Former President John Dramani Mahama’s special assistant Joyce Bawah Mogtari has urged Ghanaians to insist that the Akufo-Addo administration handle the economy more effectively.
She claimed that the current administration is mismanaging the economy, which is seen in the rising rate of inflation.
Regarding the breakdown of the Covid spending provided by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in Parliament on Wednesday, June 22, Madam Mogtari participated in a discussion on the New Day show with Berla Mundi on TV3 on Thursday, June 23.
She said “Inflation is an all-time high, the highest in 18 years, the hardship on the good people of Ghana especially the poor, the social protection, we don’t know what is happening to them.”
“Let us demand that the economy will be better managed. lets demand how much the Finance Minister’s bank Data Bank has been paid for the transaction advises it has given,” she added.
The former Deputy Minister for Transport further noted that the Covid funds were wasted by the government.
“Waste of Covid funds is one of the biggest scandals in this country,” she said.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Ofori-Atta said in the area of free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, for instance, an amount of “¢200m was made available for free water and electricity for lifeline consumers, out of this, ¢143m utilized.”
He further said that “Though our response was bold and decisive and compassionate, it has also been costly. Mr Speaker, you will recall that on 30th March 2020, I made a statement to Parliament that the economic impact of Covid 19 pandemic on the economy of Ghana following the implementation of the coronavirus alleviation programme commenced.
“Furthermore, during the presentation of the 2020 mid year budget fiscal policy, I indicated that the supplementary request included the programme funding of ¢19.3billion from various funding sources to support the budget both directly and indirectly. On the expenditure side, an amount of ¢11. 16billion was programmed for Covid-19 related expenses. The difference of ¢8.14 billion was progarmme to provide for shortfall in revenue.
“In 2021, the budget programme of a total amount of ¢4.6billion for Covid-19 related expenses. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Finance mobilizes the needed financial resources whiles the various Covid-19 interventions and related expense were implemented by the relevant sector ministries and agencies.”
