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President of Guinea-Bissau boards Falcon and arrives in Sao Tome on official mission
• Ghana’s presidential plane recently served other West African leaders
• The most recent being the President of Guinea-Bissau Umar Sissoco Embalo
• His office confirmed on Facebook that Ghana loaned the jet to Bissau for use
Ghana’s Dassault Falcon 900 EXE was recently used by three African executives, the government confirmed via the Foreign Office.
The last ruler to use it was the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro El Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló, who piloted the Falcon to and from the inauguration ceremony of São Tomé President-elect Carlos Vila Nova.
In photos seen by GhanaWeb on President Embaló’s verified Facebook page, he is seen greeting state officials as he boards the Falcon 900 EXE to travel to São Tomé and Príncipe over the weekend.
Other photos also showed his arrival in São Tomé where he was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the host country.
A Facebook user, seeing the jet President Embalo was using, asked him why he was using Ghana’s presidential jet.
“Why the plane from Ghana? Maniga Napoleon asked. Which question was answered by the handle checked as follows: “The plane was loaned by its counterpart. The exchange was in French.
Embalo was the second African president to use the jet. The first being Liberian President George Manneh Weah to and from Ghana for an emergency ECOWAS summit in Ghana on September 15, 2021.
The Foreign Office has confirmed that aside from the two, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maado Bio also used it at one point.
The jet that the Ghanaian president uses to travel to international conferences has recently become a topic of discussion.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been accused by North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa of ditching the functional jet for luxury jets that cost the ordinary taxpayer dearly.
The MP had said he would demand answers from the foreign minister when parliament reconvenes, on why the Liberian president was allowed to use the presidential jet.
The MP said in an interview with Citi News that the ministry should explain not only why the African leader was offered the plane, but also whether it would place a “double financial burden” on Ghana following the use by Akufo-Addo of another jet for his travels.
The French-built Dassault Falcon 900 EX-Easy aircraft was acquired during the era of President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2007, but was delivered for use in 2010.
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