Mr. Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for an intensive audit into the activities of the Wereko-Brobbey-led Ghana at 50 Secretariat, now that the year-long Golden Jubilee celebration is over.
This, he said would help the citizenry appreciate how the huge sums of money allocated the Ghana@50 Secretariat, 31 million dollars as well as the billions of cedis donated by corporate bodies towards the celebration, were spent by the government,
“We are now in another year and it is important that accountability prevails from a Government that extols the virtue of Zero-Tolerance for Corruption. This would help us to know whether the taxpayers' money was used prudently or not,” he argued.
He is therefore appealing to Mr. Edward Dua-Agyemang, the Auditor General, to, as a matter of urgency, commission an audit into the operations of the Secretariat, since he is legally empowered to do so.
In an exclusive interview with The Enquirer in Accra on the 51st Independence Anniversary last Thursday, Mr. Mettle-Nunoo asked the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani and Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby of the Ghana@50 Secretariat to submit themselves to such an important audit.
He reckoned that a comprehensive and unbiased investigation into the Ghana@50 celebration would reveal that there is nothing to show for the huge sums of taxpayers' money pumped into the anniversary celebration.
Mr. Mettle-Nunoo questioned, “what is there to show,” apart from the large number of saloon cars which he insisted are being misused.
He said information available to him has it that contractors who pre-financed lots of projects under the Ghana@50 Secretariat have till date not been paid their monies, hence, are at the throat of the Wereko-Brobby-led Secretariat.
According to him, everything ended immediately after last year's 6th March Parade and despite the huge sums allocated, the country is still grappling with crime, corruption, electricity and water supply.
Unemployment, he observed, is also massive at the moment. In this regard, he described President Kufuor’s speech and decoration of the Security Chiefs last Thursday as of no value.
Mr. Mettle-Nunoo told The Enquirer that having listened to snippets of the President's speech, he wished the president had told particularly, the school children about the cocaine menace in the country and the fact that they have to be careful.
“Anybody who thinks the cocaine menace is not worth talking about should visit the Accra Psychiatry Hospital, and see the havoc the drug is causing this country.”
The president should also have spoken about crime, unemployment, corruption, electricity, water, and chieftaincy squabbles in Yendi, Bawku, Keta among others and steps he has taken to have the conflicts resolved, he regretted.
Being the last of such an important state function, the President he said, should have given the youth some hope and assurance regarding what steps his government has taken, especially, in the area of education, to help make life better for them and implored them to take advantage of the opportunities they bring.
