Setting up of National COVID-19 Trust Fund was an adhoc move - Anti-Corruption Campaigner

Anti-Corruption Campaigner believes that while it is understandable that the National COVID-19 Trust Fund was set up without an advanced plan, the leadership put in place for the Fund has not done enough to sustain trust and integrity in the Fund.

He shared this opinion in an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.

“The speed within which things were done did not necessarily allow for all the insistence to be in place so that they could easily give feedback and answers to some of the issues.

Be that as it may, it still depends on the leadership that was put in place because even though it may be ad-hoc you could still have a leader who is very minded about issues of trust and accountability and integrity, who would immediately seek to ensure that the finance and accounting manuals are in place as well as the protocols. The leaders would have also ensured that the format and forms are in place and there is the monitoring and evaluation system that can generate a kind of data that can give answers for issues”, he stated.

Edem emphasized, “It [National COVID-19 Trust Fund] may have started as an ad-hoc thing which is not surprising considering the emergency nature of the pandemic but there was still an opportunity to ensure that one would have put in place measures that will help you ensure good reportage to the good people of this country.”

Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of National COVID-19 Trust Fund, Sophia Akuffo has lamented the lack of funds in the Fund.

According to her, with no more funds coming into the National Trust Fund, they have had to, for instance, hand back the warehouse that housed medical supplies for the coronavirus in its possession, to the Ghana Army, its original owners due to lack of support.

The Parliament of Ghana passed the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) National Trust Fund Act, 2020 (Act 1013) on Thursday, March 27, 2020. The Fund was set up to receive and manage contributions and donations from well-meaning individuals, groups and corporate bodies to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.