Head of the legal team of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Abraham Amaliba has alleged that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo no longer flies in “luxurious” private jets not because he listened to calls for him to desist from it but that the funds are no longer available.
“The money is finished that’s why he can’t fly now,” Mr Amaliba said.
He further alleged that the monies were from the Covid funds made available by the World Bank to help countries manage the economic challenges faced in the wake of the pandemic.
According to the legal practitioner, the use of Covid funds to finance the President’s travels is one piece of evidence of the mismanagement of the funds by Ghana.
Mr Amaliba was speaking on TV3‘s New Day during a discussion on President Akufo-Addo’s reply in his sessional address to Parliament on Wednesday, March 8 to assertions that government has misused Covid funds.
According to the NDC representative on the show on Friday, March 10, the Covid funds were what the president “used to finance his lifestyle”.
Asked by host Berla Mundi if the decision by the President was not as a result of incessant calls, especially by the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for accountability, Mr Amaliba retorted: “Did we start crying today?”
For him, he believes government no longer has enough to continue to rent the “luxurious” private jets for the President’s international travels.
Mr Amaliba added that President Akufo-Addo should rather thank his stars that he is still the President of Ghana because other countries have chased out their leaders from office for the same “infractions”.