A report from the Auditor-General on Covid-19 has revealed that, 26 Toyota Hiace Deluxe ambulances agreed to be bought for US$4,049,460.12 in December 2021 by Ministry of Health (MOH), were never delivered.
The report on expenditures for Covid-19 between March 2020 to June 2022, revealed that a total of US$607,419.02 out of US$4,049,460.12 was paid for the ambulances to be delivered by January 15, 2022. However, according to details of the report, as of 28th of November last year, none of the ambulances had been delivered.
In the report, the Chief Director of the Ministry, noted that the supplier for the ambulances applied for an extension of delivery date to meet some technical specifications.
The Auditor-General opined that, “under the current economic challenges, the supplier could apply for price variation to unduly increase the cost of the contract which could have been avoided if the ambulances had been supplied as scheduled.”
The contract has since been extended to March 2023, after a technical inspection by the World Bank and a recommendation for additional specifications.
The Auditor-General therefore recommended that, “the Chief Director should ensure that the ambulances are delivered no further than the extended date of March 2023.”
“The Health Ministry, also without the approval of the Central Tender Review Committee, increased the cost of five contracts with a total contract sum of GH¢24,256,500.00 by GH¢4,017,000.00 through variation orders”, the report revealed.
The A-G also reported that $80m worth of vaccines paid for by the Akuffo Addo led government has not been delivered. According to the A-G, government paid over $120m to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) but only $38m worth was delivered.
The Auditor -General thus recommended to the Chief Director of the Health Ministry to renegotiate and recover the outstanding balance.
Meanwhile, the report also stated that over US$2.5 billion (¢21 billion) of monies mobilised for the fight against Covid-19, only 25% (¢5.5) was used on health.
The Auditor General indicated that the balance was spent on government programmes such as Free SHS and LEAP, among others.
Paramount Chiefs Received ¢450k Out of Unaccounted ¢605k funds
The Auditor-General’s audit of the Covid-19 expenditure further revealed that, a sum of GH¢605,962 has been unaccounted for at the height of the pandemic.
Breaking it down, the report noted that government, contrary to the public financial management regulation, distributed GH¢451,800.00 directly to the Paramount Chiefs of the Traditional Councils. This, according to the report, was to help Ghana’s fight against the pandemic.
The report revealed that GH¢154,161.97 of the funds transferred was misapplied.
“The Registrars of Ashanti and Central Regional Houses of Chiefs explained that the amounts were disbursed to the Paramount Chiefs upon directives from the Presidents of the Houses.
“The Registrar, Brong Ahafo said he was not at post during the period, whilst the other five Registrars could not assign reasons for the lapse.”
Auditor General
It is in view of this, that the Auditor-General concluded that the unaccounted funds were misappropriated or misapplied.
The Audit Service therefore recommended that, the Chief Director should ensure the Registrars of the eight Houses of Chiefs recover the total amount of GH¢605,961.97 from Chiefs, failing which the Chief Director should pay the amount into the Auditor General’s Recoveries account.
Still in the report, the Auditor General stated that the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) between April 2020 and September 2020, received three payments totalling GH¢42,237,770.00.
However, the Auditor-General noted that waybills from the various Institutions amounted to GH¢40,831,685.00 resulting in an over–invoicing of GH¢1,406,085.00.
The Auditor-General in his recommendation charged the CEO of National Food Buffer Stock Company to refund the excess amount paid to the Auditor General’s Recoveries account.
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