According to former President John Dramani Mahama, the debate between MPs will bring up all of the issues with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's State of the Nation Address (SONA), which he recently delivered in Parliament.
Mr. Mahama, who was in Parliament on March 8 to listen to the address, told TV3's Komla Klutse that "it is for the MPs to debate." He was asked if what President Akufo-Addo said reflected the actual state of the country. You might not agree with everything the president has done, but he has done what he is supposed to do under the Constitution. The Members of Parliament will handle the remainder of the discussion.
He responded, "It is not for me to judge, I think in the debate it will all come out," when asked once more if President Akufo-Addo's language and diction appealed to the people's conscience.
In his speech, President Akufo-Addo said, among other things, that the government wanted an audit of how Covid funds were spent.
He stated, "Mr Speaker, it was government that asked for the COVID funds to be audited, and I can assure this House that nothing dishonorable was done with the COVID funds," assuring Parliament that the funds were used appropriately.
"I believe that any objective scrutiny of these statements from the Health and Finance Ministries would justify this conclusion. The responses from the 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," the author asserts.
He also provided a breakdown of how the money was used.
“Through the NBSSI, which is now known as the Ghana Enterprise Agency, we provided grants and loans worth five hundred and eighteen million cedis (GH518 million) to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Three hundred and two thousand, five hundred and fifteen (302,515) businesses received assistance, of which sixty percent (60%) were owned by women.
As a result of the pandemic, these were MSMEs in trouble. The receipt of one thousand cedis (GH1,000) could mean the difference between ruin and survival for some traders.
“In addition, 58,041 health professionals were hired to complement the existing workforce in the health sector. All of them have since been hired into permanent positions in the health care industry. During that time, frontline health workers also received a 50% tax reduction. Did you find that regrettable? We should never forget how much effort so many people put into keeping us all safe. Access to water was necessary to ensure that people adhered to hygiene practices, and access to electricity was important because everyone was encouraged to stay at home. As a result, all households received free water and significant discounts on their electricity bills. It likewise gave a financial pad to safeguard lives and livelihoods all at once of trouble. Currently, some view government support for utility bills as a waste or, to use the term that some commentators adore, a waste of money.
This is in response to the Auditor General's most recent report on Covid spending.
See also: "During our review, we noted that senior management staff and other supporting staff of the Ministry of Information paid themselves a total amount of GH151,500.00 as COVID-19 risk allowance for coming to work during the lockdown." NPP executives from 253 constituencies and 29,000 polling stations vote to remove Ken Ofori-Atta.
It also stated that on December 15, 2021, the Ministry of Health (MoH) signed a contract for the supply of 26 Toyota Hiace Deluxe ambulances, with PV No. 607,419.02 receiving US$607,419.02 of that total. By January 15, 2022, IPF 22-007 from September 2, 2022 must be delivered.
However, according to the report, the ambulances had not yet been delivered as of November 28, 2022.