Keep your receipts because I’ll audit COVID-19 Funds – Mahama to Akufo-Addo

Mr. John Dramani Mahama has indicated he will audit the COVID-19 fund that has been created to finance activities relating to the fight against the pandemic.

He cautioned all persons who use the funds to keep their receipts because “the day of accountability will come”.

The government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo created the COVID-19 Trust Fund to solicit funds from the general public to help fight the pandemic.

The Fund, according to President Akufo-Addo has accrued GH₵8,750,000.

“I’m very grateful to individuals and institutions who have responded to my appeal for donations to be made into the COVID-19 National Trust Fund. A total amount of some 8,750,000 cedis which includes 600,000USD has been received.

“I’m happy that so many appointees of my government have also followed my example by donating their salaries to the fund,” President Akufo-Addo said.

But in a Facebook Live presentation on Thursday April 23, Mr Mahama called on Ghanaians to demand accountability in the disbursement of the Funds.

“I don’t think I need to become President before we demand accountability. All those spending the COVID-19 money should be keeping the receipts because the day of accountability is fast approaching,” he said.

He added: “Let us all join hands in demanding accountability and transparency from the government in the management of the COVID-19 funds, after all these are public funds contributed by tax payers.

“I am passionately appealing to the government to ensure a timely release of these funds to the institutions, health and non-heath, so that they can discharge their duties appropriately and according to plan.”

Read FULL JUDGEMENT of the 2020 election petition

The Supreme Court, by a unanimous decision, has affirmed the victory of President Akufo-Addo in the 2020 presidential election.

“The petitioner has not produced any evidence to rebut the presumptions created by the publication of CI 135 for which his action has failed. We have, therefore, no reason to order for a rerun … we accordingly dismiss the petition as having no merit,” Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah ruled.

With this unanimous, seven-member decision, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition.

The court determined that the petitioner had based his case on an error made by the chair of the Electoral Commission during the declaration of the election result on 9 December 2020, but that the error could not void the will of the people in electing a president.

The Supreme Court also held that the error made by the EC in using total votes cast as the basis for reckoning the total valid votes during the declaration was corrected, and that the correction was made in accordance with the law.

Read full judgement below:

 

The youth of the opposition National Democratic Congress in Asawaase constituency in the Kumasi Metropolis have written a cold catching open letter to the party’s national communication officer Mr. Sammy Gyamfi for attacking the honorable Speaker of parliament Mr. Alban Bagbin, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, and Hon. Haruna Iddrisu after parliament approved three NPP ministerial nominees which included Hon. Kwadwo oppong Nkrumah, Dr, Owusu Akoto Osei, and Hon. Hawa Koomson who were disapproved at the appointments committee level.

After the speaker of parliament delivered the results of the voting to the plenary which outrightly favored these contentious ministerial appointees, the party’s national communication officer took to his Facebook wall to denigrate the integrity of the party’s leadership in the parliament. He wrote on his Facebook wall;

Comrades, the betrayal we have suffered in the hands of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, the leadership of our Parliamentary group, particularly Hon. Haruna Iddrissu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, and dozens of our own MPs, is what strengthens me to work hard for the great NDC to regain power.
They brazenly defied the leadership of the party and betrayed the collective good for their selfish interest. And we, must not let them succeed in their parochial quest to destroy the NDC, the party that has done so much for them and all of us. The shame they have brought on the party will forever hang like an albatross around their necks.

These are hard times for all of us but we should not let the betrayal of a few quench our love for the great NDC.

Rather, let it strengthen us to fight for this party. We all have an equal stake in this party. They are few, we are many. Some have sold their conscience but ours is intact.

And we, can work together to rebuild the party from the ashes of 3rd March, 2021, which I call “Black Wednesday ”- Our day of self-inflicted shame.

This is the time for us to insist on the right changes in the leadership of the NDC group in Parliament or forget about them completely. The current leadership have lost their moral authority to lead and are not fit to sit on the front bench of the NDC side of the house.

More importantly, it’s about time we understood, that we don’t have any NDC Speaker of Parliament. No we don’t! We have a Speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into Office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more. You trust them, at your own peril.

The hypocrites can choose to remain quiet or even condemn us for speaking up, so they can remain in the good books of the renegades. But I and all who are pained by this act of betrayal will not keep quiet, because we don’t fear anyone and don’t wish to be in their good books. If they can defy the party leadership and interest openly and subject all of us to public ridicule, then they can and must also be called out openly. The NDC party is supreme and it must be cleansed.

Speak up, we can and must! And let nobody stand in our way. But, when all is said and done, let’s work for the NDC with all our might and strength. Quench not your love for the party. Hope must not die. This storm shall pass. The NDC will survive and shall bounce back stronger for victory. So I say to you, be strong!

*Sammy Gyamfi Esq.*

In replying to Mr. Gyamfi’s fierce comment, the party’s youth in the Asawaase constituency led by the constituency’s Director of Communication have written to Sammy Gyamfi asking 3 critical questions that bother on his integrity. They wrote;

Comrades, the so called statement of betrayal by Sammy Gyamfi has come to our notice.

If one is to talk about betrayal, it is the leadership of the NDC party in which Sammy Gyamfi is part that has betrayed us. It is the leadership of the party that is not being truthful to us and betraying us, not our hard working MPs.

The leadership of the party held meeting with the leadership of the MPs caucus, they presented all their challenges in parliament as far as this voting of nominees are concern, as a vibrant communication officer as you claim you are, wouldn’t it have been prudent enough for you to make us aware of the reality on the ground than trying to incite us against our MPs?

So if you have failed to assume your responsibility as per your rules of engagement please accept it for us to move on. Come to think of it, you can’t be more Catholic than the Pope.

You can’t be more NDC than The speaker of parliament, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu and other hard working NDC MPs.

As you are touting yourself with integrity than these hard working NDC MPs with rich experience in which you yourself know is not true and can’t be true with unsubstantiated allegation.

We would like to caution you to desist from this undeserving misconduct of a national officer of our great party, more importantly, the barrage of attacks on our hard working Member of Parliament, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak and his colleagues.

Mr. Sammy Gyamfi if you live in a glass house don’t throw stones and if you can’t take blow please don’t throw blows, let us have some integrity test for us to see if you will indeed pass this test for “he who comes to equity must come with clean hands”;

1. Can you tell us with all honesty a company or an institution in Ghana that you have worked with before possessing all that you have today and at what salary base Mr. Integrity?

2. What do you do for a living now to lead the kind of life that you are having?

3. You have two (2) V8 Toyota Land Cruisers; can you tell us how you bought those cars and for how many years of service to a company or an institution if any?

Just to mention a few.

Sammy Gyamfi enough of your baseless and misplaced outburst, if there are people who have contributed immensely to our failure as a party in election 2020 which subsequently left us with bruises, then there is no other people than the people of which you are part of.

Instead of you to concentrate on reorganizing the party, you are rather blowing the trumpet of divisions and attacks on our own. If other constituencies will allow you to do that, please we at Asawase Constituency will not allow you! Not at all! You can’t sit somewhere and mislead us.

It won’t happen! So trek with caution.

Signed
Director of Communication Asawase Constituency

Meanwhile, honorable Muntaka on his radio station in Kumasi Zuria FM has warned Sammy Gyamfi not to enter his territory with his crass arrogance and disrespect.

However, we are yet to witness any reactions from the speaker as well as hon. Haruna.