Ablakwa says President prioritizing personal comfort over citizen's welfare
Ghana has 1 MRI facility per every 7.7 million persons
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has slammed the priorities of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo relative to his extravagant travels while there is an acute need for key medical infrastructure.
Ablakwa in a social media post directed at people he said were defending the President's expensive chartered flights, cited how the entire country had four Magnetic Resonance Imagery, MRI, machines to serve the over 30 million Ghanaians.
"As recent as the 17th of March, 2022; Health Minister Agyeman-Manu in response to an urgent question on how many MRI machines were functional in govt hospitals across Ghana, provided a most startling answer: ONLY 4 were functional for our 30.8million population (1:7.7million).
"Those defending President Akufo-Addo’s US$18,000 an hour extravagant 'meet-me-there' trips should reflect on this," his post read.
Ablakwa has been championing a dogged reportage on the purported costs of presidential travels via private jet since last year.
According to the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Akufo-Addo opts for ultra-luxury charters even though there is a presidential jet that remains in pristine condition.
In his most recent post on the travels, Ablakwa disclosed thus: "President Akufo-Addo has for the umpteenth time ignored the precarious state of the Ghanaian economy and abandoned Ghana's US$36million Presidential Jet in favour of his most cherished ultra-luxury toy — the LX-DIO which now rents for US18,000 an hour.
"It is clearly a helpless costly addiction which sadly, the Ghanaian taxpayer must pay for. The President's latest misconduct appears to be the most deceptive thus far."
On the issue of the costs of the 10-day overseas trip, he said: "It is imperative to note that so far, the Ghanaian taxpayer must cough up an astronomical US$465,000 in luxury rental charges. At the current exchange, that is a scary GHS3,505,515.49.
"This will mean that since May last year, the Ghanaian taxpayer has spent at least GHS28.5million on President Akufo-Addo’s ostentatious travels."
The government has defended the private jet travels stating that the presidential jet was not suited for long-haul flights. Plans are also afoot to purchase a new presidential jet, the Presidency announced last year.
View his Timepath below;
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu