Host of Maakye on Onua TV/FM, Blessed Godsbrain Smart, believes government did not judiciously expend the Covid-19 fund following the report of the Auditor General.
The Auditor General’s report has stated that between March 2020 and June 2022, government spent $1billion on 88 district and 7 regional hospitals across the country.
This is contained in the Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu-signed document which says the amount was contracted from the World Bank on April 22, 2020.
The same report states that funding for the Development Bank, Ghana (DBG) was sourced from the Covid-19 Fund.
The DBG was established in 2021, to provide loans to commercial banks and other financial institutions in Ghana, for on-lending to Ghanaian SMEs.
The Ministry of Finance and the European Investment Bank signed an agreement for the provision of a one hundred- and seventy-million-euro (€170 million) facility for the establishment of this new national bank, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG).
The DBG was an integral feature of the GH¢100 billion Ghana Cares ‘Obaatampa’ Project, which is seeing to the revitalisation of the Ghanaian economy following the onset of Covid-19.
The event took place on Wednesday, May 19, 2021, when the President of the Republic, Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, held a meeting with the President of the European Investment Bank, Dr. Werner Hoyer, as part of his official visit to Belgium.
Also, although government released some GH₵1.5billion to the National Identification Authority (NIA) for the issuance of the Ghana Card according to its Executive Director, Prof. Ken Artefuah, the Auditor General says the cards were issued with Covid-19 funds.
Speaking on the Fabewoso segment of Maakye Wednesday, July 19, 2023, Captain Smart said the apportionment of the funds as indicated in the report leaves much to be desired, suspecting malfeasance on how the Covid-19 funds were used.
By Felix Anim-Appau
