The World Bank country director in Ghana, Frank Pierre Laporte, has said that COVID-19 funds given by the Bank during the outbreak of the disease were not misused by the Ghanaian government.
The World Bank contributed a total amount of US$430 million to Ghana’s efforts to combat the pandemic, and Laporte stated that the Bank had been clear about its contributions and had not encountered any difficulties.
Laporte said the Bank is drawing up a future financing plan to help prepare for potential risks and that all funds had been spent according to procurement requirements and undergone an audit.
While there may have been a few procedural issues, Laporte expressed satisfaction with how the funds were spent.
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According to Laporte, the resources were managed by a project management unit that was established jointly by the Bank and the government.
He pointed out that the funds were not part of the Ministry of Finance’s budget and were paid to contractors and suppliers from a designated account.
In a recent interview, Pierre said: “We have always been clear that the resources we’ve given are managed by your project management unit that is put in place by the Bank and government jointly. All funds are paid to contractors [and] suppliers from the designated account.
“Our project fund up, not gone to the budget of the Ministry of Finance and because of this we’ve future mechanisms in place that ensure we know each and every dollar that is spent and accounted and we’ve done audit. Of course, there are always a few things here and, procedure wise, maybe some documentation that needs to be followed.
“But largely speaking, we are very satisfied that all of our resources were spent in line with the procurement requirements that existed. You know, COVID-19 was implemented under emergency procurement measures by the Bank,” the senior World Bank official said.
