By Godwill Arthur- Mensah
Accra, July 11, GNA–Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the Minister of Defence, on Friday, announced that Ghana’s presidential jet, Falcon-900, is currently undergoing inspection and maintenance works in France to repair massive defects identified in the aircraft.
The 15-year-old aircraft, the Minister explained, left the shores of Ghana on March 11, 2025, to France.
It was therefore unavailable at the time Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang returned to Ghana on Thursday, May 22, 2025, after undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom.
Dr Omane Boamah announced this on the floor of Parliament, in Accra, in response to an urgent question posed by Mr Vincent Ekow Assafuah, the NPP Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, who sought to understand why the Vice President returned to the country onboard a private jet.
The Minister stated that it was initially anticipated the presidential jet would return to Ghana on July 31,2025.
However, due to identification of extra defects, the aircraft may not return to Accra on the July 31st deadline.
Apart from the Executive, the Minister said, the aircraft also service other arms of government and vital institutions in the country.
“The aircraft, which is an asset of the Ghana Airforce, has been undergoing a 24-month routine inspection in France since March 11,2025 due to risk multi-focal massive defects identified by the technical team,” Dr Omane Boamah stated.
The Minister mentioned some of the vital parts of the aircraft that had developed massive corrosion to include the turbofan, left and right-wing engines, as well as the fuel tank.
The aircraft defects, the Minister indicated, were as a result of delayed maintenance works in previous years.
The Minister, however, discouraged Ghanaians from reducing the conversation on the current condition of the jet to NDC/NPP discourse but rather should be nationalistic in nature.
Asked how the President would travel for international duties due to the current state of the presidential jet, Dr Omane Boamah requested that that decision should be left to the Office of the President and the Ghana Airforce to determine.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah