According to the Auditor General, the government has spent $81 million on vaccines that have not yet been delivered.
The Auditor General claims that although the government spent over $120 million on vaccines, only $38 million worth of them really arrived at UNICEF and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT).
The Chief Director of the Health Ministry has thus been advised by the Auditor General to renegotiate and pay the unpaid balance. The Auditor General claims that this needs to be done right away in order to guarantee that the state gets its money back.
“We noted that the Ministry of Health on behalf of the government of Ghana paid an amount of $120,192,379.80 to UNICEF/AVAT for the supply of vaccines.
“However, 5,109,600.00 doses of vaccines valued at $38,322,000.00 were supplied to the National Cold Room leaving a difference of US$81,870,379.00 with UNICEF/AVAT.”
“We recommend that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health should renegotiate with UNICEF/AVAT to recover the outstanding amount,” he said.
According to the research, just 25% (or $5.5) of the roughly US$2.5 billion (or 21 billion) raised for the fight against Covid-19 was spent on health.
The Auditor General also stated that the remaining funds were used for government initiatives like LEAP and Free SHS, among others.
