On 23rd February 2021, Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah answered questions on the funds Ghana received from the World Bank to support the Greater Accra and Integrated Development initiative.
The Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development project (GARID) is the first in a series of projects designed to build the resilience of the national capital with the intial phase covering a five-year period (2020-2025).
The goal of the project is to improve flood risk and solid waste management in the Odaw River basin of the Greater Accra region and improve access to basic infrastructure and services in the targeted communities within the Odaw River Basin.
In Parliament, an MP asked the Minister to account for the $570 million provided by the World Bank.
In her response, Mrs Cecilia Dapaah revealed that the Ministry of Sanitation received an amount of $43million from the total figure.
She did not provide a very detailed breakdown of how the money was spent, but however, noted that the money was use to “to cap about five feet around Pantang and then the Odaw Basin.”
She also added that money was spent to “clean up the Odaw Basin to make the channels open for water to flow in.”
For some Twitter users, an introspection of the information provided by the Sanitation Minister 2 years ago is relevant as it has been revealed that Mrs Dapaah has lost over millions of dollars and cedi’s kept in her house.
Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, are reported to have been robbed by two of their house helps in their home in Abelemkpe, Accra.
The two, 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei are said to have undertaken their operation between July and October 2022.
At an Accra Circuit Court, Patience and Sarah are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and five counts of stealing, which include amounts of US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana Cedis.
Clothes valued at GH¢95,000, handbags, perfumes, and jewelry worth US$95,000 were reportedly stolen as well.
Since news broke, some Twitter users have been asking about how the minister was able to have such an amount of money.
For one Twitter user @AnnanPerry, he/she smells a rat with how money was spent on the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development project.