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The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has debunked claims that the government has not been transparent with its COVID-19 expenditure.
According to the Minister, all programmes, mobilised and utilised funds of the pandemic have been dully reported in line with the government’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
The Minister made the revelation while addressing Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, following demands for an audit into the COVID-19-related expenses in the government’s expenditure data.
“Mr Speaker, at this juncture, I wish to dispel the notion that there have been inconsistencies in government data on COVID-19. His Excellency the President intimated during that State of the Nation Address on 30th March 2022, that we had mobilized about GHC17.7 billion since 2020 to fight the pandemic.”
“We have subsequently reconciled the data and I can report that as of end of May, 2022, we have mobilized GHC18.19 billion to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.”
“Again, when His Excellency the Vice President indicated on 7th April, 2022, at the National TESCON Conference that Government had spent GHC8.1 billion on Covid-19, it was within the context of expenditures for 2020 as I have already indicated,” Ken Ofori Atta noted.
The minister further highlighted that out of the GHC18.19 billion expected to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, GHC1,550 million was disbursed under the Support to Households Programme.
He also stressed that, GHC1,049 million was allocated to health response-supplies equipment and relief for health workers.
In relation to vaccine procurement, the minister indicated that GHC929.30 million was allocated.
