COVID Wasn’t Used As Cover For Corrupt Practices- Prez
The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has discredited assertions that the government mismanaged and engaged in corruption concerning spending made during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The President during an address on Sunday night shot down the claims.
In trying to exonerate the government from such, he said, he directed the Auditor-General to undertake an audit of the spending.
“Let me make it clear that COVID expenditures, essentially unplanned, have been subject, at my instigation, to audit by the Auditor-General, and are going through parliamentary processes. We all deserve to be reassured that the crisis was not used as a cover for corrupt practices,” he said during the 29th COVID address on May 28.
Earlier this year, following calls and conflicting figures from government officials, the Auditor General released findings from the audit which covered 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The report among other things found that the Ministry of Health paid an amount of GH¢10,309,919.94 insurance cover for untraceable health workers.
It also found that the Ministry of Finance made 102 payments to some service providers during the period under review were made outside the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), contrary to Regulation 61 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378).
