General News of Thursday, 30 September 2010

Source: Peacefmonline

'Presidential Jet' Finally Touches Down

The highly anticipated arrival of the presidential jet which became the subject of a heated debate between the NPP and then opposition NDC in 2008, has finally touched down at the Kotoka International Airport.
The Presidential Jet ‘Falcon 900EX Easy Aircraft’ touched the Ghanaian soil at exactly 5pm Ghana Time.

Peacefmonline is reliable informed that Vice President John Mahama will outdoor the new presidential jet at a colourful ceremony , after officials of the Ghana Armed Forces take delivery of the Falcon 900 since President John Mills is out of the country.

The ‘Falcon 900EX Easy Aircraft’ was purchased by the then New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to replace the Fokker 27 which was known as the ‘flying coffin’ that the Ghana Air Force had used for the past 37 years as a presidential jet.

The presidential jet was initially scheduled to be outdoor on Thursday September 23, but had to be postponed because the jet could not arrive in the country as earlier reported.

The acquisition of the jet by the Kufuor administration attracted criticisms from the then opposition NDC who questioned the rationale for the plane at a time when critical sectors of the economy, such as health and education, were badly in need of funding.

President Kufuor refused to use a Gulf Stream Presidential jet acquired by the Rawlings administration, because its transaction was shrouded in mystery, and begun the process of acquiring the 37 million dollar Falcon 900 presidential jet and an Airbus for the Ghana Air Force in 2007.