Govt spends over GHC80 million on Veronica buckets, thermometer guns for schools

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Okoe Boye says the government has spent over 80 million cedis in purchasing thermometer guns and Veronica buckets for various schools in the country.

The items have been distributed to the schools by the Ghana Education Service to ensure the safety of students as schools have reopened amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Okoe Boye made this revelation on Peace FM's flagship show ''Kokrokoo'' on Friday, July 17, 2020.

His comments come on the heels of the outcry by opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a section of the public that President Akufo-Addo should order the closure of schools after some Senior and Junior High Schools recorded cases of COVID-19.

The opposition party also believes the schools were reopened because the President is counting on the votes of the students for a second term in office.

Although the governing New Patriotic Party's National Organizer, Sammi Awuku has refuted the claims stressing the President will win the 2020 elections on the basis of his government's track record, the opposition keeps heightening.

In view of the calls on the President to close the schools and the accusations levelled against him, Dr Okoe Boye furnished the general public with the efforts and initiatives by the government towards the school children.

He revealed the government has made provisions for all the schools in its fight against COVID-19.

According to him, President Akufo-Addo is not taking any chances and therefore has allocated huge sums to protecting the students across the country.

''The government had to take care of a population of 1.7 million comprising students, lecturers, teachers and non-teaching staff. 200,000 people had to be dealt with at the Tertiary level, the SHS was 800,000 - that's students, teachers and their families on the campus - and JHS was 750,000 children and teachers. So, in all this is an operation that took care of 1.7 million Ghanaians; one of the biggest operations ever carried out. We had to send Veronica bucket to every school in this country, of course, both public and private. In all, my calculations as part of a Committee set up by the Senior Minister, 64,700 Veronica buckets were distributed across at a cost average of GHC 32.3 million. Now, I like to mention money because it is your money that determines whether you're serious about a project.

"We bought 48,000 pieces of thermometer guns. Each thermometer gun is between GHC 1,000 to about GHC 500. So, if you calculate, it's about GHC 48 million. In fact, when you check the face masks we distributed, we shared a total of 5.2 million," he stated.