Out of the $200 million allotted for the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project (GARID), the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, has claimed that $65 million was misused.
On Friday, May 17, 2024, Parliament approved a $150 million additional loan facility from the World Bank for the GARID project, in spite of the strong opposition of the Minority.
During an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi TV’s The Point of View, Dr. Forson claimed that money designated for COVID-19 expenses had been embezzled.
The Ministry of Works and Housing came under fire from the Minority Leader for neglecting to give Parliament a thorough breakdown of the expenses.
“Someone somewhere is trying to distort the facts, but there’s the need for us to correct the records. And let Ghanaians be aware of what exactly the situation is. So far, they have drawn down almost $180 million out of the $200 million loan. Unfortunately, even though they had drawn down almost $180 million, the amount has been misappropriated or misapplied.
“For example, $65 million of the GARID loan that was supposed to be used for the purposes of killing the floods, was misapplied for the purposes of COVID-19 expenditure.
“Yet, we don’t have the breakdown of the COVID-19 expenditure. We were told that unlike a typical World Bank facility, where a project implementation unit would have been established, and payments made directly to the contractors, in this case, the amount was paid into the Ministry of Works and Housing’s account, and the Ministry has failed to account to Parliament how much money that they have spent from that account.”
The Minority Leader recalled how some people dispatched to the Odaw River site claimed that no work had been done there after learning that $32 million had been spent on dredging.
“Only $32 million was the only amount they could account for, which for us, was concerning. Another $43m was supposedly used to dredge the Odaw River. When our guys went to the site, it was obvious that nothing of the sort had been done. And some of the contractors our guys spoke to at the site said they were asked to be at the site just last week. Even though, they have paid for mobilisation years ago,” he said.
“We had serious concerns until we got the government or Ministry to account for what they have used the money for, there was no way we were going to approve additional loan.”
