There have been some shocking revelations following an audit of COVID-19 expenditures by the Auditor General.
An audit report on the Government of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure has shown that nearly 50 percent of the money the state mobilised to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country was used for budget support and not for issues related to the pandemic.
A portion of the report, which covers the period of March 2020 to June 2022, revealed that the Ministry of Health entered into a 25-year finance lease agreement in 2020 at a total lease value of GHC 15,265,000 for a building to be used as a holding and isolation centre in Adaklu in the Volta Region.
Another portion of the Auditor General’s report said the management of the Information Ministry and its support staff, who are not health workers, paid themselves an amount of GHC 151,500 as risk allowance for going to work in the wake of COVID-19.
The Auditor General believes these monies need to be refunded by the management and staff of the Information Ministry, who were beneficiaries.
The report, which was prepared by the Auditor General Department, indicated that the government raised nearly GHC 22 billion, as of June 2022, to fight COVID-19 in Ghana through the Contingency Fund, the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the European Union (EU).
However, out of the total amount raised to fight COVID-19, only about GHC 12 billion (a little over 50 percent of the total funds raised) was used for activities geared toward fighting the spread of the virus and its impact in Ghana.
Following this development, Ghanaians have been reacting on social media with the hash tag NPPGrandCovidTheft which is topping trends.
Many have criticised government for looting COVID-19 funds.
“Bawumia and his NPP supervised the payment of GHC5,000,000.00 to Dredge Masters Limited for the removal of plastic waste and other foreign materials/debris from storm drains in Accra without certificate of work completed. #NPPGrandCovidTheft,” a user tweeted.
“Put all of these together, and it’s not even up to 10% the damage you have done to us with Covid 19 alone” another user added.
