The Auditor-General is reporting that US$80m worth of vaccines paid for by the government of Ghana has not been delivered. 

According to the A-G's report, the government paid over US$120m to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) for vaccines but only US$38m worth was delivered as of the time of the pandemic.

The Auditor-General has, thus, recommended that the Chief Director of the Health Ministry be made to renegotiate and recover the outstanding balance.

This, according to the A-G, must be done immediately to ensure the amount is recovered to the state.

“We noted that the Ministry of Health on behalf of the government of Ghana paid an amount of $120,192,379.80 to UNICEF/AVAT for the supply of vaccines.

“However, 5,109,600.00 doses of vaccines valued at $38,322,000.00 were supplied to the National Cold Room leaving a difference of US$81,870,379.00 with UNICEF/AVAT.

“We recommend that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health should renegotiate with UNICEF/AVAT to recover the outstanding amount,” he said.

Meanwhile, the report also stated that over US$2.5bn (¢21bn) of monies mobilised for the fight against Covid-19, only 25% (¢5.5) was used on health.

The A-G added that the balance was spent on government programmes such as Free SHS and LEAP, among others.