Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Minister of State for Government Communications, has denied allegations made by the Minority caucus that GH¢78 million was allocated solely to his office.

He clarified that the funds are intended for three established state entities under his supervision.

On Thursday, March 13, the Minority questioned the rationale behind such a large budgetary allocation and criticized the investment in government communication, which is headed by Kwakye Ofosu and deputized by Shamima Muslim.

Gideon Boako, a Member of Parliament for Tano North, expressed his concerns to reporters, stating, “We have government communication headed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, deputized by Shamima Muslim. Let’s assume they have two or three research assistants helping them—scrolling through social media and GhanaWeb to monitor events and respond. Yet, they are being allocated a goods and services budget of GH¢8.8 million.”

“Perhaps they will use some of it to purchase internet data to respond to the Minority’s statements online, but they are being allocated an additional GH¢70 million, bringing the total to GH¢78.8 million,” he added.

However, in an interview with Citi FM, Kwakye Ofosu dismissed these claims, stressing that the allocation was not for his personal office.

“Let me put it on record that my office has not been allocated GH¢78 million. The three agencies under my purview have been given GH¢8.8 million for goods and services and GH¢70 million for capital expenditure,” he stated.

He further emphasized that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), the Information Services Department (ISD), and the Ghana News Agency (GNA) are reputable institutions with a long history of public service.

“GBC, the Information Services Department, and GNA are long-standing state agencies. ISD has existed for 85 years, just like GBC and GNA. These are not new entities created by President Mahama,” citinewsroom.com quoted him as saying.

Kwakye Ofosu reaffirmed that the GH¢78 million allocation is strictly for the operations of these agencies, not his office.

“GH¢78 million has been allocated to them for goods and services, not to my office,” he clarified.

KA

Meanwhile, watch this Ghana Month special edition of People and Places as we hear the story of how the head of Kwame Nkrumah's bronze statue was returned after 43 years, below: