Bawumia’s office spent GH¢4m in nine months on 'urgent and other emergencies' - Ablakwa

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has alleged, citing documentation available to him, expenditure in excess of GH¢191 million by the Office of the President over a nine-month period last year.

Ablakwa through a January 31, 2023 post on social media said, the amount in question was a computation of 10 out of 250 expenditure items in an official report he was still poring over.

Among specific expenditure items, spanning January to September 2022, the office of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia was said to have expended some GH¢4 million cedis in lieu of urgent and other emergency activities.

The MP’s post relative to Bawumia’s spending read: “Vice President Alhaji Bawumia appears determined not to be left out.

“His office has on three occasions between January and September 2022 demanded what is simply described in the expenditure documents as release of funds for “URGENT AND OTHER EMERGENCIES ACTIVITIES” (wondering why emergencies and not emergency, and most importantly what exactly those emergencies and urgent matters were?).

“For the period under consideration and from GIFMIS Code 2210909 — a whopping GHS4.05million (4,050,227.18) of taxpayer funds from suffering Ghanaians was cumulatively released for the Vice President’s “emergency activities,” his post added.

Ablakwa challenged the Vice President's office to clarify what went into the emergency funds allocated to his office stressing that the Minority Caucus will keep a keener eye on the presidency's expenditure.

"Instructively, the 10-item expenditure summary above which amounts to a massive GHS191,522,061.68 represents a tiny sample selection from more than 250 expenditure items contained in the Expenditure Documents currently under parliamentary scrutiny," he added.

Find Ablakwa's full post below: