Accra, April 8, GNA - The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) on Thursday said the Gulfstream G3 Presidential Aircraft, which is part of the Ghana Air Force fleet, had never been flown since January 2001.

It is, therefore, not true that President John Agyekum Kufuor was flown on the Aircraft to Abidjan on March 24, 2004.

A press release signed by Colonel E.W.K. Nibo, Director of the Ghana Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate, and sent to the Ghana New Agency, said GAF's attention had been drawn to a publication in the Monday April 5, 2004 edition of the Ghana Palaver, an Accra newspaper, that President Kufuor was flown on the Gulfstream Aircraft to Abidjan.

The statement said President Kufuor was flown from Accra to Abidjan and back on the Forkker F28 aircraft.

It said President Kufuor departed from Accra at 0930 hours on March 24 and not at night.

The statement said details of the type of aircraft used, the time of departure and arrival of the President's flight and other information of any flight of interest on that day could easily be verified from either the Accra or Abidjan Civil Aeronautical Authority.

"The Ghana Armed Forces would, therefore, like to inform the public that the publication in the Ghana Palaver is absolutely false", the statement said.