IMF “Blacklists” Ghana For Lacking Anti-Corruption Measures on COVID-19 Fund Use

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has flagged Ghana as one of four countries in Africa who have refused to institute anti-corruption measures on how they manage the COVID-19 funds secured from the IMF.

This is captured on the website of world anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International.

Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal are the worst culprits in Africa where the spending of the COVID fund is shrouded in opacity.

 “In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is providing funds to support countries with their economic recovery. Yet, countries will not succeed in their recovery efforts, if they don’t also tackle corruption. We’ve analyzed all countries currently receiving COVID-19 financial assistance and debt relief from the IMF to see which funds include specific anti-corruption measures and which don’t,” Transparency International stated.

“We need to ensure critical funds reach the people who need them most. With US$1 trillion dollars in lending capacity and so many lives at stake, it’s more important than ever for the IMF to ensure that corruption doesn’t cost any additional lives.”

Ghana has received over US$ 1 billion from the IMF both in credit and fund for supposedly using it to bolster the COVID-19 economy and to mitigate the pandemic in Ghana.

However, questions have been asked how the Akufo Addo administration is spending the money. For instance, the government claims it supplied cooked foods to poor families during the lockdown for COVID-19.

While rendering account on the budget for this controversial food distribution recently, the Finance Minister and government agencies have given vastly discrepant numbers.

“People should be able to trust that governments will use the funds in the public interest and that businesses will not exploit them. Yet corruption risks don’t disappear in a crisis,” Transparency International stated.

Whatsup News is also picking up reports of how the multi-million COVID fund secured through Ken Ofori-Atta’s Finance Ministry is being decimated.

Preliminary reports picked up by Whatsup News indicates that the government’s attempt to organise testing for international travellers arriving in Ghana is shrouded in influence peddling, Whatsup News is gathering.