GH¢1.8m bird flu compensation can’t be accounted

The 2022 Auditor General’s report has uncovered that more than GH¢1.8 million of the funds released to compensate poultry farmers affected by the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) disease could not be accounted for.

The amount represented 90.41 per cent of the GH¢1.9 million released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to pay compensation to farmers who lost the birds between 2015 and 2018 to the disease.

“The Ministry of Finance released an amount of GH¢1,999,768.10 for the payment of compensation to farmers affected by the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza disease from 2015 to 2018.

“We noted that only GH¢191,730.00 was paid to 10 farmers, leaving GH¢1,808,038.10 unaccounted for,” the 2022 Auditor General’s report on public accounts of ministries, departments and agencies disclosed.

The auditor general therefore recommended that the chief director of the MoF should recover the uncounted amount from the chief director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and ensure that the affected farmers were duly compensated.