MMDAs should be made to give details of COVID-expenditure – Economist

GH¢200m spent on free water and electricity for lifeline consumers

Ofori-Atta speaks on COVID expenditure

GH¢12m was spent on COVID, Ofori-Atta

An Economist, Dr Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has stated that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) should be made to upload all the details of the COVID-19 expenditure on their websites for public consumption.

According to him, the finance minister could not have provided every detail of the monies on the floor of Parliament.

Speaking on TV3’s Key Points, Dr Sarkodie said, “I was not expecting the finance minister to give all the details on the floor, we didn’t have time for that.”

According to him, “The MMDAs can put all the details on the website.”

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, appeared before parliament earlier this week to account for monies spent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that the Finance Ministry mobilized monies that were used to tackle the pandemic.

He said, “GH¢200m was made available for free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, out of this, ¢143m was utilized.”

“Though our response was bold and decisive and compassionate, it has also been costly. Mr Speaker, you will recall that on 30th March 2020, I made a statement to Parliament that the economic impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the economy of Ghana following the implementation of the coronavirus alleviation programme commenced."

“Furthermore, during the presentation of the 2020 mid-year budget fiscal policy, I indicated that the supplementary request included the programme funding of ¢19.3billion from various funding sources to support the budget both directly and indirectly. On the expenditure side, an amount of ¢11. 16billion was programmed for Covid-19-related expenses. The difference of GH¢8.14 billion was programme to provide for the shortfall in revenue.

“In 2021, the budget programme of a total amount of ¢4.6billion was used for Covid-19 related expenses. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Finance mobilizes the needed financial resources while the various Covid-19 interventions and related expenses were implemented by the relevant sector ministries and agencies.”

SSD/FNOQ