Abraham Amaliba, the head of the legal team for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo no longer flies in “luxurious” private jets because there are no longer enough funds to pay for such travel.
Mr. Amaliba explained that because the money had run out, he was unable to fly at this time.
In addition to this, he asserted that the funds came from the COVID funds that were made available by the World Bank in order to assist nations in managing the economic challenges that arose as a direct result of the pandemic.
One of the pieces of evidence that points to Ghana’s poor management of its funds is the fact that the country used funds from COVID to pay for the president’s travel expenses, according to the legal practitioner.
Mr. Amaliba made these comments while participating in a discussion on the topic of President Akufo-Addo’s Akufo-Response, which he gave in his sessional address to Parliament on Wednesday, March 8, in response to allegations that the government had misappropriated funds from Covid.
The funds from Covid were reportedly what the president “used to finance his lifestyle,” as stated by the representative of the NDC who appeared on the show on Friday, March 10.
When host Berla Mundi asked Mr. Amaliba if the decision by the president was not a result of constant calls for accountability, especially by the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Mr. Amaliba retorted, “Did we start crying today?”
According to him, the government does not have enough money to continue renting “luxurious” private jets for the President to use when he travels internationally. He agrees with this point of view.
Amaliba continued by saying that President Akufo-Addo should rather thank his stars that he is still the President of Ghana because other nations’ leaders have been removed from office for the same “infractions” as President Akufo-Addo.