It is all lies – Trade and Industry Ministry replies Armah Kofi Buah claim of GHS269m missing money
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has refuted the claim made by Hon Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Select Committee on Trade and Industry and Tourism, that an amount of GHS269 million cannot be accounted for.
The claim is false and deceptive, according to a statement issued by the Ministry’s Chief Director, Patrick Yaw Nimo.
During a news conference in Accra, the opposition MP claimed that about GHS207 million was missing from the Ministry’s final accounting.
“So we are asking the Ministry that we will need the names of the banks and the names of each of the companies as well as the amount each and every company has taken. Initially, the Ministry said it will take some time for them to get these documents. They dragged it and finally, they brought us the list of the banks with the names of the companies and the amounts. We insisted that without that we will not approve their budget.
“We finally got that report this morning. Unfortunately, the Ministry was unable to account out of the 269 million loans given to the banks. The Ministry was only able to account for GHS62,281,484.29 million what it means is that a total amount of GHS207,407, 899 have not been accounted for. In other words that amount as far as we are concerned is missing.”
“It is important that the press and the people of Ghana take interest in this matter, and the Minister in the helm of affairs the Hon. Alan Kyerematen must come clean to the people of Ghana to explain where the amount of GHC207,407, 899 to basically de-risk these loans to one district one factory is.”
In response on December 20 2021, theTrade Ministry said “Our attention has been drawn to a statement by Ranking Member on the Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism of Parliament, Hon Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah (MP) on Friday 17th December 2021 that the Ministry of Trade and Industry could not account for the total of GHS269million allocated for interest subsidy payment for loan facilitation under the One District One Factory initiative.
“The Ministry wishes to state categorically that the statement attributed to the Ranking Member is not only misleading but totally inaccurate”, the statement added.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
