Regarding the utilization of public funds, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, asserts that the Auditor General's Report is given credence.
As a result, he has expressed disappointment at the President's words: The COVID-19 funds were not used in a dishonorable manner.
President Akufo-Addo, in his show of the Condition of the Countries Address (SONA) to Parliament on Wednesday, said the Public authority did nothing disreputable to the Coronavirus Assets.
He said: " Mr. Speaker, the Government requested an audit of the COVID funds, and I can assure this House that nothing dishonorable was done with them.
The pandemic has had devastating effects on the economy. It is exact on the grounds that the monetary aftermath from the pandemic was so broad and dependable that it is critical to show obviously that the Coronavirus reserves were not abused."
"We mustn't lose the people's faith that a crisis that they thought we were all in was used for personal gain,"
However, in response to the President's statement during an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Parliament, Mr. Ablakwa stated that no other report regarding the utilization of public funds could be more trustworthy than the Auditor General's.
He stated that the Auditor General was the best authority to report misappropriation of public funds.
According to the Auditor General's report, the Information Ministry failed to deliver $81 million worth of vaccines paid for by the government and improperly paid its employees GH151,500 for COVID-19 insurance.
The state, in addition to other things, was likewise refered to have burned through US$607,419.02 out of US$4,049,460.12 for the procurement of 26 ambulances, yet the vehicles were rarely conveyed.
By stating that the funds spent on direct COVID-19 interventions and general budget support were in accordance with the mandate approved by Parliament and that of the Public Financial Management Act, the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, responded to criticisms that resulted from public dissatisfaction.
On the floor of Parliament, President Akufo-Addo stated, "The responses from both Ministers for Health and Finance, on January 23 and 25, 2023, respectively, have sufficiently laid to rest the queries from the Auditor General's report," and I believe that an objective examination of these statements from the Health and Finance Ministries would support this conclusion.
The SONA is delivered in accordance with Article 67 of Ghana's 1992 Constitution, which stipulates that the President must inform Parliament of the SONA prior to the dissolution of Parliament and at the start of each session.