By Bright Ntramah
President Akufo-Addo has justified the measures put in place and expenditure incurred during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic stating that he will not shy away from taking such essential steps to protect Ghanaians and businesses should such pandemic strike again.
Drawing down the expenditure on the pandemic, the President said GHC 1.6Billion was made available to support vulnerable households across the country, which went into food packages and hot meals, and the provision of free water for all, free electricity for lifeline consumers, and 50% rebate for all others.
750 million cedis in soft loans and grants were also disbursed to micro, small and medium sized businesses to help maintain their economic activity.
Giving his first update of the year on measures adopted by government to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, the President noted that ”government spent GHC 1.9 billion in providing PPEs and hot meals for students, teaching and non-teaching staff, hand washing facilities, training of teachers on Covid, development of content for online classes, and disinfection and fumigation of schools”.
This, he said, made it possible for students to return in conditions of safety, sit for their respective examinations, and achieve successful results.
