Presidency spent GHc 62m on foreign travels in 9 months

• Posted on December 20, 2019December 20, 2019
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Presidency spent 62,578,224 Ghana Cedis on foreign travels and related expenses in the first nine months of 2019.

This is according to documents presented to Parliament as part of budget estimates for the office of government machinery.

The breakdown of the expenditure indicates that the 62 million Ghana cedis was spent on foreign trips, 5.8 million Ghana cedis on hotel accommodation and 1.9 million Ghana cedis on refreshments, among other line items.

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson said the extravagant expenditure cannot be justified.

“This is something we do not have to encourage. I strongly believe that the time has come for Ghanaians to demand accountability from the office of the President in terms of the expenditure that goes on. Within the last nine month, it will surprise you to know that we were told that the President had spent 63 million Ghana cedis alone on foreign travels.

“Infact , it will surprise you to know that apart from the foreign travel cost, he spent 5.8 million Ghana cedis on local accommodation which is in excess of 1 million dollars. Again, the operational enhancement support expenses, he spent 68.9 million Ghana cedis. What sort of operational expense is this? Is he buying a new plane from 62.5 million cedis. Refreshment, partying, tea 1.980 almost 2 million Ghana cedis on refreshment. The Vice President’s office is similar. We need to demand accountability.”