A former Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Catherine Afeku has given further details on how the GH¢200,000 Marine Drive project money the Auditor-General claimed was misapplied was expended.
The audit report, which covered the period ending 31st December 2020, stated that an amount of GH¢ 387,196.00 meant for the Marine Drive Project was misapplied by the Ministry because it was instead spent on the Kundum festival and other initiatives.https://a95fd6a246bff4667c96ddb4282456a5.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
According to the report, GH¢200, 000 was drawn from the Marine Drive Project and spent on the Kundum festival in 2018.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, August 20, 2021, Catherine Afeku said the money was used to pay artistes who performed at the Axim Kundum Festival in 2018.
“We had artistes and I have a list of all of them [who performed and were paid]. Everybody can go to YouTube, and they will see the performances,” she said.
“I didn’t go round dishing money into people’s hands. Ask anybody who does events. [We used the] GH¢200,000 to take care of the likes of Medikal, Stonebwoy, Wisa Greid, Kuami Eugene, KiDi, Kwesi Arthur, among others. I was promoting our local artistes, and it was not a crime,” she insisted.
She said the amount was not even enough, so she had to rely on individual donors to pay all the artistes.
Some of the artistes that performed at the Axim Kundum Festival in 2018 were D-Black, Agya Koo, Sefa, Kofi Kinaata, among others.
She also admitted to the release of GH¢100,000.00 to Palm Media Ghana Ltd. for the launch of AFRIMA 2018 on 17th-19th May 2018.
Catherine Afeku also indicated that the GH¢73,000.00 paid as additional expenditure for her trip to the Volta Region from 15th to 18th June 2018 catered for herself and some musicians she went with.
She also said the money drawn from the Marine Drive Project was subsequently refunded.
Speaking on Peace FM on Saturday, August 21, 2021, Afeku disclosed that the entire AFRIMA celebration cost $250,000.
—citinews—
