-Transports More Delegates To Climate Change Conference Than Any Country.
The string of the Akufo Addo administration’s profligate spending and wanton dissipation of Ghanaian taxpayers’ funds was on full display at the just-concluded climate change conference in Glasgow with Ghana sending more delegates to the forum per capita than any other country in the world.
According to the provisional list of registered participants seen by Whatsup News and published about a week ago by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ghana sent 337 people to the COP 26. The travel expenses and per diems of the majority of these so-called delegates for the two-week event were borne by the Ghanaian government.
This means that out of every 100,000 Ghanaians the Akufo Addo administration sent some 1.1 delegates to the controversial climate change forum and that per capita, Ghana had the highest representation despite being one of the poorest countries at the global forum.
The only other countries that had more delegates per capita of their countries were Chad and Israel, which had 201 delegates (representing 1.2 people per 100,000 Chadians) and 229 delegates (representing 2.5 people per 100,000 Israelis) respectively.
Incidentally, the number of delegates from Ghana consequently defeats the entire purpose of the climate change convention, given the massive carbon footprint these Ghanaian delegates left from the jet fuel and the fossil fuel-powered transportation modes they would be using to shuttle the convention venue and their exploration of downtown Glasgow.
From the list, some strange names have popped up, including one Anuwar-Sadat Amadu, the TESCON President from the Wisconsin International University College –Ghana. Interestingly, TESCON is the political wing of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on campuses, it is unclear the exact role such a political lackey would be playing in a global forum for climate talks.
Another interesting name on the list is that of Kwame Sefa Kayi, who represented Despite Media. It is unclear if his expenses were governed with taxpayers’ money or it was borne by Despite Media.
All of these extravagant travel expenses are underlined by the fact that President Akufo Addo once again travelled to the event with the super luxurious private jet that he chartered at a cost of some GHC 14,000 per hour.
All calls for the President to watch his extravagant lifestyle and revert to the use of the functional official Presidential Jet had fallen on the deaf ears of the Jubilee House, as this is perhaps the fourth time the President had chartered the luxury jetliner with an onboard Jacuzzi bathroom.
Meanwhile, the government bigwigs at the forum include President Akufo Addo; Mr. Kwaku Afriyie Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; Sulemanu Tampuli Alhassan from the Ministry of Transport; Antwi-Boasiako Amoah Senior Programme Officer Climate Change Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Mr. Nana Bediatuo Asante, the Executive Secretary to the President.
Others on the trip include Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Foreign Minister; Daniel Botwe, Minister Ministry of Local Government Decentralization and Rural Development; Samuel A. Jinapor, Minister Ministry for Land and Natural Resources; Henry Kwabena Kokofu Executive Director Environmental Protection Agency and Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister Ministry of Energy among 300 others.