General News of Saturday, 9 July 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-07-09Corruption under your watch is 'totally out of control' - Ablakwa tells Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP, North Tongu, has stated that corruption under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a man described as "incorruptible" is now totally out of control.
Ablakwa in a post on his social media timeline indicated that a 2021 Auditor General’s report indicates that financial irregularities have worsened from GHC12.8
Read full articlebillion in 2020 to GHC17.4 billion in 2021.
He wrote, “even as the Akufo-Addo govt commences IMF bailout negotiations, the tragic irony is that corruption is now totally out of control. [The] latest 2021 Auditor General’s report indicates that financial irregularities have worsened from GHC12.8billion in 2020 to GHC17.4billion in 2021.
“Instead of stopping the massive haemorrhage so we can improve our economic conditions in this period of excruciating cost of living crisis, officials have disingenuously managed to create more loopholes by some additional 5 billion cedis in a free-for-all plundering.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who has been scrutinizing the current administration over some of its expenditures, especially on the controversial National Cathedral construction added:
"Instructively, the Electricity Company of Ghana alone awarded illegal single-sourcing contracts without PPA approval to the explosive amount of GHC221.15million. Most of the beneficiary companies have exceedingly interesting names such as; Adu Ofori Atta Enterprise, Adiepena 67 Enterprise, Cota-Q Enterprise, MasterMind B Venture, Kudirash Ghana Limited, Engineering and More, Nel Service Limited and Bentry Company Limited.
"Though Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta failed to provide information on the COVID-19 National Trust Fund in his COVID-19 expenditure statement to Parliament two weeks ago, thanks to the Auditor General, we now know GHS67,907,330.33 was received in the form of donations from individuals and corporate organizations.
"It is equally worth noting that the COVID-19 Private Sector Fund has been instructed by the auditors to refund GHS254,203.00."
"It’s been such a traumatizing 746-page read. If we don’t urgently, sincerely and aggressively confront and defeat corruption and deliberate leakages in public financial management, no magnitude of IMF bailout will save us," Ablakwa's post concluded.
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