Conduct special audit on COVID-19 alleviation expenditure - NDC urges Auditor-General

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Auditor-General (AG) to conduct a special audit into the expenditure of the GH¢280.3 million allocated for the provision of food, water and sanitation under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) during the lockdown period.

It accused the government of misappropriating the funds meant to cushion Ghanaians against the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the party’s weekly press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, said the NDC had sighted media reports of state-sponsored COVID-19 relief items meant for the vulnerable being sold in the markets in Kumasi and other parts of the country.

"The low coverage and haphazard implementation of these interventions during the lockdown period, specifically the distribution of free hot meals and dry food to the vulnerable, as well as the supply of tankers of water to deprived households, give us concern that these funds were not utilised judiciously by the government," he said.

Demands

The NDC, therefore, demanded a special audit, specifically into the expenditure of the GH¢40 million allocated for the procurement and distribution of food packages and hot meals to the vulnerable in lockdown areas, the GH¢40.3 million allocated to the Ghana National Buffer Stock Company for the procurement and distribution of dry food to the vulnerable in lockdown areas and the GH¢200 million allocated for the provision of water and sanitation, especially the amount spent on the supply of tankers of water to deprived households.

“In this same spirit of transparency and accountability, we call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to direct the trustees of the COVID-19 Trust Fund to provide a report to Ghanaians detailing the total amount of donations they have so far received and how they have been utilised to date.

“This, in our view, will boost public confidence in the administration of the fund and encourage more people to donate to it to support our collective fight against the pandemic,” Mr Forson added.

Failed promises

The Minority Chief Whip, Mr Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, also accused the government of failing to fulfil some of its campaign promises to Ghanaians.

Making reference to the President’s promise to allocate $1 million to each constituency every year for development projects, Mr Muntaka alleged that since 2017, the government had “failed to release a single dollar or undertake any development project in any of the 275 constituencies of Ghana”.

“However, the total cost of the handful of development projects (CAPEX) which have been undertaken by the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives under the one million dollar per constituency promise from 2017 to 2019 is GH¢462,979,103, as per the ministry’s own data submitted to Parliament,” he noted.

That amount, he said, was equivalent to just about $81 million, constituting 9.8 per cent of the $825 million which the government was supposed to have released by now in fulfilment of the one million dollar per constituency promise.

Easing restrictions

Commenting on the government’s easing of restrictions on social gathering, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, said President Akufo-Addo’s decision to ease restrictions on social interest was motivated by his parochial interest and not the interest of the nation.