President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has dispelled the notion that resources and money received during the COVID-19 crisis were not properly accounted for by his government.
To this end, he said he had caused the Auditor-General to audit all COVID-19 expenditures and the audit report was currently going through parliamentary processes.
“Let me make it clear that COVID expenditures, essentially unplanned, have been subject, at my instigation, to audit by the Auditor-General, and are going through parliamentary processes. We all deserve to be reassured that the crisis was not used as a cover for corrupt practices,” he emphasised.
President Akufo-Addo said this on Sunday when he delivered his 29th COVID-19 update televised across the country.
The 29th update focused on measures taken against the spread of COVID-19 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
President Akufo-Addo said even though the COVID-19 came with unplanned expenditures, it certainly helped that the resources were found by the government, partners, individuals, corporate entities, and the public to support health workers and procurement of required materials.
He explained that fighting COVID-19 had been a very expensive undertaking which was characterised, by lockdowns, closed borders, minimal economic activity and the consequential steep decline in revenues.
“The testing for the millions who went to public laboratories; the quarantine of arrivals from outside the country, hospital admissions, treatments and feeding for all patients were publicly funded and cost vast sums of money,” he emphasised.
The President noted that the vaccination programme undertaken by the government was very expensive, despite receiving some donated vaccines, stressing that “We purchased a lot with our own resources, and the multiple country-wide vaccination campaigns cost a lot of money.”
In addition, he said the fumigation, cleansing and disinfection of markets, schools, offices and other public spaces also cost a lot of money as well as the free water and electricity provided.
President Akufo-Addo said apart the cost in the provision of reliefs, keeping all Ghanaians informed about this most unpredictable virus was expensive.
“A lot of money was spent on public education, public information, risk communication, public and community engagements and keeping us all abreast with the relevant information,” he said.
He explained that it took courage to reopen schools, colleges and universities, stressing that “At the time we did in spite of the fears of some parents and the condemnation of our critics. In some countries, millions of girls and boys did not return when schools eventually reopened after they had been kept shut for over a year.”
The President said even though the pandemic was over, the consequences were very much still with us especially in terms of the economic devastation it has left in its trail.
“It would be recalled that I said, right at the onset of the pandemic, that we would do whatever it took to protect the lives of the Ghanaian people. In the now often quoted statement, I said “we know what to do to bring the economy back to life, but what we do not know is how to bring people back to life,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said the clear implication was that the country could protect lives even at the risk of harming the economy.
“I knew that the pandemic and the measures we were taking to keep us alive would have a devastating effect on the economy, but I believe I had the support of the Ghanaian people to concentrate on protecting lives at any cost; but I do not think anyone, anywhere, imagined the effect would be so widespread, so destructive and so deep,” he said.
The President said as the leader of the country, he owed it to his compatriots, and to himself to go to any length to bring back the economy to the good health it was in before the onset of the pandemic.
He said as part of measures to rework the economy, he said that the country had to resort to the IMF.
“It was a painful decision for me to take, because going to the IMF was not part of the economic transformation agenda I had been pursuing, especially as my government had gone the extra mile to bring to a successful end the IMF programme we inherited from the previous government.
But who would have imagined that President Akufo-Addo would order the closure of airports, offices, factories or schools?” he said.
He said “We were in extraordinary times and we took extraordinary measures, and when faced with the realities of the economic crisis last year, I accepted the challenge that the economy required a similar attitude, including the sacrifices many of us have made in recent times.”
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
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