Some GH¢254,203.00 of money that accrued to the Ghana Covid-19 Private Fund cannot be accounted for, the Auditor-General’s 2021 report has indicated.
Contrary to Regulation 78 (1) (a) (b) of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378), the Auditor-General said: “Our vouching disclosed that out of GH¢10,257,360 paid via payment voucher number 0590507 dated 16 June 2020 to the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund, a private organisation for the procurement of medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE), only GH¢10,003,157 had been accounted for with an outstanding amount of GH¢254,203.00 not accounted for as of 31 December 2020”.
“We recommended that the management should ensure that the Covid -19 Private Sector Fund accounts for the total amount of GH¢254,203.00, failing which the total amount of GH¢254,203.00 should be recovered from the Covid-19 Private Sector Fund and same paid to COVID-19 National Trust Fund account”, the report said.
It also noted that the Covid-19 National Trust Fund received total donations amounting to GH¢67,980,222.58 made up of GH¢57,134,093.58 cash and GH¢10,846,129.00 worth of donations in kind. Out of the GH¢57,134,093.58 cash donations received, a total amount of GH¢37,252,656.90 had been spent on operations and disbursement to 13 organisations and institutions to fight against Covid-19 with the balance of GH¢19,881,436.68 lodged in five bank accounts of the Trust Fund.
“We urged the management to ensure that all donations, both cash and non-cash, are distributed to the appropriate individuals, organisations and institutions to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”, the report said.
Also, it observed that contrary to Section 52 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), “our audit disclosed that DDP Outdoor Limited donated 119 billboards and advertising spaces located at various places valued at GH¢2,621,214.06 for promoting, advertising and communicating to the general public on the awareness of the coronavirus and its preventive measures, but the billboards and advertising spaces were not put to use as of 31 December 2020”.
“We recommended that the management should ensure that the donated billboards should be put to use”.
