The Ministry of Transport has rejected claims by the Minority in Parliament that it overspent its 2025 capital expenditure by nearly GHC10 million.
In a clarification to the media, the Ministry said the funds cited by the Minority were approved by the Ministry of Finance and used to service loans contracted under the Akufo-Addo administration for the construction of Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) office complexes in Tema, Accra, and Takoradi.
Transport Minister Joseph Nikpe Bukari insisted that the Ministry acted lawfully and did not violate the Public Financial Management Act.
“The Ghana Maritime Authority in 2021-2022 contracted some loans from Ecobank and other financial institutions, but the repayment wasn’t catered for in the budget. So the Ghana Maritime Authority wrote to me asking me to do the same to the Minister for Finance to allow us to service the loan that they contracted.
“The loan that they took to build the Tema office block, the Accra office, and the Takoradi office. So we were rather making provisions to continue with the construction of the project that they took money for and couldn’t finish.”
He stressed that the allegations of overspending were baseless.
“It is not that we overspend. In any case, if you are not approved for any amount of money, you don’t have it in the first place. So how do you overspend? It was within our budget, and the Public Financial Management Act section 32 allows any other spending officer to write to the Minister of Finance to make a payment for you to cater for your daily operations.”
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