Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has expressed concern over the government’s planned $48 million operational expenses for the forthcoming 13th All African Games.
He suggests that these funds could be redirected to assist victims of the Akosombo dam spillage.
Ablakwa has raised allegations that the government plans to spend $48 million on operational costs for the upcoming games.
This figure, he claims, is separate from the alleged $195 million already spent on infrastructure.
The lawmaker took to his Facebook page to voice his concerns, accusing the government of exceeding the budget approved by Parliament for the games.
He pointed out that the government’s spending is not only excessively wasteful but also unlawful. He explained that Parliament approved GH¢100 million for Goods and Services and GH¢50 million for Capital Expenditure for the 2024 expenditure by the Ministry of Youth and Sports on the 13th African Games adding that he finds it utterly unacceptable for President Akufo-Addo to unilaterally increase the non-CapEX from GH¢100 million to GH¢602 million, a more than six-fold increase.
In an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Ablakwa warned that Ghanaians would ultimately bear the burden of this inflated cost.
He suggested that the funds could have been better used, such as for resettling victims of the Volta River Authority’s spillage or purchasing dialysis machines for patients with renal disease.
“We must bear in mind that this escalation, this ballooning from GH¢100 million to over GH¢600 million at the end of the day we are going to pay for. That is money that could have for example been used to resettle our VRA spillage victims. And one of the reasons I have become very agitated about these things is that when you see people, our fellow compatriots, five months since no fault of theirs, the VRA spills, they lose everything, five months down the lane they are still living in tents.”
“The government says it hasn’t mobilised enough money yet to construct resettlement homes for them. We have done our best we have only built for 600 people, but you have more than 2500 people still living in tents. As I speak to you, we have fellow compatriots who have died because the government could not raise GH¢ 4 million to save them. I am talking about the dialysis patients,” he stated.
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