Gov’t has spent over GH¢900m on trainee teachers and nurses – Ofori-Atta

Mr. Ofori-Atta made this known during his presentation of the mid-year budget review in Parliament on Thursday.

He said the Akufo-Addo government has shown commitment in looking out for the wellbeing of every Ghanaian.

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“Ours is the government for the ordinary people of Ghana. That is why since 2017, we have spent a total GH¢900,531,258.00 in keeping nearly 100,000 trainee teachers and trainee nurses in training,” he said.

The Finance Minister also disclosed that the food packs distributed by the government to the poor and vulnerable during the COVID-19 lockdown period cost GH¢54.3 million.

He said an additional GH¢50.2 million was transferred to 400,000 beneficiaries under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme.

It would be recalled that government started the distribution of free meals to thousands of Ghanaians in locked-down areas amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

The distribution of “food packages and hot meals” was to lessen the burden on poor households for the three-week lockdown period.

“In collaboration with Faith-Based Organizations, Government also distributed dry food packages to about 470,000 families. Let me extend my deepest gratitude to the Faith-based organisations for this unique partnership with Government and may the Lord count this as righteousness for the FBOs and Government,” Mr. Ofori-Atta said.

"Mr Speaker, the support to households, in terms of supply of dry food packs and hot cooked meals cost Government GH¢54.3 million to enable them mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

“This was in addition to an amount of GH¢50.2 million transferred to the 400,000 most-vulnerable individuals under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme,” he added.