Haruna Iddrisu questions the legal basis on which State institutions are donating to COVID-19 Fund
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has raised concerns about the legal basis on which some public institutions are donating to the COVID-19 National Trust Fund.
According to the him, public institutions are to seek parliament’s approval before they make any donations.
“Now we see every public institution going to donate. Where do they get their approval of Parliament to make such donations? Where do they get their appropriation from and we will question it?”
Speaking to Accra based Citi FM, the minority leader said because parliament approved the budget for state institutions like the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS), and there was no allocation for such donations in their budgets, the state institutions that wish to donate must come to parliament to seek approval.
“National Health Insurance Scheme; its budget was approved and there was no appropriation for such donation to a trust fund. Parliament; your budget was approved and there was no appropriation for you to go and a make donation to a trust fund and we must make that distinction.”
The COVID-19 National Trust Fund was setup by government to receive contributions from the private and public sector to compliment the governments efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund has since received several millions of Ghana cedis from both public and private institutions.
State institutions such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIA), Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Bank of Ghana (BoG), and the Parliament of Ghana among others have all made donations to the COVID-19 Trust Fund.
What is the COVID-19 National Trust Fund?
President Nana Akufo-Addo in an address to the nation on Friday, March 27, 2020, announced the establishment of a COVID-19 Fund to receive funds from Ghanaians to compliments government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fund is chaired by former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo. The other members of the Board of trustees of the Fund are Archbishop Justice Ofei Akrofi, Jude Kofi Bucknor, Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, Elsie Addo-Awadzie, Dr. Ernest Ofori-Sarpong, and Dr. Tanko Collins Asare will act as Secretary to the Board.
