Former Member of Parliament for Sekondi and former Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has criticised the government’s approach to the audit of GH¢68.7 billion in claims submitted by contractors and suppliers as unpaid bills by the end of 2024.
His comments came after the Ministry of Finance (Ghana) revealed that several billions of cedis in claims had been rejected following an audit that found many irregularities.
While presenting a statement in Parliament of Ghana on behalf of Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson, Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem explained that GH¢8.1 billion worth of claims had been disallowed.
According to him, the claims were rejected because of problems such as missing or unsupported documents, duplicate submissions, inflated amounts, and payments requested for work that had not been done.
Speaking during an interview on Saturday, March 14, Mercer said the strong attention being given to the audit findings looks like a public relations strategy aimed at shifting focus away from other serious problems facing the country.
According to him, the issue has taken over public discussion while other important matters affecting Ghanaians are not receiving enough attention.
Mercer mentioned the recent reduction in cocoa prices, which he said has caused worry among farmers and people in the cocoa industry.
He also referred to the controversy surrounding recruitment into the security services, where over 500,000 people reportedly applied for only about 5,000 available positions.
He explained that these issues are creating serious concern among farmers, workers in the industry, and many young people who are struggling to find jobs.
Although Mercer agreed that accountability in the use of public money is important, he urged the government to pay more attention to the economic and employment challenges facing citizens instead of allowing the audit report to dominate the national conversation.
