Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 23 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The much-anticipated inauguration of the Falcon 900EX presidential jet in the country today has been cancelled as the military authorities have postponed the commissioning ceremony.
A statement issued by the Defence Public Relations (DPR) and signed by Flt. Lt. Francisca Aholo did not give any specific reasons why the ceremony could not be held today as promised.
The statement said the ceremony “has been postponed because the jet has not arrived.”
Attempts to get more details about the cancellation of the ceremony proved futile.
An official at the DPR told DAILY GUIDE that no reason was given and that a new date would be communicated to Ghanaians and the media later, probably when the jet finally arrives at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) where a hanger has been built for it.
The Falcon 900EX Easy aircraft was ordered by the Kufuor administration amidst scathing criticisms from the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It was scheduled to be commissioned at what was expected to be a colourful ceremony at the Jubilee Lounge of the KIA at 3pm today.
When it finally arrives in the country, the Falcon 900EX presidential jet would replace the Fokker 27 aircraft ‘flying coffin’ that the Ghana Armed Forces have used for the past 37 years as a presidential jet.