Ghana Does Not Need Prez Jet Now- Kwesi Pratt

The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has warned against any government, including the Mills’ administration, prioritizing the purchase of presidential jets, as he would vehemently resist any such move. He, however, say he is not oppose to the buying of two light tactical aircrafts to re-equip the Airforce. “No government should be allowed to buy a presidential jet and Ghanaians should be ready to fight against any government harboring such ideas. Should any president or any gov’t even consider the idea, it should be in the next 15 to 20 years, and hopefully when the state of the economy is better than it is now...It will be a complete waste of the tax payer’s money to buy two executive presidential jets,” he passionately said. Advancing his arguments in a panel discussion on the issue of the presidential jets on PEACEFM’s “Kokrokoo”, Mr. Pratt pointed out that the NPP government was involved in two parallel transactions in the purchase of jets. Whilst the first proposal tabled was for the purchase of four aircrafts for the military, another transaction was to buy two Presidential (Executive) jets, making a total of six aircrafts. Something he described as excessive and unnecessary. The social commentator posited that buying two military aircrafts, with the Executive using one for the Executive, is economically savvy and also makes commonsense. He asked government to rather consider equipping the Navy to effectively and judiciously guard the nation’s oil fields, instead of purchasing a Presidential jet. “Just as I strongly protested the purchase of Executive jets by past governments, including Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, i will continue to stand up against President J.E.A Mills, if he decides to buy a presidential jet,” he pledged. Source: Alex Ofei/peacefmonline