Kofi Bentil spoke on Joy FM’s news analysis program, NewsFile
• VP of Imani Africa says officials are using COVID as an excuse to engage in corruption
• Kofi Bentil was speaking in respect of COVID testing contract at the Kotoka International Airport
• He also lamented how COVID expenditure remains largely unaccounted for
Lawyer and vice president of Imani Africa, Kofi Bentil, has accused government officials of latching on to crisis to perpetrate grand corruption amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, ‘we are in abnormal times’ has and continues to be used as a reason for which officials circumvent laid down rules and engage in acts that amount to corruption.
He made submissions relative to coronavirus testing at the Kotoka International Airport, on Joy FM’s news analysis program, News File, on June 12, 2021.
“People use crisis in this country as opportunity for grand corruption. In the past government they did it; during COVID, they are doing it.
“But clearly, this was something created for some people apart from the people of Ghana to benefit and it doesn’t look good.”
He lamented how COVID funds remain unaccounted for, insisting that the government’s contract with Frontiers Health Services for testing of inbound and outbound passengers was clearly to the benefit of a few.
“If you look at COVID as we speak, COVID funds are unaccounted for. People just use crisis as opportunity for corruption and over and over again we see it happening and we have to figure out how to stop that.
“And as for the airport, it is just somebody creating an opportunity for somebody and maybe in due course more information will come up,” he added.
The transport minister recently disclosed that Frontiers had accrued in excess of 17 million dollars out of which the Ghana Airports Company was entitled to a little over a million dollars as at end of 2020.
A section of Ghanaians have bemoaned the paltry sum that the country got as compared to the benefit that accrued to the private businessman.