Globally, the health of citizens in most countries is a major concern for the leaders today due to the emergence of Coronavirus, which is causing havoc the world over and Ghana is not exempted from this pandemic.
President Akufo-Addo’s regular media updates and frantic efforts to manoeuvre the global politics to secure COVID-19 vaccines to protect Ghanaians from hospitalization and death is a clear demonstration of a leader who loves his people.
Our President, therefore, deserves to be encouraged. And his gestures must be emulated by other leaders in our society. But instead, we now witness utmost condemnation or unwarranted attacks or focus on trivial issues.
This is led by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu in the Volta Region, who for strange reasons have decided to maliciously focus on the cost of the President’s trips but blatantly refused to calculate the benefits.
He knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.
According to the NDC MP for North Tongu, President Akufo-Addo hired another luxurious aircraft on his recent foreign trips to the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany and that the trips on the hired jet cost the state £14,000 per hour and a cumulative GHS3.46 million.
But after displaying his mathematical modelling, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa woefully failed to tell Ghanaians how beneficial President Akufo-Addo’s foreign travels were to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Does Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa know that the German government is giving Ghana 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to help in the national vaccination campaign against the pandemic?
This comes following President Akufo-Addo’s meeting with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, during the President’s visit to Germany.
The donation forms part of the pledge made by Germany to make up to 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries this year to help the continent fight the pandemic.
Mr. Ablakwa should tell us how many African countries have received their share so far? This is what makes President Akufo-Addo an exceptional leader.
Now, let’s assume without admitting Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa’s staggering GHS3.46 million of the President’s trips is true, President Akufo-Addo’s visit to Germany secured 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
Records show that the AstraZeneca vaccine costs approximately $6.00 per unit dose.
The NDC MP for North Tongu now take your ‘’Makola Calculator’’, like your General Secretary testifying at the Supreme Court during the 2020 election petition, and multiply 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines by $6.00.
In conclusion, that is $9,000,000 worth of AstraZeneca Vaccines, approximately GHS54 million, that President Akufo-Addo’s trips brought home to assist the fight against COVID-19.
Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa, can you compare GHS54 million worth of COVID-19 vaccines to that of your so-called colossal tune of GHS3.46 million you allege the President spent on his recent travels to Germany/UK?
I think Okudzeto Ablakwa should give us a break.