Bring Jet Makers To Parliament

New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa, K. T. Hammond is asking government to invite the manufacturers of the five jets including an Embraer 190 aircraft to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior and Finance for probe. There has been raging controversy surrounding government�s intended purchase of the five aircraft for both the military and Executive with the opposition NPP indicating that the expenditure of $250million is profligate and tainted with corruption. Speaking in an interview with Daily Guide, Hon. Hammond noted that the appearance of the manufacturers before the House�s Committee will help end the hullabaloo surrounding the purchase of the aircraft by the Mills administration. The Adansi Asokwa MP, who is also a former Deputy Minister of Energy and Interior, said various prices have been quoted for the aircraft by different people and it is only the manufacturers who can spell out the specifics regarding the amount of money that is being expended on the acquisition of the jets. Mr. Hammond said the issue of purchasing aircraft for the military was already in public domain and therefore there was nothing like secrecy concerning it. This, according to him, will perhaps silence the Minority and all those who believe the agreement is laced with corruption. The Minister for Defence, Lt. Gen. Henry Smith justified why government should purchase the jets, debunking claims of possible corruption in the deal. Commenting on the reasons behind the purchase aircraft, the minister indicated the Embraer 190 will also be hired by the United Nations (UN) for Peacekeeping operations. This, according to him, will give the country additional revenue that may even offset the cost the aircraft eventually. But Mr. K. T. Hammond insisted that if UN wants to hire any aircraft the world body will rather go for a bigger plane and not the Embraer 190 that has a capacity of less than 100. Minority in Parliament accused the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of spending profligately. The Mills administration secured loans to the tune of $250million to purchase to aircraft after Parliament approved the credit facilities. The Minority, led by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu questioned why government should use a colossal amount of $17 million of the tax payers� money to build a garage to house two planes. The group described the amount as highly inflated and outrageously profligate, quoting prices from the manufacturers� website, which it said were far lower than what government submitted to Parliament for approval. The fleet of aircraft included the Embraer E 190 jet with a hangar to be purchase with a loan of $105,370,177.09 million from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES); two DA42 MPP Guardian Surveillance aircraft with a loan of �11.75 million from the Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited and another two CASA 295 Military transport aircraft with a credit facility of �60,034,636 from the Deutsche Bank SAE of Spain.