Nana Addo peddled falsehood on COVID-19 funds – Murtala

Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, has slammed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and accused him of peddling falsehoods when he delivered the State of the Nation Address on March 8.

He further took a swipe at the President for failing to present to Ghanaians the true reflections of the economy which has taken a downturn for some months now.

Speaking on the Big Issue on Citi TV, Murtala Muhammed, said the President lied when he rubbished claims that the COVID-19 fund was misused.

“What the constitution expects him to be doing is to be candid and brutally frank with the people of this country. The last thing the people expect from the President is to peddle the kind of falsehoods he peddled in such a legendary fashion when he appeared before us [Parliament].

“What the President did was contrary to what the constitution expects him to do. The President stated without any shame that there wasn’t any misappropriation of COVID funds. The report submitted to Parliament stated that the funds were misapplied. Then you have the President who looked into our faces and said there wasn’t any misappropriation of COVID funds. This was a lie,” the MP for Tamale Central stated.

According to him, the President “knew in his heart that he was not telling us [Ghanaians] the truth. He ought to be very sincere with the people”.

President Akufo-Addo rejected reports to the effect that government blatantly misapplied funds intended for the country’s fight against COVID-19.

According to violations cited in the audit report by the Auditor General, the Information Ministry improperly compensated its employees GH¢151,500 for COVID-19 insurance while failing to deliver $81 million worth of government-paid vaccines.

The state among other things is said to have spent US$607,419.02 out of US$4,049,460.12 for the acquisition of 26 ambulances, but the vehicles were never delivered.

The government through the Ministry of Finance responded to criticisms following public outcry by stating, that the funds spent on direct COVID-19 interventions and general budget support were in accordance with the mandate approved by Parliament and that of the Public Financial Management Act.

“The economic consequences of the pandemic have been devastating. It is precisely because the economic fallout from the pandemic was so widespread and long-lasting that it is important to show clearly that the COVID funds were not misused. It is critical that we do not lose the confidence of the people that a crisis that they were led to believe we were all in together was abused for personal gain,” the President said.