In 2019, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta sought Parliament’s permission to allow government access the Heritage Fund to help fight COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The application by the Finance Minister which was resisted by Members of the Minority, equally courted the disagreement of the Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee, Professor Stephen Manteaw.

Read the full article first published by www.ghanaweb.com below

The Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Professor Stephen Manteaw has kicked against plans by the government to use part of the Heritage Funds to fight the coronavirus.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, on March 30, requested Parliament to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Act(APRM), ( Act 815 ), to allow government access the funds for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The call which was greeted with approval by the Majority side of the house was flatly rejected by the Minority MPS.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s ‘Ekoosii Sen’ show, Stephen Manteaw described the move as an act of ‘irresponsibility’.

He charged government to find alternative ways of raising funds to combat the virus rather than dip its hands into a fund reserved for future generations.

He opined that if government was hell bent on dealing with the virus, it would have stopped the new voters register and channelled that money into fighting the pandemic.

“If we want the easy way out to every difficult situation, then anyone can rule a country. We have to think outside the box. It is a fallacy to say future Generations are children born today. They are those ones who would come after our oil is finished”.

“If we are a serious nation, why don't we stop the new voter register & use the money to fix our problems due to Covid-19? We are never serious at all. We have already mismanaged about GHC650m of the Oil Revenue. Do we want to mismanage another 500m for future Generations? No way”.

Meanwhile a Deputy Power Minister under the erstwhile Mahama administration, John Jinapor has tasked government to save cost by cutting down on the number of appointees.

According to him, the savings made from that move could be used to deal with the virus instead of taking money from the Heritage Fund.

He maintained that the minority will resist any attempt by government to use part of the Heritage Fund.

“You cannot have a Ministry that has four ministers. You cannot have a system with all those bloated Presidential Staffers feeding on the purse of government… I support any decision to cap the stabilisation fund… [but] any attempt to eat into the Heritage Fund, we shall resist it vehemently,” he said.