The Auditor General has cited the Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF) for spending an amount of GH¢709,000 on rent between August 2020 and August 2022.

According to the 2020 report published by the A-G, the Fund since its establishment pays an amount of GH¢29,000 per month for the cost of rent.

Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Dr. Arafat Sulemana Abdulai appearing before the Public Accounts Committee sitting explained that the huge expenditure was due to failure in securing permanent accommodation for its operations.

“We tried with the Ministry of Works and Housing to see if we could get any of the government’s properties, but we were not successful. We also tried to get one on our own and the lowest we got was around $2.5 million because the landlords quote their figures in Dollars and looking at what Parliament approves every year for us, if we want to commit that much to office accommodation, it means the needs of our Zongo people will not be realized, and so we were not able to get one,” he explained.

Dr Sulemana Abdulai continued, “We also tried with the State Housing Corporation because we were aware they were building households etc. and so we approached them to know if they had any land anywhere they could sell to us, so we could start building our own office and the answer was in the negative.”

The Zongo Development Fund was established through the promulgation of Zongo Development Fund Act, 2017 (Act 964) to provide funding for the development and transformation of the social and economic conditions of Zongo communities across the country.

It was also an unprecedented affirmative action programme aimed at addressing the historical neglect of Zongos and fostering equity, fairness and inclusion in the overall development of the entire country.

MA/NOQ