The Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Kumah has justified the omission of the GH₵600m allocated for construction of 88 District Hospitals in the 2021 mid-year review budget.

Speaking on Joy FM's Top Story on Friday, he explained that the money was accounted for in last year’s budget, hence the omission, to avoid repetition.

“The 600 million, His Excellency the President first talked about Agenda 88 in 2020 and that was captured in the 2020 budget an amount of 600m GHC was made into a dedicated fund pending the finalization of the contractual arrangement,” he said.

He added that the President during the ground breaking ceremony also made the announcement by referencing an amount of $100 million dollars which is the same as the GH₵600m talked about.

His statement was in reaction to the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh’s comment that government is hiding the truth about the whereabouts of the GH₵600 million expenditure.

Mr Akandoh also called on the Auditor General to constitute an audit team, involving the services of a reputable international Audit Firm, to audit the processes leading to the supposed transfer and the expenditure of the GH₵600 million.

Mr Akandoh further raised five questions about the expenditure including, when the GHC600 million was allocated to Agenda 111, which agency of government is implementing Agenda 111, and what has been the chain of custody of the funds since they left the Consolidated Accounts at the BoG.

However responding to the questions posed by Mr Akandoh, the Deputy Minister of Finance said: “This is in 2020 and he ask why it wasn’t provided again in 2021 if he understands finance he wouldn’t ask that question because once an allocation has been made, and provisions released into a dedicated account, you don’t have to repeat it in the next budget. So that is my worry about the kind of questions he is asking,” he said.

Dr Kumah added that, “all of government’s accounts are held with Bank of Ghana. Maybe he hasn’t read the PSM Act. So if he understands the financial laws and how our financing system works, these are questions as a Ranking you will not come to this level to raise because you will be exposed.”