“Corrupt” Ofori-Atta Reportedly Diverts Ghc4.01 billion NHIL Levies From Ghc5.64 billion Collected

It has emerged that Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is responsible for the impending collapse of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) after he diverted funds from the coffers of the NHIS.

As revealed by the MP for South Dayi in the Volta Region, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, from 2019 to 2022, Ofori-Atta has been diverting larger parts of National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) collections, leaving only paltry surpluses to the dying scheme which is unable to pay service providers.

Within the period, a total of Ghc5.64 billion in NHIL collections were made, but Ofori-Atta only released Ghc1.63 billion to the NHIS, per the MP.

In a series of tweets in late March 2022, Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor gave the breakdown as follows: In 2019, Ghc1.26b was collected but only Ghc721m was released; in 2020, Ghc2.33billion was collected but only Ghc790m was released. Then in 2021, Ghc 2.05 Billion was collected while only Ghc 127 Million was released

Consequently, a total of Ghc5.64 billion was collected over the period while Ghc1.63 billion was released to the fund.

This means that a whopping Ghc4.01 billion of the NHIL Statutory Funds has been diverted for purposes yet unknown.

This is despite the fact that as a statutory fund, diversion from its original purpose is criminal.

“This means that the Finance Minister is in blatant breach of Act 852 by his willful refusal to release as much as Ghc4.01b actually collected and due the NHIL between 2019 and 2021. Indeed, last year, he released a paltry Ghc127m out of Ghc2.05b reported collections,” Mr. Dafeamekpor noted.

“Sec.52(1) of Act 852, 2012, states: ‘The Minister responsible for Finance shall within thirty days after the collection of the levy cause the levy to be paid directly into the Fund and furnish the Minister responsible for Health and the Authority with evidence of the payment’,” Hon. Dafeamekpor’s tweet read.

Interestingly, the Akufo-Addo government claims to have spent over Ghc20billion on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.