Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is asking government to account for the US$200,000 it has received from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to support the victims of the Akosombo and Kpong dam spillages.
Mr Ablakwa said having offered no assistance to the over 40,000 people displaced by the September 2023 spillage, the best government could do would be to release the money it has received from the ECOWAS to alleviate the plight of the victims of the spillage.
Debating the contents of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s message on the state of the nation, Mr Ablakwa provided the correspondence between the ECOWAS and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) which confirmed the payment.
“We are still waiting for this government to tell us what exactly they have done to the US$200,000 that ECOWAS approved when they applied for assistance from the ECOWAS. Where is the money?” Mr Ablakwa quizzed.
Per the letter dated December 13, 2023 and sighted by the Ghanaian Times, the ECOWAS approved the amount to support the resilience building and recovery of the affected persons.
It entreated the NADMO to in line with the provisions of the ECOWAS Humanitarian Response Mechanism nominate a credible Implementing Partner (IP) for the implementation of the assistance and submit a comprehensive proposal for the implementation of the activities.
According to Mr Ablakwa, government accounted for applications it made to the World Bank and the Global Shield Against Climate Fund.
“Until we intercepted this letter, we didn’t know that this government had applied to the ECOWAS. You hid it from this House and now we don’t know where the money is. We demand to know what has been done with this US$200,000,” he stated.
In his view it is an “unpardonable and unforgivable sin” for the President to not at least mention the spillage in his over two hours address.
“If you choose to neglect us and not mention us in your address, when others come to our aid, just release the money for the people to get the relief they urgently need,” the MP demanded.
A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, meanwhile, said Ghana has moved forward in leaps and bounds, especially in the education sector, under the watch of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as President of the country.
“In educational infrastructure, we are in a better place than we were in 2014, in literacy rate, we are much better placed than we were 10 years ago, and in access to quality education, we are in a much better place,” he posited.
He said the level of investment in the education sector since the NPP took over the reins of power is over GH¢114 billion, an investment critics say is only into senior high school education.
He revealed that the investment into senior high education was only GH¢12.4 billion with the rest spread across all spheres of the country’s education from basic, secondary and tertiary with many more students and quality on the high.
“Mr Speaker, President Akufo-Addo and his vice have clearly demonstrated that Ghana is in a much better place than we were some 10 years ago.
“Under the extraordinary leadership of President Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, we have repositioned Ghana’s education system the 21st century and fourth industrial revolution way,” he said.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
