How can you use COVID-19 funds as seed money to open a bank? - Clement Apaak

Member of Parliament for Bulsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has described the COVID-19 report by the Auditor General’s department as scandalous.

According to him, there was embezzlement of funds to the extent that the government of the day was using the funds as seed money to open a bank.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb’s Nimatu Yakubu, Mr. Apaak said the government spent less of the money given to them to fight the pandemic, therefore claims by the government that COVID-19 is the cause of the current economic crisis are false.

“The content of the report (A-G’s report on COVID-19) is scandalous, if you were to look at it page by page and the infractions and the number of institutions that have been captured as either having appropriated funds, having misapplied funds, and in some instances not having the ability to account for resources that were given to them as part of the nation’s fight against COVID-19.

“We were all told that the reason why our economy is in this current state was largely due to the effect of COVID-19. Now the audit shows that we got above 21 billion to fight COVID and we spent slightly above 11 billion to fight COVID. There was a balance of 10 billion, so it is now clear that nobody can blame COVID-19 for the current state of affairs.

“A lot of the resources were embezzled and misappropriated. How can we use COVID-related monies as seed money to open a bank and how do you explain the facility in Adaklu which has been rented for 25 years at such a colossal fee when indeed such money could have bought the facility, not twice but three times. So, I am scandalized that the president has chosen to feign ignorance about the report and its content,” he said.

He said unlike the president of Malawi who sacked people including his Labour Minister for superintending COVID-19 funds which were misappropriated, president Akufo-Addo has refused to comment even though Akufo-Addo holds himself as an Anti-corruption crusader in Ghana.

“Unlike the President of Malawi, Akufo-Addo, the President of Ghana, by his refusal to comment on the Auditor-General's Report indirectly confirms the widely held belief that he has no interest in fighting corruption. This is the conclusion of known Anti-corruption crusaders in Ghana.

“The legitimate expectation of the people of Ghana is, that those who have embezzled, dissipated, and misappropriated COVID-19 funds be held accountable - nothing more nothing less,” he added.

NYA/WA