Mahama Accuses Akufo-Addo Of Blowing ¢33bn Covid-19 Money On 2020 Election

Former President John Mahama has accused President Nana Akufo-Addo of misappropriating monies meant for Covid-19 relief. According to him, Akufo-Addo channelled some Gh¢33 billion earmarked to offset the pandemic’s grave implications into his 2020 re-election bid. For this reason, Mr Mahama believes, the said amount supposed

to have been sunk into economic restoration measures is yet to be accounted for. The former President Mahama made these allegations during the 24th African Business Conference organised by the Harvard Business School. Ghana is currently facing a financial downturn, unstable currency and worsening debt distress levels which have

forced the NPP-led administration to implement bullet-biting measures to the dismay of the public. During his keynote address, Mr John Mahama acknowledged the efforts of countries that are successfully returning to a good footing through fiscal discipline and judicious application of their resources during the crisis. But the

situation in Ghana isn't good example worth trumpeting, according to the 2020 NDC flagbearer. Ghana’s fate was easy to predict with the cavalier handling of the economy by the current administration. We went into pandemic without adequate buffers, and have emerged with a terribly battered economy, he said. To make matters

worse, the pandemic windfall of over GH¢33 billion which could have cushioned the economy remains unaudited and is believed to have been used largely in the quest to win the 2020 elections at all cost, Mr John Mahama told the gathering. The former President also took threw light on the pandemic’s devastating effects

on the African continent citing Economic Commission of Africa’s (ECA) research which found that Covid-19 created the continent’s worst recession in 50 years with real GDP shrinking by an average of 3% in 2020. Before the pandemic, poverty reduction was already a major challenge. The pandemic is estimated to have dragged

about 55 million more people into poverty in Africa and exposed another 46 million more to the risk of hunger, and malnourishment. Indeed 70% of hunger in Africa, which had already been on the rise since 2014 is directly attributable to this pandemic.