Parliament Approves Purchase Of Presidential Jet Website
Parliament on Wednesday night approved the purchase of a contentious presidential jet by a vote of 118 to 63, after several time-outs debating the matter. Indeed the acrimonious debate ran deep into the night as the House appeared determined to clear the issue before rising for the Easter break to resume on May 20. The breaking point came after the Speaker put the question, and was duly carried by the majority. Minority Leader Alban Bagbin resisted vehemently, and was on his feet urging the House to reject the contracts for lack of transparency and priority when the Speaker reminded him that he had already put the question and therefore the issues could no longer be debated. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu had moved the motion for the debate, seconded by Hon. P.C. Appiah Ofori, MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwah. Minority Spokesperson on Defence and Interior, Abukari Sumani, was the first to object to the motion when he said there were inconsistencies in the Report of the Joint-Committee on Defence and Finance over the contract for the purchase, followed by the Minority Leader Alban Bagbin, who said apart from the issue of inconsistencies, the subject lacked priority because Ghanaians are poor, hungry and thirsty and should be given attention in that direction than the purchase of luxurious Presidential Jets. According to Bagbin, per the terms of the loan for the purchase, the country was being committed to a contract of 37.15 million dollars to be paid within five years, plus an additional six million dollars to be paid in the same five years. He said there was no document covering the six million dollars. “I believe strongly that even in the sales contract and the loans agreement, there would have been a clause talking about this counterpart funding of six million dollars coming from the government of Ghana, there is no mention of it, and we are being told that this is a verbal understanding and this House should approve it. Mr. Speaker I shy away from committing the people of Ghana into such nebulous arrangements. There is no document on it, it has not been mentioned in any of the contracts, and we are to approve it. I mean why, why…?” But Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister of State at the Presidency, said Bagbin could be wrong in understanding the financial transaction because an 85 percent loan facility from Societe Generale for the payment of the jets had a two-year grace period and a repayment time of five years, it would be paid off in 2015 and the planes would be delivered in 2010, and so it was wrong for Bagbin to say the loan would be paid in five years. Bagbin cut in and said even then the Minster was wrong because the Committee’s report said the grace period was two and half years and not two as he suggested. He maintained that the House should go back and do a better job of the contract because the 37.15 million dollars was a commercial one with no less than 6 percent interest, “and this is a government exiting and committing a government yet to come in 2009…and I think that the total of 105.15 million at an interest rate of not less than 6 percent to be paid within five years is rather on the high side.” Another interjection by Akoto Osei that the two contracts could not be lumped together under the same terms because they were not the same, admitting also that the Minority may not know the terms of the other contract, brought Bagbin back to ask how the House could be asked to approve a contract whose terms were unclear. Further arguments and jibes saw the motion through a couple of ammendments before voting decided it all. Indeed a head count had to be conducted to decide the winners as there was very little to differentiate those in favour and against during a voice vote.
Source: MJFM
