Ofori-Atta can’t be the only one to account for COVID-19 expenditure – Ato Forson

Ato Forson wants probe into COVID-19 expenditure by MMDAs

Minority wants special committees to probe COVID-19 expenditure

Ofori-Atta says government mobilised GH¢18.19 billion to fight COVID-19

The Minority Caucus in Parliament have stated that an account of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure presented by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to Parliament is not exhaustive enough.

According to the ranking member on Finance and Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam MP, Cassiel Ato Forson, the minister could not provide details of the expenditure because he did not direct the usage of the monies but only disbursed them to other agencies.

He, therefore, called for the establishment of a special committees of Parliament to look into the COVID-19 expenditure of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“We cannot sit here and say the Minister of Finance should be the only one accounting for the COVID amount. The minister responsible for Finance is only a conduit for releasing the money. But the monies were spent at various MDAs,” Ato Forson said on the floor of Parliament on June 22, 2022.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, told lawmakers that there are no inconsistencies with data on revenue mobilised and used in Ghana's COVID-19 efforts, as is being asserted by some sections of the public.

He indicated that the previous figures provided by government officials on the monies collected and expended on the country's COVID-19 efforts kept varying because of new additions.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, Ken Ofori-Atta added that data collected as of May 2022 indicated that Ghana raised over GH¢18 billion to fight COVID-19.

The minister added that the government had spent about GH¢12.04 billion of the GH¢18.19 billion raised to contain the spread and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on lives and livelihoods.

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