He said “this is just the tip of the iceberg. We were here when our Foreign Affairs Committee reported how monies adding up to about GH¢66 million were spent on behalf of the ministry. Since when has the Ministry of Finance begun a procurement entity for the Ministry of Foreign affairs?
“Nana Akufo-Addo is presiding over the gigantic spending and disbursement of COVID-19 expenditure. We will renew our position. We will refile the motion.”
Earlier, the Minority charged the Auditor-General to undertake a special audit into the GH₵280.3 million that was allocated by the government for the provision of food, water, and sanitation under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.
According to the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, the media must hold the government accountable for huge financial resources entrusted into its hands during this COVID-19 period.
He said, “unprecedented levels of profligacy, waste, and corruption Ghanaians have witnessed under the Akufo-Addo government in the last three and a half years.”
But Joseph Osei-Owusu, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament rejected a motion filed by the NDC MPs for investigations into the use of COVID-19 funds.
Joe Wise dismissing the motion said “All the committees of the house including the Public Accounts Committee are bipartisan, and the Public Accounts Committee is designed by nature to be chaired by members of the Minority.
“In all its form, the Public Accounts Committee, if it is minded to investigate anything related to the Covid-19 expenditure, fully sees to the authority and power to investigate that, particularly because all the accounting of it has been provided for in the budget which budget has been provided by the House and is before the committee.
“My view is that this motion ought not to have been admitted, and it’s improperly before the House.”
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin questioned Joseph Osei-Owusu’s decision to reject the motion filed by the Minority for investigations into the use of COVID-19 funds.
He described the attitude of Joseph Osei-Owusu to overrule his rulings as unconstitutional, illegal, and offensive.
