GHC99m plastic waste levy missing - Minister

Government has disclosed it is unable to trace GHS99 million of the plastic waste levy collected by the John Mahama-led administration.

Up to GHS400 million was collected between 2014 and 2018 but GHS99million of that amount cannot be traced.

The revelation was made by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, after the Ghana Plastic Management Association demanded their due at a forum organised in Accra.

Mr Adda explained that his ministry will collaborate with the Finance Ministry to find the missing funds and further ensure that funds collected go through the right processes.

He said: “Monies have been collected over the years, but unfortunately where the money is gone cannot be traced by our government. Since September of 2016, nearly a total of GHS99 million has been collected but we cannot account for it, we don’t know where it is.

“So, this year, we’re putting mechanisms in place through the Ministry of Finance to ensure that when that money is collected, it will be readily available for sanitation purposes.”

The president of the Ghana Plastic Association, Mr Ebo E. Botwe, called for laws to be instituted to enable monies meant for the association to be distributed.

He said: “For GHS724 million, all these monies are still sitting in the consolidated fund because the legal instrument that has to be prepared to set up the fund has not been set up. One of the key objectives of that fund is to use 50 per cent of that money in recycling plastic waste.”