Nothing Dishonourable Was Done With Covid-19 Funds - Akufo-Addo To Critics

President Akufo-Addo is fighting back claims that there was mismanagement of resources meant to facilitate the Covid-19 fight. According to him, the accusations are unfounded as government did what was necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.

“I can assure this House that nothing dishonourable was done with the COVID funds,” he said on Wednesday. He also outlined a number of measures implemented by his administration that justify the sums of money expended during the pandemic. He said this when he delivered the State of The Nation’s address In Parliament.

“The responses from the Ministers for Health and Finance, on January 23 and 25, 2023, respectively, have sufficiently laid to rest the queries from the Auditor General’s report, and I believe any objective scrutiny of these statements from the Health and Finance Ministries would justify this conclusion.

This position is however contrary to the Auditor-General’s Report on Ghana’s Covid-19 expenditure. The report indicates that the country lost over GHS1 billion through various irregularities including unapproved and illegal payment of allowances. Meanwhile, the President explained that the measures during the pandemic were necessary to save lives and also keep the country afloat.

“No auditor can put a figure on the cost of keeping the children in school safely during that crisis, nor the continuing cost of the effect of the pandemic on our young people; not the financial cost, not the emotional cost, and certainly not the social cost,” the President added. According to Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution., the President shall deliver a message on the State of the Nation to Parliament at the start of each session and before the dissolution of Parliament.