Audio By Carbonatix
The Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA), Salifu Issifu Kanton has called for government’s expenditure on Covid-19 to be audited.
Mr Kanton’s Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) had earlier conducted a Corruption Risk Assessment on how government expended funds in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the CDA's findings, it cited a number of procurement breaches and huge corruption risks decisions.
In a 67-paged document put together by CDA, government is accused of engaging in irregular procurement practices that violate Ghana’s procurement laws, regulations, codes, and international conventions and best practices.
Listing some examples of irregular procurements made over the period, the document revealed that the contract awarded to four Ghanaian garment manufacturing companies that had been given loans of $10m through the Ghana Exim Bank to produce PPEs, face masks, medical scrubs, hospital gowns, and headgears was without tender.
Again, the companies were also not registered with the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) at the time the contract was awarded.
Government has however defended itself claiming that the nation was amidst a health crisis, thus, did not have enough time to go through the outlined processes stipulated in the 1992 constitution.
But in a sharp rebuttal on the Super Morning Show Wednesday, the CDA’s Executive Director said the rhetoric statement by government ‘we were not in normal times’ only reveals the opaqueness of contracts it awarded to help combat the virus.
Mr Kanton, therefore, reminded government that the funds that were disbursed were public resources, as such, owes the citizenry some accountability.
“We must not have a system where relationship are sometimes is placed in-between public interest. It is crucially important that to be able to clear doubt amongst your people, every public contract must conform to the transparency rule.
“So that I can read it in Wa, you can read it in Accra and we can all be satisfied that after all our governance sector will be a good thing and the processes it had adopted in doing that good thing were clean. That is what we want and that is how we build a good country,” he stated.
Latest Stories
-
Oranges, sardines and eggs could help protect people exposed to air pollution, Ghana study finds
3 hours -
Private security firms acting as political militias risk licence revocation, prosecution – National Security Coordinator
4 hours -
Antoine Semenyo makes history as first Ghanaian named in PFA Team of the Year
4 hours -
Mahama calls for responsive healthcare regulation to improve patient safety
5 hours -
IERPP accuses GoldBod of breaching transparency law, says quarterly trading reports removed from website
5 hours -
Future of Energy Conference: Africa cannot industrialise in the dark – ECOWAS Bank President
5 hours -
Help comes to Alajo as DirectAid brings relief items to flood victims
5 hours -
“Somebody created the loss” – Haruna Mohammed backs Minority’s call for GoldBod probe
5 hours -
Hope for agroecological farmers: Scientific Research supports urine-based weed management as safer alternative to glyphosate
5 hours -
Israeli Film Festival returns to Accra with free screenings to boost cultural exchange
5 hours -
SONABEL considers opening Bagré Dam spillway on Friday amid rising water levels
5 hours -
Ghana Maritime Authority, Humanity First commission 4 boreholes in Wa to end water scarcity and keep children in class
6 hours -
In Photos: Day Two of ‘SYPALA 2026’ focuses on governance, economic freedom and youth leadership
6 hours -
Wontumi withdraws from NPP chairmanship race, urges support for Bawumia
6 hours -
UCC-IEPA, CEGRAD launches free digital skills programme to empower 1,000 women in education
6 hours