‘We are ready to refund’ – Trustee of Covid-19 Fund to Minority

A Board Member of the Covid-19 National Trust Fund Board of Trustees, Archbishop Justice Offei, says the trustees are ready to refund should any institution request for their donation.

In an interview with JoyNews’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo, Archbishop Offei indicated that the board of trustees will operate with what they have, to help combat the impact of Covid-19 on the vulnerable citizens.

“We’ll use what we have, so if somebody at the end of the day wants to take his or her money from it, we are ready to refund and use what is available for those who need to be helped,” he said.

This comes after the Minority in Parliament, led by the Daboya Mankarigu constituency MP, Shaibu Mahama, wrote to the Attorney-General demanding that, monies donated to the Covid-19 Trust Fund by state institutions, be refunded to them.

According to the member of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, public institutions have no standing to donate the monies to the Covid-19 Trust Fund.

However, the Board Member noted that, it doesn’t matter which institution donates to the Fund, so long as the money is used judiciously and appropriately.

“I think we are all fighting a common enemy and so, it doesn’t matter which body is giving or receiving the money, so long as they are doing the work which the Fund has been established for [so] I do not think it matters whether public or private,” he stated.

Explaining the mandate of the Fund and its Trustees, Archbishop Offei said, the Fund will be operating just like any other fund of government.

Therefore, it would be accountable to the Auditor-General’s Department and the Public Account Committee.

He then urged citizens to contribute to the Fund to alleviate the vulnerable people who, have been badly hit by the pandemic and support the nation’s frontline workers.