Calls for COVID-19 alleviation audit premature - Hadzide
A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Pius Enam Hadzide, has described the call by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the Auditor-General to undertake a special audit into the GH₵280.3 million under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, as an "indecent haste" intended to paint the government black.
He said the NDC's call was premature since expenditure was still ongoing, adding that "We cannot be auditing on a daily or weekly basis."
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He said government would come out with a detailed report on all activities under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, adding that "This call is not genuine. The time for accountability will come."
In an interview with the Daily Graphic Wednesday, Mr Hadzide said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led government was transparent, hence its move to pass the Right to Information bill.
He was responding to calls by the NDC for the Auditor-General to undertake a special audit into the GH₵280.3 million allocated for the provision of food, water and sanitation under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.
The NDC’s Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, who made the call at a press conference last Wednesday, said although the lockdown, which was imposed on Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Greater Kumasi lasted for three weeks, the government had not provided any information to either Parliament or the general public on how the funds were utilised.
Response
But Mr Hadzide said if the NDC was genuine in its call for a special audit, it could have written to the Auditor-General without holding a press conference on the subject.
He explained that the Auditor-General, and for that matter, the Audit Service, was a state institution that knew what to do at what time and therefore needed no interference in its work from any person or group of persons or institutions.
Mr Hadzide said the government had been very transparent with all of its activities on the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.
Easing restrictions
Responding to NDC's allegations that President Akufo-Addo eased restrictions to enable the Electoral Commission (EC) to go ahead with its planned decision to compile a new voters register for the 2020 polls, he said, such claims were laughable since the EC had already made it plans clear to the public that it was going to compile a new voters register before the restrictions were eased.
Mr Hadzide said when the President did not impose restrictions, the NDC accused the president of not doing much to protect Ghanaians and when the President imposed the restrictions, the same party accused him and now that he (President) had eased the restrictions too, the party was still accusing the president.