Presidential Jet in danger

President Akufo-Addo arrived in Ghana safely yesterday from the United States of America after his presidential jet developed a fault, few minutes after take-off.

President Akufo-Addo and the delegation that travelled to the US to attend the 73rd meeting of the UN General Assembly reportedly escaped what could have been a fatal accident.

He addressed the 73rd UN General Assembly on Wednesday, September 26. His speech centred on China’s foray into the developing world, reforms at the UN, the wider vision of ‘Africa Beyond Aid’ and the recent passing of former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

The Minister of Information-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, told journalists that the presidential jet was in the air for 20 minutes with one of its engines off.

He indicated that the incident compelled the crew to make forced landing at the Dallas Airport in Washington DC.

According to him, the President was travelling with a team of six and after the incident a commercial flight was arranged for the president to travel to Ghana.

He stated that on Sunday, September 30, the President arrived safely in Ghana.



The Minister stressed that the presidential jet returned to the country recently after thorough maintenance work, dispelling claims by some critics that the jet was not being maintained by the current administration.

It would be recalled that in March 2015, the presidential jet caught fire while attempting to take off from the Kotoka International Airport. The Falcon 900, at the time, was to fly to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. On December 5, 2014, the presidential jet developed a technical fault which delayed former President Mahama, who was expected to attend the 30th National Farmers’ Day in the Western Region.

But Mr. Nkrumah told journalists that the Presidency does not intend to purchase any new jet as being speculated by some people.

Some people claimed news about the incident had been publicized to pave way for the government to buy new aircraft for President Akufo-Addo.

The minister-designate stated emphatically that the current Akufo-Addo administration was focused on implementing its key projects such as the free Senior High School (SHS), ‘One District, One Factory’ and not the procurement of aircraft.