Honorable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has raised some questions on the COVID-19 budget accounted to parliament. He has quizzed why Ken Ofori-Atta hid some other details from the parliamentarians.<\/p>\n
In a post shared on his official Facebook page on Friday, 1st June 2022, he wrote;<\/p>\n
“Why did Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta blatantly conceal from Parliament the cost and other details of government\u2019s controversial Smart Workplace Project when he presented his statement of accounts on COVID-19 expenditure last week?<\/p>\n
Okudzeto stated that according to the 2021 Budget\u2019s paragraph 851 at page 156 which provided no cost and contractor\u2019s identity, government claimed it introduced smart workplace to assist staff work virtually \u2014 it further added that some 400 staff had been trained on its use, 350 public institutions enrolled by NITA \u201conto the system\u201d and LAN connectivity completed.<\/p>\n
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‘So what explains government’s sudden loud silence and hush-hush about its previously much touted \u201camazing virtual working project\u201d to the extent that it strangely fails to feature in Ken Ofori-Atta’s high-stakes COVID-19 expenditure statement to Parliament?” Okudzeto asked.<\/p>\n
Okudzeto gave the following reasons;<\/p>\n
Irrefutable and unimpeachable documents intercepted reveal that the smart workplace intervention implemented during the peak of COVID-19 didn\u2019t come cheap to the Ghanaian taxpayer, neither was it executed transparently and legally.<\/p>\n
1. Total Cost of Smart Workplace Project<\/p>\n
The compilation of unassailable documents we are reviewing quite painstakingly confirm that for the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, the Ghanaian taxpayer was saddled with a colossal US$36,061,637.62.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A breakdown of US$31,596,512.12 in 2020 and US$4,465,125.50 in 2021.<\/p>\n
The total sum works out to an impressive GHS290million at current exchange.<\/p>\n
The Finance Minister opened up to numerous expenditure items far lower than half of this (an example is the infamous serving of packed food which he claimed cost us GHS54million)<\/p>\n
2. Unauthorized Use of Single Source Procurement Method<\/p>\n
He explained that on 27th January, 2021 letter from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) signed by the then Acting Chief Executive, Mr. Frank Mante \u2014 the PPA described the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation’s 2020 conduct as an “unauthorized use of the single source procurement method.”<\/p>\n
Okudzeto also stated that the Company Track Record and Nigerian Connection and Domination of Sector\u00a0among the reasons.<\/p>\n
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