Kufuour's Travel to Europe Cost $390,000/trip

According to the Minister of Defence, Hon. Albert Kan Dapaah it takes the President and his entourage about $US390,00 (250,000 Euros) to fly from Ghana to Europe. He however refused to state the total amount the state has spent so far on the President’s numerous trips abroad.

Justifying why the two presidential jets must be purchased, on a programme on Metro TV last Tuesday night, the minister revealed that his ministry had done cost and benefit analysis and had come to the conclusion that it was better for the Presidency to own and fly by a presidential jet than going by commercial airlines.

The Minister also told parliament, during the heated debate for the approval of a $101 million loan, for the purchase of what has been described as “executive jet”, that the then opposition New Patriotic Party kicked against the purchase of the Gulf Stream G3 jet because the plane could not do long haul travels besides, the plane was 13 years old and was going to be phased out by the manufacturer.

According to the minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Affigya Sekyere West, the Gulf Stream was meant to replace the old Fokker 28 jet, which could not travel long distances, but the replacement too was suffering from the same problem. In addition to this the financial agreement covering the purchase was also cumbersome and that it was very complicated. He noted that it was based on this that they objected to the purchase of the jet.

At the floor of the house, the minority would not buy the idea insisting that there are so many ambiguities associated with the agreement for the purchase of the two jets. The minority spokesman for finance, Hon. Benjamin Kumbuor, who gave cogent expose’ on the matter, noted that the minority were not clear about the whole loan agreement because not all the documents covering it were made available to the house. He noted that whilst the loan agreement was talking about a firm price, the committee’s report was also talking about escalating price. He further noted that even though the name of the President has not been mentioned as one of the people who would be using the plane, the Defence minister kept referring to it as presidential jet. The ranking member on finance could not also fathom why the majority should push for approval of only two jets when the military had requested for more than that number, including the Airbus.

Kumbuor submitted that the House should not adopt the motion because it was not good for the country. The Member of Parliament for Adenta, Hon.Kwadwo Opare Hammond, contributing to the debate recounted the trauma President Kufuor went through when he traveled from Accra to Portugal recently to attend a conference with the European Union. He said because the plane delayed here in Accra, they had to hurry from terminal four at Heathrow airport in London to terminal one to board Air Portugal to Lisbon.
According to him, because the President was in a rush, his luggage could not accompany him to Portugal and that he had to make do with only one clothing for more than a day before the luggage finally arrived. The situation, which he described as an embarrassment to this country, could have been avoided if the President had traveled on a state owned jet. He therefore supported the purchase of the two jets. The minority, however, maintained their stand on the grounds that the whole loan agreement was not clear to them, therefore, until the right thing was done they would not support the motion.
After the debate had come to an end, the chairman of the committee that drafted the motion sought to amend portions of the motion, but the minority again kicked against it because the chairman could not do that without due consultation with other members of the committee.