, and to use a colloquial but appropriate figure of speech, parliament cannot jump the gun either! Parliament would have to allow the executive to complete its paperwork and then the vetting process can begin, but we must not mix flavours, for some people are coming across as if the decision to re-equip the Ghana Air Force is a crime! It is not. In fact, the constitution enjoins the government to do that and more.

And let's not forget, the Chinese have been at the forefront of the modernization of our Armed Forces for some time now, providing grants and other favourable facilities to the Ministry of Defence to put up buildings in our military barracks. The ultra-modern conference centre in Burma Camp was put up with some grant from the Chinese and the rest from other sources.

Our own investigations have revealed that Ghana is indeed getting a very fair deal for the 4 jets and simulator. We do not intend to jump the gun ourselves by engaging in speculative figures and would wait for the Minister of Defence to present the details to parliament after which we hope things would be speeded up, because Ghana has a July deadline in this transaction.