THE nation was last Saturday spared what could have been a disaster when the presidential jet carrying President J. A. Kufuor and his entourage to Equatorial Guinea had to abort its flight mid-air.
What precipitated the abortion of the flight was the fact that the 32-year-old plane, which has gained notoriety as the ‘Flying Coffin’, developed a faulty pressure system that affected its capacity to maintain normal atmosphere in its cabin, thereby putting the lives of the passengers and crew at risk.
We cannot fail to join the rest of Ghanaians to express our gratitude to the Almighty God for saving the lives of the President and the rest of the entourage.
Barely a year ago, the President escaped unhurt from an accident at the Silver Star and Opeibea House intersection near the Kotoka International Airport and we are, indeed, grateful to the Lord that another calamity has been averted. We commend the crew for their technical advice and expertise to avert what could have been a national disaster.
Last year, when the Ghana Air Force Command submitted an urgent memorandum to the government on the poor state of its equipment and warned that the current fleet of aircraft would be grounded by 2010 because of old age, it was not the first time they were doing that. As far back as 1997 the Ghana Air Force had made recommendations to the then government to purchase a Falcon 900 and an Airbus for the presidential fleet.
The condition of the presidential jet (Fokker 28), apparently suffering from metal stress and fatigue, justified the decision by the government in March 2008 to seek the approval of Parliament for loans from France and China for the purchase of a 12-seater Falcon 900 to be used as a new presidential jet and an Airbus to replenish the fleet of the Ghana Air Force.
Although the planes would not be available for use by the current President, the proposal was subjected to various interpretations to create the impression that the President was looking for his personal comfort and safety, whereas the money could have been used to improve the conditions of the rural poor.
Similarly, various interpretations have been read into the construction of the Presidential Complex which, to all intents and purposes, is meant for the country and its future generations. Posterity will be the best judge of the wisdom in the purchase of a new presidential jet and national projects such as the Presidential Complex.
The Daily Graphic is of the view that as a nation we need to be careful the way we criticise our leaders, otherwise very important projects can either be suspended or abandoned if the government of the day does not have the much-needed conviction and political will.
More often than not, it appears that we are interested in firefighting measures, playing the blame game and carrying out post-mortems, instead of taking preventive measures to avert disasters. This attitude appears to be pervasive, particularly in the public sector.
It is our submission that the purchase of the presidential jet and the provision of other national projects are good investments and should be seen as well intended for the public good.
Until we stop viewing every important national project through some kind of political lenses, until we learn to be grateful for the little mercies the Good Lord has showered on us all these years, our dear nation cannot make the giant strides for the attainment of a middle-income status by 2015.
We think the ‘Flying Coffin’ has had enough and it must be rested from long journeys. We must not wait for a disaster to occur before we start propounding theories that won’t simply fly.
The time to act is now!
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