The deputy Greater Accra Regional Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress, Amos Blessing Amorse has urged government to publish names of donors into the covid19 fund on the Ministry of Information’s website.
According to him, publishing the names of donors and the respective amounts they so far donated will clear doubts in the minds of Ghanaians who may be under the impression that the fund will end up in individual pockets, adding that “we’ve seen some before…May 9th relief fund set up by the Kufuor government and how it was used is still fresh on our minds.”
“I think it’s in government’s own interest to give daily account of those who make donations into the fund. When these things are shrouded in secrecy, it does not encourage others to donate. All we’ve been hearing from the Information Minister is this person has donated this amount…we cannot keep track of the donation when it’s announced in that manner. For the sake of transparency, they should publish it on the Ministry’s website. It should not be too difficult a thing to do,” Mr Amorse said in interview.
Ask whether he does not trust government to give accurate account of the fund, he said “if there is anything that Ghanaians do not trust this government for, it is accountability. This government has not been transparent when it comes to public spending. It’ll not make sense that after two or three months, government will organize press briefing and tell us we raised this amount of money and this was how we used it. That is not accountable governance…why can’t we have the names of the donors and the amount they donate on the website so we can equally keep track of it? We do not want a repeat of how this same NPP people managed the relief fund that was set up for the May 9 disaster victims”
The Parliament of Ghana last month passed the COVID-19 National Trust Fund Bill, 2020.
The trust is to receive donations for disbursement and also make provisions for how the trust should be managed.
The law is to give legal backing to the establishment of the COVID-19 National Trust Fund to complement the efforts of government in the fight against the disease after it was set up by the government.
So far, a number of institutions and individuals have made cash presentations to the government to as part of the contributions to the fund.