The debate began in Parliament with the Minority protesting that they had not been furnished with a copy of the 32 page Sales Agreement concerning the acquiisition of the six aircrafts.
They went further to lament that they had access to only excerpts of the agreement adding that a senior member of the House, Mr. J.H. Mensah, who belongs to the Majority did not even have a copy, quizzing about how to approve an agreement which they do not know the details.
The Minority leader, Hon Alban Bagbin argued that they should concentrate on priorities and that there were discrepancies in the figures regarding the cost of the six aircrafts in the committee’s report, which was the motion and that of the Agreement
Mr. Kan-Dapaah challenged that if it was detected that prior payment has been made to the aircraft sellers then he should be sent to jail, specifically naming Nsawam Prison
“We are honourable men and we have not paid a penny, if we want to make such a payment you need a release from the Minister of Finance to the Accountant General, you need a bank transfer advise from the Controller to the Bank of Ghana, you need to complete an exchange control form from the Bank of Ghana, and if we have gone against the laws of Ghana the law should take it course,” he challenged
Hon. Bagbin interfered and noted that their interest was to ensure that the right thing was done but not to wish that anyone was put behind bars.
Mr. Kan-Dapaah said the Gulf Stream was too old and that the financing arrangement was very complicated and could not be understood by even accountants and moreso was not recommended by the Ghana Armed Forces.
He cautioned that the arguments should not be based on emotions because that would cost the nation greatly, adding that it was embarrasing for the President to go to neighbouring countries to look for flights to travel.
Bagbin pleaded that the speaker should not end the debate because of lack of time since it was an important issue, as a result the Speaker allowed two statements each from both majority and minority sides.
Hon. Kumbuor was then offered the platform, he intimated that the issues should have revolved around adopting a committee’s report, inquesting the constitutional and legal basis for the approval of $62million from the Ghana government to acquire the aircrafts.
“I understood the committee’s report to be limited to the credit we are going to get from the lenders, then finally you have a motion which is telling you to approve $62million that is going to be the contribution of the Ghana government, try and justify to the people of this country why the $62million from the Government of Ghana has to be part of this motion,” he argued.
Mr. Kumbuor continued that in the committee’s report, the House was asked to adopt a resolution in relation to Corporate Jet 319, but they were in a fix as to where that facility for the jet was coming from since they do not know exactly the contract price.
He further said that, in the Agreement $37million was quoted as the firm’s fixed price but the committte’s report iintimated that he prices of the aircrafts in addition to the Falcon 900 were going to escalate till the month of delivery.
The rate at which it would be escalating we do not, whatever negotiations would be factored into the negotiation we don’t know, that is why I am not sure whether we are approving the firm’s fix price or an escalating price,” he fumed.
He said those who were selling the aircrafts were with opened eyes as such those who were in the committee were expected to make the recommendations with genuine intentions and the parliamentarians must delibrate on the issue taking into consideration ‘value for money.’
Touching on the Falcon 900, he said it could be used to evacuate patients, and that it could not carry a football team, and that the government should not misinform the public that it was for the military, when it was rather for the President.
He said the excuse the government was putting up casts a slur on the professionalism of the Armed Forces, because it creates the impression that they do not know their work, hence contributing to such an unprofessional recommendations when the Armed Forces were full of inteligent preople.
Hon Hammond, the Adenta MP jumped in and said that Mr. Kumbuor was misleading the House, bringing his personal travel experience with the President to bear on the debate, he recounted how heartbreaking it was to him seeing the President rushing to make it to international meetings as a result of delay of time by commercial flights.
Hon. Kumbuor’s defense was that he was not interested in the MP’s personal fortunes but the scientific analysis by the Armed Forces. Minister Boniface Sadique Abubakar, who created some sense of humour was cut by the minority on the grounds that the issue before the House was not a joking matter.
Source: GhanaWeb
