The Minority Caucus of Parliament is seeking accountability into the government’s COVID-19 spending hence has officially petitioned the office of the Auditor General to conduct a special audit into how the ¢280.3m allocated for relief items during the COVID-19 lockdown period was spent.
According to the petition sighted by Awake News, was jointly signed by the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson and the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, the special audit will help clear the allegations and justify how the funds were utilized.
“Honourable Auditor General, the Minority Caucus in Parliament with the responsibility of ensuring the judicious utilization of state resources, in accordance with Section 16 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584), as provided, calls on you to undertake a Special Audit into the expenditure on the ¢280.3 million that was allocated for the provision of food and water under the Coronavirus Alleviation Program (CAP),” – the petition said.
If readers can recall, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta on April 8, 2020, presented a policy document on CAP in which he was seeking an approval to spend ¢1.2 billion.
According to Ken Ofori Atta, ¢280 million will go into food packages and hot meals while ¢40 million to the National Buffer Stock Company.
He also noted that an additional ¢200 million will be used to cater for bills on water and sanitation and ¢241 million will cover tax waiver for health personnel.
Explaining further, he said ¢80 million will be spent on the allowance for health staff, two million cedis will be used to cover transportation for health workers ¢600 million will be disbursed as soft loans to businesses.
But the Minority stresses that it has almost been a month after the lockdown and the Akufo-Addo-led government has failed to furnish the nation with the expenditure of the funds.
They further accused the functionaries of the incumbent government of misappropriated the funds meant for the vulnerable.
“The low coverage and haphazard implementation of the distribution of free meals and dry foods to the vulnerable groups, as well as the supply of water to deprived communities, gives us cause for concern that the funds were not utilized judiciously by the government.”