FILE PHOTO: The Municipal Chief Executive of the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly, Mrs Sandra Owusu-Ahinkorah distributing some dry food packs.

Cooked meals disbursed during COVID-19 cost GH¢54.3 million - Ofori-Atta

Kweku Zurek Jul - 23 - 2020 , 15:03 2 minutes read

The Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta has disclosed that dry food packs and hot cooked meals distributed by the government to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic cost GH¢54.3 million.

Additionally, Mr Ofori-Atta stated that the government transferred an amount of GH¢50.2 million to 400,000 beneficiaries under the the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme.

Addressing Parliament today, the Minister stated that government through the Gender Ministry and NADMO provided 1,827,581 and 917,142 cooked food packs to vulnerable persons within Accra and Kumasi respectively.

He said: "In collaboration with Faith-Based Organizations (FBO's), Government also distributed dry food packages to about 470,000 families. Let me extend my deepest gratitude to the Faith-based organisations for this unique partnership with Government and may the Lord count this as righteousness for the FBOs and Government.

"Mr Speaker, the support to households, in terms of supply of dry food packs and hot cooked meals cost Government GH¢54.3 million to enable them mitigate the impact of the pandemic. This was in addition to an amount of GH¢50.2 million transferred to the 400,000 most-vulnerable individuals under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme".

He added that, in response to the plight of an estimated 3,212 Ghanaians stranded abroad due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the government has also rolled out Operation Return Home Programme.

He said as at end-June 2020, a total of 2,250 individuals had been evacuated with Government bearing the full cost of flight and mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine services for 1,116 persons, most of whom are students.