The Member of Parliament for Assin South and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has called on the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to render an unqualified apology to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Ghanaians for what he describes as the party’s historical opposition to critical investments in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), particularly the Ghana Air Force.
In a post on Thursday, December 4, 2025, the NPP MP recalled that in 2008, then-President John Agyekum Kufuor initiated the acquisition of two presidential jets for the Ghana Air Force and made a down payment of US$38 million. However, upon assuming office in 2009, the NDC administration under the late President John Evans Atta Mills cancelled the agreement for the two aircraft and settled for only one Falcon 900EX.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour further accused the NDC of publicly opposing former President Akufo-Addo’s efforts to retool and modernise the Ghana Armed Forces during his tenure from 2017 to 2025, describing the opposition as politicisation of national security matters.
Contrasting the NDC’s past stance with its current attempt to retool the Air Force, Rev. Ntim Fordjour assured that the NPP Minority in Parliament remains committed to supporting any effort aimed at acquiring aircraft for the Ghana Air Force.
“Today, we NPP MPs in opposition, the Mighty Minority, take the moral high ground to support the acquisition of aircraft for the Ghana Air Force,” the Assin South MP said.
“We will not politicise nor oppose what is right for the state and the Air Force,” he added, emphasising that the current NPP Minority would not repeat what he termed the NDC’s past mistakes.
The Ranking Member therefore urged the NDC government to apologise to former President Akufo-Addo and the people of Ghana for opposing investments that he believes were in the supreme interest of the nation’s defence capabilities.
“We will not politicise nor oppose what is right for the state and the Air Force, but we urge the NDC government to apologise to Ghanaians and President Akufo-Addo for opposing investment into the Air Force,” he wrote.
In the 2026 Budget Statement presented on November 13, 2025, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced a major retooling programme for the Ghana Armed Forces, with a key focus on the Ghana Air Force. According to the Minister, the government plans to procure four modern helicopters, one long-range aircraft, and one medium-range aircraft starting in 2026 to replace the ageing and largely grounded fleet, currently reduced to just one operational military aircraft.
While welcoming the initiative, members of the opposition have accused the NDC of hypocrisy over its earlier resistance to similar attempts by the previous NPP government.