The Minority in Parliament has accused the government of attempting a cover-up over the suspected disappearance of some Ghc636million that was approved in 2020 for the construction of 88 health facilities across the country that year.
For the sake of transparency, therefore, the Minority is asking the Auditor General to immediately institute an audit into the whereabouts of the money to clear any doubt whatsoever that the money has not gone down some strange pocket.
“We call on the Auditor General to immediately constitute an Audit team involving the services of a reputable international Audit Firm such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), to immediately Audit the processes leading to the supposed transfer and the expenditure of the 600 million between the Ministry of Finance, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Health and the Office of the Chief of Staff to ascertain the veracity of the claims of the Ministry of Finance,” said the Minority.
Their call was contained in a statement signed by Ranking Member on the Select Committee on Health, Hon Kwabena Mintah Akandoh.
The demand follows the Finance Ministry’s admission that it had received the Ghc636million ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony by President Akufo-Addo for the commencement of Agenda 111 as revealed by the Minority.
According to a statement from the Ministry, Thursday, GH¢600million of the amount received was released into the Health Infrastructure Account at Bank of Ghana (BoG) to support the implementation of the District and Regional Hospitals Projects.
“The said amount had been released into the project account at the BoG but not utilized yet. Project commencement has just begun. So far, only GH¢36million has been released as part of pre-construction mobilization,” the statement explained.
But responding, the Minority which had raised questions over the whereabouts of the Ghc636million in a press statement on Wednesday, says that the explanation leaves even more unanswered questions over the money.
“The statement is alarming in that it raises even more concerns about the chain of custody of the GH₵600 million allocated for AGENDA 111 projects. We, therefore, put forward a few questions: Did Government release GH₵600 million for the Agenda 111 in 2020 as per the Ministry of Finance’s statement and when did this happen? Why was this not captured in the 2021 Budget?; Which agency of government is implementing Agenda 111 and is that agency different from the agency holding custody of funds for the same project? Why?; Are funds purported to be lodged at the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund meant for investment management or they are lodged there to be made available to the implementing agency on demand?”
They continued: “Can Government, without releasing funds from the Bank of Ghana to the implementing agency admit to having released same and present same to parliament and the people of Ghana?.”
The Minority lamented that the government’s response smacks of nothing but deliberate obscurantism, expressing fear that the money may have gone missing.
They gave the Auditor General a two-week ultimatum to institute a probe or they rally signatures for a Parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
“We also wish to serve notice that, if the Auditor General fails to Act within 2 weeks, we will have no option than to start the processes of collecting enough signatures from Members of Parliament to trigger a recall of Parliament so that a committee of Parliament can investigate the Missing GH₵ 600 million from the consolidated fund,” the charged.
