Accra, June 22, GNA- The Minority Caucus in Parliament on Wednesday proposed the setting up of an ad-hoc committee to probe the expenditure of COVID-19 funds.

Debating in Parliament, when the finance minister appeared in the house to deliver a statement on how government funds were disbursed in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader said the minister’s accounting was not thorough enough.

On his part, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee said: “We cannot sit here and say the Minister of Finance should be the only one to account for the COVID amount.

“The minister responsible for Finance is only a conduit for releasing the money. But the monies were spent at various MDA’s,” he said.

Mr Forson, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, said the various MDA heads and COVID entities needed to account in detail how they spent the money because of the gaps in the Finance Minister’s statement.

“I cannot ask the Minister responsible for Finance to give me the details of the fact that they spent $100 million on nose masks and hand sanitizers, Mr Forson said.

He, therefore, proposed the committee be chaired by a member of the Minority adding “so that we can go into the details and all of us will be able to get the facts as we need to,” he said.

Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, kicked against the call and explained that the various committees in Parliament could scrutinize the expenditure.

“This situation is not exceptional enough to warrant an ad-hoc committee.

“Let us rely on the committees of Parliament. We do not need a special committee. We do not need an ad-hoc committee, Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance Wednesday told Parliament that GH¢18.19 billion was expended to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

Under this, he said GH¢1.5 billion was disbursed under the Support to Households Programme, GH¢1 billion 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 had been released to continue the construction of the 111 district hospitals.

According to the sector minister, the government had also programmed GH¢875 million for security operations, evacuation of Ghanaians stranded abroad, and coordination of MMDAs’ sanitation and disinfection exercises.

GNA

Accra, June 22, GNA- The Minority Caucus in Parliament on Wednesday proposed the setting up of an ad-hoc committee to probe the expenditure of COVID-19 funds.

Debating in Parliament, when the finance minister appeared in the house to deliver a statement on how government funds were disbursed in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader said the minister’s accounting was not thorough enough.

On his part, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee said: “We cannot sit here and say the Minister of Finance should be the only one to account for the COVID amount.

“The minister responsible for Finance is only a conduit for releasing the money. But the monies were spent at various MDA’s,” he said.

Mr Forson, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam, said the various MDA heads and COVID entities needed to account in detail how they spent the money because of the gaps in the Finance Minister’s statement.

“I cannot ask the Minister responsible for Finance to give me the details of the fact that they spent $100 million on nose masks and hand sanitizers, Mr Forson said.

He, therefore, proposed the committee be chaired by a member of the Minority adding “so that we can go into the details and all of us will be able to get the facts as we need to,” he said.

Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, kicked against the call and explained that the various committees in Parliament could scrutinize the expenditure.

“This situation is not exceptional enough to warrant an ad-hoc committee.

“Let us rely on the committees of Parliament. We do not need a special committee. We do not need an ad-hoc committee, Mr Afenyo-Markin said.

Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance Wednesday told Parliament that GH¢18.19 billion was expended to mitigate the effect of the pandemic.

Under this, he said GH¢1.5 billion was disbursed under the Support to Households Programme, GH¢1 billion 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 had been released to continue the construction of the 111 district hospitals.

According to the sector minister, the government had also programmed GH¢875 million for security operations, evacuation of Ghanaians stranded abroad, and coordination of MMDAs’ sanitation and disinfection exercises.

GNA