Every Ghanaian deserves to know the money in COVID-19 Fund – BudgIT CEO

Chief Executive Officer of BudgIT Foundation, Gabriel Okeowo has said it is prudent for every Ghanaian to know the money in the COVID-19 Fund.

According to him, Ghana received grants, monies from individuals, and non-concessional facilities after an appeal was made to the international community during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

He noted that Ghanaians need to be in the known how much was spent on the stimulus packages given to businesses, healthcare workers and the freebies Ghanaians enjoyed last year.

It is for this reason that COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP) has been launched to ensure that COVID-19 funds are not mismanaged and embezzled.

Mr Okeowo said, the project is to “track and report objectively on how the government of Ghana effectively and efficiently utlilized the resources that have been committed into COVID-19 response resources; both in budgetary, donation, cash and in kind…it is the right of every Ghanaian to know what resources came in or when into or still being expended in the fight against the COVID-19. It is their right to know, it is their right to also track and be aware of what the government is doing part-time."

During the launch of the project, he said, “Our purpose is to unveil a project that seeks to promote accountability and transparency by tracking COVID-19 intervention funds across African countries. The scheme has been titled: COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project (CTAP) and will undertake studies to track government expenditure on COVID response. The objective is to promote transparency, improve visibility and accountability of donor agencies and development partners.”

He furthered that this is to drive citizen engagement as well as make Ghanaians a source for the collection of COVID-19 data.