Former President John Mahama has criticised what he says is the poor handling of the economy by the Akufo-Addo administration.
Speaking at a forum on the Economy in Accra on Thursday June, 30 2022, Mr. Mahama also bemoaned government’s reaction to the economic challenge.
“It is apparent that even as the ship of state is being buffeted by the choppy waters of economic disaster, President Akufo-Addo and his head of the economic management team and his Finance Minister have no clue as to what direction to lead this country,”
“The Akufo-Addo administration has refused to do what is necessary to arrest the economic decline. The suffering and pain experienced by Ghanaians do not seem to move the Akufo-Addo government to action. They have convinced themselves somehow that by refusing to do the heavy lifting required, they can wait out the economic storm and that stability and normalcy will return as a matter of due course,” he added.
Mr Mahama also reiterated his claim that government mismanaged funds received during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
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Meanwhile, the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in addressing Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 has denied claims that the government has not been transparent with its COVID-19 expenditure.
The Minister said all programmed, mobilized and utilized funds pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic have been dully reported in line with government’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
His presentation comes on the back of the Minority’s demand for an audit into all COVID-19 related expenses over discrepancies in government’s expenditure data.
However, responding to questions, the Mr. Ofori-Atta said government is transparent on its expenditure items and will continue to operate an open-door policy and welcomes any opportunity to engage in the national interest.
“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 Gh¢17.7 billion since 2020 to fight the pandemic.
“We have subsequently reconciled the data and I can report that as of end-May, 2022, we have mobilized Gh¢18.19 billion to mitigate the effect of the pandemic. Again, when His Excellency the Vice President indicated on 7th April, 2022 at the National TESCON Conference that Government had spent Gh¢8.1 billion on Covid-19, it was within the context of expenditures for 2020 as I have already indicated,” the Minister said.
This the Minister explained that out of the Gh¢18.19 billion expended to mitigate the effect of the pandemic, GH¢1,550 million was disbursed under the Support to Households Programme, GH¢1,049 million was allocated to health response-supplies equipment and relief for health workers, GH¢600 million was released to begin the construction across the country and a further GH¢763.92 million has been released to continue the construction of the 111 district hospitals.
He said government also programmed a total amount of GH¢875 million for security operations, evacuation of Ghanaians stranded abroad and coordination of MMDAs’ sanitation and disinfection exercises.
Additionally, he said in line with measures to stabilize the economy after the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, government implemented programmes to revitalize the economy and protect jobs. This includes the GH¢600 million utilized under Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAPBuSS) by the NBSSI now the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA).
With regards to vaccine procurement, the Minister indicated that GH¢929.30 million was allocated. A total amount of GH¢775.82 million was released for the purchase of Sputnik V, the Janssen COV SARS 2 COVID Vaccines and the Emergency deployment of vaccines in schools among other key government’s disbursement.
Source:Starrfm.com.gh