You don’t have the right to fly around in a private aircraft – Kofi Bentil to Akufo-Addo

Akufo Addo don’t have the right to fly around in a private aircraft and live like an Arabian king while the rest of us go hungry said by Kofi Bentil

Kofi Bentil, vice president of IMANI Africa, has criticized the government for the hardships Ghanaians are experiencing.

He said that political appointees’ duty was not to enjoy a life of luxury at the suffering people’s cost.

He contends that President Akufo-Addo should not continue to travel on a costly private plane during these trying times when more affordable alternatives are available.

Speaking on Accra-based Joy News today, he said that while the President deems it wise to spend so much on private planes, the basic concerns of the people aren’t being addressed.

“You don’t have the right to live like an Arabian king when the rest of the people can’t eat, which is why we’ll constantly run into issues with things like the President traveling in a pricey aircraft when there are alternatives available, and it’s not because someone doesn’t like them or anything like that. We are claiming that as leaders, we are connected to reality. It’s not your responsibility to enjoy a lavish lifestyle at our cost. He implied that it was your responsibility to try to make things better for us.

He continued by saying that the Russian-Ukrainian War and COVID-19 both contributed to Ghana’s economic problems.

“We are in a sub-region where the same sort of circumstances are prevalent, and this kind of circumstance is not present elsewhere. We had issues before to these externalities, and we were pounding the table about them. One of the things we argued prior to Covid and the Ukraine War was that it was foolish to manage the economy as if we might never have a catastrophe. When Free SHS was being discussed back then at IMANI, we even stated, “Look, you can’t focus all of your efforts on one program.” It is not clever. As a result, our difficulties predate Covid. Before Covid, there was the loan book, borrowing, wastefulness, corruption, and avarice of the V8 culture. Then Covid struck us and worsened the situation, he said.

He continued by saying that despite the effort, the government nevertheless implemented the E-levy to punish the struggling Ghanaians.

He said that “every time we have an issue, they go back to the same suffering folks and make us pay up even more of what we don’t have.”