The president has been extensively criticized by the National Democratic congress (NDC) over his frequent ‘extravagant’ travels outside the country at the expense of economic difficulties facing the nation.
Addressing party faithfuls in Ashaiman Wednesday June 26, MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa indicated, the President appears to be thoughtless about the luxury, loot and waste of taxpayers’ money his excessive travels is costing the country.
Worried about the fact that all these monies could have been saved for the state, Mr Ablakwa said the embarking on luxurious travels by the President are of no value and benefits to the country, as Ghanaians are still living in abject poverty.
“Look at his lavish lifestyle. He hardly spends one full week in Ghana these days. The president has got the time to charter flight to go and watch the European Champions League final. It’s not even about Accra hearts of Oak or even Asante Kotoko but can’t be bothered about the hardships of citizens. That is not a leader.
When there is hardship, you expect that a leader cuts down on all the needless expenditure but that is not what we see him doing and it saddens my heart. Look at their convoys, their chartered flights. To make matters worse, corruption is on the high”, Ablakwa lamented.
He stressed that the Akufo-Addo led administration has brought untold hardship on Ghanaians, job losses and unprecedented corruption, a situation which has necessitated the NDC’s forthcoming demonstration dubbed ‘Kum yen preko’ on July 9.
Meanwhile, it was earlier confirmed that, President Akufo-Addo, rented a private jet from Europe and flew to the Spanish capital of Madrid to watch the June 1, UEFA Champions League Final, between two English teams; Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at the Estadio Metropolitano.
The elite private jet, has been named as Airbus A318-11 belongs to K5 Aviation Gm BH of Germany, and is an 18-seater aircraft compared to Ghana’s Presidential Jet which is a 14-seater.
The NDC reacting to this, revealed the Airbus cost over GHC80, 000 per hour thereby costing the state over GHC214billion as it was rented for two weeks.
NDC to stage ‘Kum yen Preko demonstration, July 9
Members of the Coalition for Social Justice (CSJ) are billed to demonstrate in Accra on July 9 against the government in "a march against hardship and oppression".
The march is dubbed "Kum yen preko" – to wit: "kill us now"
The NDC according to them would be embarking on the said demonstration to give President Akufo-Addo his own ‘dose of medicine’ and also to protest his “unfulfilled” promises.
They added, the demonstration is a replication of a situation in 1995 where Akufo-Addo led protestors against former President Rawlings’ decision to implement the Value Added Tax in Ghana
