‘Penny Wise, Pound Foolish’! Akufo-Addo To Blows Ghc500,000 On Hotel Room For One Week

The unbridled decimation of scarce taxpayers funds by President Akufo Addo goes unabated, with the latest extravagant bill showing that he blew a staggering US$ 73,395 on hotel rooms for a four-day trip to the USA.

This amount is aside from the estimated US$ 20,000 he will be spending hourly to charter the super-luxurious private jetAirbus ACJ320neo for the trip.

Whatsup News is privy to leaked correspondence between the Ghanaian Embassy in the United States, the Jubilee House and the luxury hotel, Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, where the extravagant hotel bill was authorized from the Presidency.

On November 1, 2021, the Ghanaian Ambassador to the US, Hajia Alima Mahama had written to Akosua Frema Opare, the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, saying that she [Mahama] has concluded arrangements for the Presidents accommodation on the US trip from November 29, 2021 to December 2, 2021.

In the letter with reference number WA/PR/28, Madam Alima Mahama claimed the cost of accommodation for the four days will cost Ghanaians taxpayers a whopping US$ 73,395.

“Accordingly, please find attached the signed agreement, which the Mission is expected to submit to the hotel and also wire-transfer the total amount of seventy-three thousand three hundred and ninety-five ($73,395.00) by Friday 5th November 2021 to enable Embassy to complete further necessary action.”

Then on 2nd November 2021, the Chief of Staff wrote to the Bank of Ghana directing for the amount to be transferred into the Ghana Embassy’s account in the US Wisconsin Avenue branch, Washington DC.

Whatsup News has also seen a leaked letter of confirmation of the booking of the rooms from the Four Seasons Hotel.

A total of 28 rooms will be used during the entire duration. This means that at least 30 people are joining President Akufo Addo for the trip whose purpose is yet unknown.

The Four Seasons Hotel quotes standard room for the 25 people on the entourage at US$400 a night, while some unknown two people would occupy the “Midtown Suit” of the hotel at US$800 a night.

As for President Akufo Addo, he will be serenaded in a staggering US$ 8,000 per night presidential suite.

This profligate spending has become a consistent trend of President Akufo Addo’s travel itinerary in the past few months after he suddenly developed a taste for super-expensive trips aboard gold-plated private jets and expensive hotels amidst the government’s persuasion of Ghanaians to bite the bullet of economic hardship.

The latest Arabian King-like travel expenditure has drawn outrage among Ghanaians who have seen the leaked documents, particularly because the government had recently slapped a slew of taxes on Ghanaians in what the government claims is a necessary evil due to the revenue challenges facing the government.

“How can the government expect the Ghanaians, including the poorest of the poor, to pay a Bawumia tax (E-Levy) of 1.75% on MoMo transfers, bank transfers, inward remittances (“Borga” tax), merchant payments among others, just to finance our President’s insatiable taste for luxury and ostentation. This is an insult to the sensibilities of suffering Ghanaians. I weep for Ghana,” Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) fired.

The Jubilee House appears to have developed an unprecedented thick skin against all the widespread anger at the wasteful spending of the President on his foreign trip.

When the President earlier this year abandoned the fully functional Presidential Jet for the super-luxurious Airbus ACJ320neo for his foreign trips, the Jubilee House simply ignored the seething complaints from the public, as the President hired the same private jet several times afterwards for his foreign trips. 

When questioned why President Akufo Addo had refused to use the state-owned Presidential Jet, Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, rationalized by saying the presidential jet lacked on an on-board bathroom that the President so loved.