In its latest report to Parliament, the Audi­tor-General revealed that the Livelihood Empower­ment against Poverty (LEAP) Programme lost a whooping GH¢15.8 million between 2017 and 2022 due to pay­ments to unqualified persons.

Similarly, payments were made to the deceased in addition to overspending under the programme over the period.

According to the report, out of the figure, GH¢396,620.00 was paid to 170 beneficiaries under the scheme whose socio-eco­nomic status had improved, and no longer qualified for the grant.

It also said an amount of GH¢84, 480 was paid to representatives of some 44 deceased beneficiaries.

Furthermore, it said the LEAP Management Secre­tariat (LMS) did not adhere to fund utilisation guidelines resulting in excess spending of GH¢15,369,309.97 risking the sustainability of the pro­gramme.

The audit report conse­quently recommended the urgent need for the Ministry of Gender, Children and So­cial Protection (MoGSCP) to improve its records-keeping regime to enhance account­ability.

It further advised that moving forward, “all ac­countants on the LEAP programme maintain records and report on a quarterly basis to the Chief Director on all financial information related to cash grants and adminis­trative costs relevant to the programme.”

Furthermore, it asked the LEAP Secretariat to consider and review its decision to solely rely on data from the Ghana National Housing Register (GNHR) to identify beneficiaries but conduct a reassessment to graduate and exit ineligible beneficiaries.

“The LMS should adhere to the LEAP Fund utilisation guidelines during programme implementation to promote sustainability,” the Audi­tor-General urged.

As a matter of fact, the Ghanaian Times is not sur­prised but shocked at the period it took for the audit to uncover losses at the secre­tariat.

We are concerned because the continuous loss of such a huge amount of money is likely to jeopardise the future of the programme which is a social protection initiative implemented by the government to provide cash grants to extremely poor and vulnerable households to alleviate economic and social distress.

Piloted in 2008 and its 15th year, the programme targets vulnerable groups such as orphaned and vulner­able children, breastfeeding mothers, old people and people with severe disabilities by providing bi-monthly cash payments to eligible house­holds in various districts across the country.

As of the end of Decem­ber 2020, a total of 335,015 extremely poor households across 259 districts have been enrolled on the programme.

The revelation by the Audi­tor-General shows clearly that there are lapses in the admin­istration of the programme that needs to be streamlined immediately.

We support the call for review of LEAP Fund utilisation guidelines so that loopholes that create the conditions leading to the loss of funds can be plugged in order to prevent the sustainability of the programme.

We hope that the government and parliament will work together to implement the recommendations of the Auditor-General to ensure that going forward, the LEAP secretariat adhered strictly to fund utilisation guidelines to prevent loss of funds.