GH¢20.7m not GH¢17.7m: Akandoh disputes Akufo-Addo’s figures on COVID expenditure
Akufo-Addo delivers State of the Nation address
Read full articleAkufo-Addo says GH¢17.7 million spent on COVID response
Akandoh challenges Akufo-Addo's figure
Member of Parliament for Juaboso and Ranking Member on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has accused the government of understating figures relative to COVID-19 expenditure.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told Parliament during his March 30 State of the Nation Address, SoNA, that over GH¢17 million was spent in dealing with the pandemic.
But the National Democratic Congress, NDC, lawmaker insists that per two successive budget statements presented to Parliament, the president had understated the sum by GH¢3 million.
Akandoh while contributing to the SoNA debate on April 1 accused the government of misleading the public on the exact amount of money expended.
He claimed that contrary to the GH¢17.7 billion President Akufo-Addo claimed had been spent, records from the 2021 and 2022 budgets showed that GH¢20.7 million was spent on COVID.
He said, “Mr Speaker, with all these expenditures we could not even install simple equipment at the Kotoka International Airport to do antigen test…as I speak to you now, there are frontline health workers that we are still owing in this country.”
The Minority in Parliament have tried severally to push for a probe of COVID-19 expenditure given their disagreements with figures presented by the Finance Minister.
Government in admitting current economic hardships has blamed the pandemic for impacting the economy since March 2020. More recently, the government has stated that the Russia-Ukraine crisis has added to the negative headwinds the economy is facing.
