The Auditor General’s report for the year 2021 has made some chilling revelation. According to the report, financial irregularities recorded in 2021 was 17.4 billion Ghana Cedis. This was revealed by the MP for North Tongu Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa.
According to the NDC legislator who posted this on Facebook, this was an increase from the 12 billion Ghana Cedis recorded in 2020. He expressed shock over the development and attributed the lack of development to what he described as thievery.
Ablakwa also disclosed that many contracts were awarded through sole sourcing and without approval from parliament or Public Procurement Authority. A number of these contracts were awarded to associates of the president’s family.
The MP added that until the thievery is stopped, no amount of IMF bail out will rescue Ghana.
Check Ablakwa’s post below.
“Even as the Akufo-Addo government commences IMF bailout negotiations, the tragic irony is that corruption is now totally out of control.
The latest 2021 Auditor General’s report makes for grim reading. It indicates that financial irregularities have worsened from the GHS12.8billion recorded in 2020 to a gut-wrenching GHS17.4billion.
Instead of stopping the massive haemorrhage so we can improve our economic conditions in this period of excruciating cost of living crisis, officials have disingenuously managed to create more loopholes by some additional GHS5billion in a free-for-all plundering.
Instructively, the Electricity Company of Ghana alone awarded illegal single sourcing contracts without PPA approval to the explosive amount of GHS221.15million. Most of the beneficiary companies have exceedingly interesting names such as: Adu Ofori Atta Enterprise, Adiepena 67 Enterprise, Cota-Q Enterprise, MasterMind B Venture, Kudirash Ghana Limited, Engineering and More, Nel Service Limited and Bentry Company Limited.
Though Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta failed to provide information on the COVID-19 National Trust Fund in his COVID-19 expenditure statement to Parliament two weeks ago, thanks to the Auditor General, we now know GHS67,907,330.33 was received in the form of donations from individuals and corporate organizations.
It is equally worth noting that the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund has been instructed by the auditors to refund GHS254,203.00.
It’s been such a traumatizing 746-page read. If we don’t urgently, sincerely and aggressively confront and defeat corruption and deliberate leakages in public financial management, no magnitude of IMF bailout will save us.”
Beyond being an MP the North Tongu legislator is proving to be a citizen vigilante. He has been a torn in the skin of NPP. He is currently chasing the government over the national cathedral scandal. The MP has filed a motion in parliament to probe the expenditure on the cathedral.
According to the legislator, every part of the cathedral is a scandal and the minority cannot sit down for the proliferation to continue. He added that although the state has spent a colossal amount on the project, there is no record of same at the Public Procurement Authority. This according to the MP is a violation of the constitution.
The coming days will be interesting as details of the auditor general report unfolds.
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