The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has rejected claims that funds under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project were misapplied by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, insisting that the World Bank’s findings do not support the allegation.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Wednesday, July 1, Mr Awuah was responding to comments previously made by Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who, while in opposition in 2024, alleged that about US$65 million from the GARID facility intended for flood mitigation had been diverted to finance COVID-19-related expenditure.
Asked whether the alleged diversion contributed to the current flooding challenges, the Manhyia South MP dismissed the assertion, arguing that political claims should be distinguished from facts.
Mr Awuah challenged the basis of the allegation, questioning whether any official investigation had concluded that the GARID programme had been delayed because funds were redirected.
“What does your investigation say? Has there been a case where the GARID programme was delayed because of delayed payment? What has your investigation shown?” he asked.
“The fact that the NPP possibly may have taken—and I don’t even think it is true—some money from the GARID programme to apply elsewhere does not mean another funding source could not have been found to augment it or make the necessary payments,” he stated.
Mr Awuah maintained that the World Bank’s assessment of the project does not attribute implementation delays to any alleged diversion of funds.
“What is the World Bank saying? Is the World Bank saying the programme has been delayed because the NPP took some money from it for COVID? That is not what the World Bank is saying,” he argued.
According to him, the absence of such a finding undermines the allegations made by Dr. Ato Forson.
“If that is not what the World Bank is saying, then what Mr. Ato Forson said is not really the fact,” he said.
The MP also accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of making politically motivated claims while in opposition, arguing that subsequent developments have contradicted many of those assertions.
“In any event, recent facts have shown that many of the things the NDC said were not true. What he said concerning how the funds were applied, especially in light of the World Bank report, flies in the face of the truth,” he added.
The GARID Project, funded by the World Bank, was introduced to improve flood risk management, strengthen urban resilience and enhance solid waste management in the Greater Accra Region.
Meanwhile, the World Bank’s latest implementation update on the GARID Project, published in May 2026, downgraded the project’s implementation rating from moderately satisfactory to moderately unsatisfactory.
The report cited fiscal restrictions introduced by Ghana’s Ministry of Finance as a key factor slowing project implementation, despite available financing, and pointed to expenditure bottlenecks that delayed payments for project activities.
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