Minister Communications Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has described as “absolutely false” parts of the Covid-19 Corruption Risk Assessment report claiming mismanagement of funds by government in managing the pandemic.
The Community Development Alliance (CDA) in a report issued on Tuesday highlighted that the Communication Ministry as part of an effort to fight Covid-19 expended over $1 million to procure and launch the Covid-19 tracker app in the country.
But reacting to the allegation levelled against her sector on Joy Prime Morning Wednesday, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the figures stipulated in the assessment are purely a “figment of someone’s imagination”.
According to the Ablekuma West MP, Ascend Digital donated the app as its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as such, government did not award any contract neither did it pay for its development.
“I am surprised that this organisation which claims it is putting together a Corruption Risk Assessment of our Covid-19 response will elevate speculation by rumours and absolute falsehood as facts. And then packaged them in a nicely bound report and use that to impugn the integrity of this government.
“So I want to see the supposed contract that they claim government has signed with these entities for the provision of the technologies,” she told host Daniel Dadzie.
Mrs Ekuful-Owusu further disclosed that the researchers did not contact her office to obtain records on how funds specified for the Communications Ministry were disbursed.
In view of this, she has no doubt that the findings highlighted by the CDA are incorrect.
“If I am challenging this one fact, then it puts the entire package of lies that they have put out there. The entire work must be questioned and I urge every institution named in this research to take a copy and look at it. To verify whether or not what has been put out there is a figment of their imagination or it is what really happened.”
After raising a number of points to counter the findings, the Communications Minister challenged the research group to produce the evidence of their claim.
“I am putting this group of researchers to strict proof and insist that they certify the work that they have done or we will use it as toilet paper,” she was categorical.