Ghana imposed a three-week lockdown during the earlier cases of covid-19 reported cases. The poor were fed by individuals and the government with the aim to mitigate the effect of the lockdown on individuals especially following stranded head porters attempt to sneak to their hometown in Walewale, North-East Region but stopped at Ejisu and returned to Accra.
The government then committed to feeding and housing the poor and head porters in the locked-down areas.
This has led to the Chamber for Local Governance (ChaLoG) to demand full accountability from the government on the actual amount of money spent on feeding the less privileged during the three-week lockdown.
According to the Chamber, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Attah during the presentation of the mid-year budget to Parliament understated the actual expenditure by quoting GHS54.3 million.
“Government through the Gender Ministry and NADMO provided 1,827,581 and 917,142 cooked food packs to vulnerable persons within Accra and Kumasi respectively. In collaboration with faith-based organizations, the government also distributed dry food packages to about 470,000 families.
Mr. Speaker, the support to households, in terms of supply of dry food packs and hot cooked meals cost government GH¢54.3 million to enable them to mitigate the impact of the pandemic,” the Finance Minister claims.
At a press conference, President of ChaLog, Dr. Richard Fiadomor, is appealing to the Office of the Auditor-General, Parliament and other stakeholders to seek strict transparency for the public funds used over the period.
“We have taken our time to appreciate the figures that the Fiance Minister himself gave to Parliament. We are also sure that the number that they claim they fed- they didn’t see because, during the time, we were also on the ground. But based on the Finance Minister’s figures, we realised that they were not true to Ghanaians because they spent in excess of GHS16 million which are calling on accountability on that.”
Strategic Thinkers Network-Africa (STRANEK-Africa) has already asked the Auditor-General to carry out a special audit of the GH 554.3 million spent on cooked and uncooked meals.
The policy think tank has petitioned the Auditor General to investigate how that amount was spent by the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
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I’m Deborah Aba Narkoah. I’m an avid reader, writer and public speaker.
