Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has accused the NPP government of diverting funds from the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, alleging that money secured for flood mitigation was used for activities instead of tackling drainage challenges.

Speaking on JoyNews' PM Express on July 23, he described the GARID financing arrangement as a loan and not free government money, stressing that the country would eventually bear the cost of repayment.

"I talk about this GARID project with a bit of pain, with how public money has been used, and most importantly, how loans that you repay have been used in the past," he said.

According to the Finance Minister, the GARID Project was financed through borrowing, and the funds should therefore have been applied strictly to the purpose for which the loan was contracted.

"GARID is a loan. It is not free money. It is indeed a loan. It is a loan that is not even concessional; it is a commercial loan because it doesn't meet the minimum concessionality," he stated.

Dr Forson criticised what he described as a pattern of using borrowed funds for activities that do not directly contribute to development outcomes.

"In the past, loans have been abused in this country—when we borrow for workshops, when we borrow to travel, when we borrow just to buy Land Cruisers and consultancy services and all others," he said.

He expressed disappointment that a loan secured for a major flood mitigation intervention could allegedly be used for activities unrelated to addressing flooding challenges.

"What hurts me is that when you borrow money of that magnitude and in the name of a major project, and you end up using less than 50 percent of the said amount for the project for which you borrowed, when the time comes for you to repay the loan, it hurts," Dr Forson said.

He questioned why funds secured to improve flood resilience would be spent on activities such as conferences and workshops.

"How should I be borrowing and be spending on conferences at Aqua Safari?" he asked.

Dr Forson alleged that some of the GARID funds were used for activities that did not directly support the project's objective of reducing flooding and improving drainage infrastructure.

The finance minister said his office had raised concerns over requests for additional funds from the project, questioning how previously released resources had been utilised.

"We flagged these, the usage, and I've been seeing requests for drawdown and asked, 'What have they been using this money for?'" he said.

He added that some explanations provided by project officials did not demonstrate that the funds were being channelled towards fixing drainage systems. "Clearly, they were spending on things that were not fixing the drains," Dr Forson stated.