President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has rejected claims by the opposition political party, National Democratic Congress (NDC) that his government has been reckless in borrowing with nothing to show.
He pointed out that his government has not been reckless in borrowing and spending since it assumed office.
The President in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Wednesday, March 8 said that albeit the questions that have been asked regarding the debt situation of the country are legitimate, there are numerous projects across the length and breadth of the country to show for the borrowings that have been done over the period.
“We have not been reckless in borrowing and in spending,. We have built roads, schools and I am proud of the road projects undertaken by my government,” he said.
On the issue of Covid funds utilization, the President said that the funds were not misused but they were appropriately used for the purpose of curbing the pandemic.
“Covid funds were not misused. It is critical that we do not lose the confidence of the people that the crisis we were all in together was being abused. Nothing dishonourable was done with Civid funds,” he said.
He mentioned among other things that frontline health workers were given 50 percent tax relief for the period. Also, he said, electricity and water tariffs were subsidized for Ghanaians during the period.
This comes in the wake of a recent audit report on Covid spending issued by the Auditor General.
According to the Auditor-General report, “During our review, we noted that senior management staff and other supporting staff of the Ministry of Information paid themselves a total amount of GH¢151,500.00 as COVID-19 risk allowance for coming to work during the lockdown.”
By Vincent Kubi