What at all is it about John Dramani Mahama and aircraft? Seriously. If Ghana had a frequent-flyer programme for politicians, the man would have reached Platinum Elite in his first term, even before lunch.
Because every time you scratch the surface of an aviation-related scandal in this country, somehow, somewhere, a Mahama signature, handshake, emissary, or family friend is boarding the jet.
And now, as Ghana’s Parliament approves a US$60 million Falcon 6X and €125 million worth of Airbus helicopters for the Ghana Air Force, an acquisition even ex-Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul admits is long overdue, the question on everyone’s lips should be:
Are we retooling the Air Force or refuelling Mahama’s long, turbulent love affair with presidential aviation?
Yes, Nitiwul supports the need for retooling the Air Force and for the President’s ease of travel, including showering at 45,000 feet above sea level, but not necessary the cost at which this government intends to do so over the next 3 years, at $1.2 billion.
Indeed, the best aviation expert to explain this is our own Foreign Minister and Member of Parliament for North Tongue, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Let’s go back. The story has… altitude.
John Mahama’s romance with presidential jets didn’t begin today.
It didn’t begin yesterday.
It began when he was Vice President and it began with an investigation ordered by his own boss, the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
Yes, you read correctly.
According to the then Attorney-General, Martin Amidu, President Mills investigated his own Vice President, John Mahama, over a controversial attempt to procure a presidential Embraer jet.
This, after the NDC had spent the entire 2008 campaign lambasting President Kufuor for ordering two presidential jets for the country which he knew he’d never get to use before leaving office.
Mills, seeking moral high ground, promptly cancelled the more spacious airbus jet and Ghana ended up with a Falcon so short-legged it had to refuel at “every junction,” like a trotro with a leaking tank.
But who championed the original Embraer deal? Mahama. And oh, the numbers!
The late Sir John (Owusu Afriyie), then NPP General Secretary, gleefully told us how Ghana was about to spend:
• Over $9 million on a “garage” (read: hangar) for the plane,
• $1 million for a ladder—yes, a ladder—to climb into the aircraft,
• $500,000 for an onboard sound & video entertainment system so the president could watch movies (X-rated or Kumawuud) at 40,000 feet.
Hollywood inflight glamour on Accra’s budget. Classic.
The backlash was volcanic. Mills cancelled the deal.
But that did not ground Mahama’s aviation ambitions. Far from it.
He left Brazil and the World Cup fiasco behind for France. Then came Airbus. And the world noticed.
Mahama’s name and the names of his associates surfaced again in a global corruption scandal involving Airbus, spanning France, the UK, and the USA.
Airbus itself admitted wrongdoing. Airbus paid massive fines.
Airbus confessed to paying intermediaries, including one eerily close to the Ghana deal, Government Official One. And, new orders, according to emails in which President John Mahama was “blind-copied”, were even in the pipeline before he lost in 2016.
And, the only countries that did not benefit from the fines were those whose leaders allegedly enabled the mess.
Ghana included.
It became the single most internationally embarrassing procurement scandal Ghana has ever been dragged into. And, it hung around Mahama’s neck like a 300-ton air-cargo door.
That is, until last year, when, conveniently aligned with political winds, the Office of the Special Prosecutor declared that Mahama had no case to answer.
Case closed.
History remains open. Mahama & Aircraft: A Family Business?
Conveniently, during his time as Veep, Mahama’s younger brother, business mogul Ibrahim Mahama, purchased a private jet. The pro-business NPP, in opposition, saw it as positive, not scandalous. But, who actually owned it was top on the gossip menu.
Rumours flew faster than the aircraft itself, that the true owner was the Vice President, using his brother as a human hangar.
We’ll never know. What we do know is:
• For eight years in opposition, Mahama used that jet to criss-cross Africa and Europe, shaking donor hands, raising campaign money, and building alliances.
• After winning again, the jet has remained extremely useful.
If only Akufo-Addo had bought one too, perhaps his people wouldn’t be rumoured to have hidden any alleged loot under mattresses, they would have tucked it nicely into the overhead compartments.
Because, if the presidency teaches you anything, it is that private jet travel is addictive.
Just ask former President Akufo-Addo, these days he’s often seen hopping on and off private jets at Kotoka, sometimes on different carriers, leading to whispers that perhaps his brothers also went shopping while he was in office and now own a fleet of them.
Power is a habit.
Private aviation is a lifestyle. And Now, Back to Today’s $1.2 Billion “Air Force Modernisation”
Over the next three years, the Mahama administration is poised to spend $1.2 billion allegedly on retooling the Ghana Air Force.
Wonderful.
Who doesn’t want a strong Air Force?
Except… look closely.
The shopping list includes helicopters so comfortable a president could practically recline into dreamland while touring the country, especially during elections; and a long-range Airbus that could host journalists the way Air Force One does.
Ghana needs surveillance, logistics, maritime patrol, medical evacuation capacity, absolutely. Domin Nitiwul, former Defence Minister agrees.
But the pattern? The optics? The Mahama aviation history?
Too convenient. Too familiar. Too reminiscent of past turbulence.
Final Approach: Ghana Must Ask Tough Questions
No one disputes that the Ghana Air Force desperately needs modern aircraft.
No one disputes that maintenance costs of ageing machines are crippling. No one disputes that retooling is overdue.
But when the one politician whose career has been repeatedly shadowed by aircraft controversies returns with a $1.2 billion aviation shopping spree, Ghanaians must ask:
• Is this national security or déjà vu in the skies?
• Is this military modernisation or Mahama’s long romance with expensive jets taking flight yet again?
• Is this strategic lift or strategic lifestyle?
Because, if there is one thing history has taught us, it is this:
Where there is an aircraft purchase in Ghanaian politics, there is almost always a Mahama-shaped cloud nearby.
And, as for President Akufo-Addo and his new taste for private jets, well, that’s a discussion for another day. Perhaps “The Presidential Jet Club of the Fourth Republic: Who Bought What and Who Borrowed Whose?” will be next week’s column.
For now, buckle your seatbelts. Ghana’s political aviation industry is airborne again. And,ß as usual, turbulence is expected.
Dr Kofi Omintinming Apesemaka
