investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, have raised fresh questions about the scale and reporting of Ghana’s expenditure on fumigation and disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Awuni’s investigation reports that at least GH¢780 million was spent on COVID-19-related fumigation across three ministries: Education, Local Government and Transport. Of that amount, approximately GH¢775 million, representing about 99.4%, reportedly went to Zoomlion Ghana Limited. The figure stands in sharp contrast to the GH¢96.32 million highlighted for fumigation in the Auditor-General’s special audit of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure. GhanaPunch has reviewed government documents supporting important elements of the investigation, including a Local Government fumigation contract involving Zoomlion and official correspondence from the Office of the President approving a nationwide school fumigation exercise. The emerging issue is therefore not simply how much Ghana spent. It is whether the special COVID-19 audit gave Parliament and the public a sufficiently complete picture of the money committed to fumigation across government. Auditor-General’s COVID-19 audit In July 2022, then Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta requested a special audit of COVID-19 expenditure by ministries, departments and agencies covering the period from 2020 to June 2022. The resulting Auditor-General’s report was dated December 30, 2022. According to the audit, Ghana mobilised approximately GH¢21.84 billion from several sources to finance its pandemic response, including the Contingency Fund, World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, European Union and Bank of Ghana COVID-19 bonds. One objective of the exercise was to establish whether financial records fairly represented COVID-19 receipts and payments. Under expenditure relating to quarantine and fumigation, the report recorded approximately GH¢152.49 million. Within that expenditure, GH¢96,323,102.05 was associated with fumigation and disinfection of educational institutions. Awuni’s investigation contends that the figure did not represent the full scale of fumigation expenditure across government. Education Ministry spending went far beyond GH¢96 million The Ministry of Education is one of the clearest examples of the discrepancy. According to contract records cited in the investigation, three phases of school fumigation were undertaken between 2020 and 2021. The reported values were approximately: Phase One: GH¢100.99 million Phase Two: GH¢96.32 million Phase Three: GH¢118.86 million That places the three phases at approximately GH¢316.1 million. Importantly, GhanaPunch has independently reviewed government documentation supporting the existence and value of the third exercise. A letter dated 18 February 2021 from the Office of the President grants approval for the Ghana Education Service to engage Zoomlion Ghana Limited to fumigate and disinfect educational institutions, both public and private, across the country. The document states that the contract sum was not expected to exceed GH¢118,858,340. The Auditor-General’s own follow-up report provides separate confirmation of the first exercise. It states that the Ghana Education Service contracted Zoomlion for cleaning and fumigation of public and private schools nationwide at a total cost of GH¢100,990,000. Those records are significant because the GH¢96.32 million identified in the special audit corresponds to only one of several substantial school fumigation expenditures. Office of the President documents provide another link The February 2021 document reviewed by GhanaPunch also establishes another important fact: the Office of the President was involved in the approval process for at least one of the major school fumigation exercises. The letter, issued from Jubilee House, references prior correspondence from the Public Procurement Authority and grants approval for the Ghana Education Service to engage Zoomlion for the nationwide exercise. It was copied to the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority and representatives of the Ministries of Education and Finance. This does not, by itself, establish wrongdoing. It does, however, provide documentary evidence of the high-level government approval process surrounding a contract worth up to GH¢118.86 million. Screenshot Local Government contracts come under scrutiny Awuni’s investigation reports that the then Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development spent approximately GH¢299 million across three phases of market and public-space fumigation during 2020. GhanaPunch has reviewed a government contract document showing that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development entered into a single-source service agreement with Zoomlion Ghana Limited for fumigation and disinfection of markets and other public places across Ghana. The document provides direct evidence that the ministry separately contracted Zoomlion for nationwide fumigation services during the pandemic. However, GhanaPunch has identified a discrepancy between dates and individual contract amounts appearing in documents currently available to us and the phase-by-phase chronology contained in the underlying investigation. For that reason, GhanaPunch is not independently asserting the individual Local Government contract dates and values as verified facts at this stage. The overall GH¢299 million figure in this report remains attributed to Awuni’s investigation pending reconciliation of the complete contract records. That distinction matters because investigative journalism should establish what documents prove, not make documents prove what a reporter would like them to prove. Screenshot Audit Service knew about Local Government expenditure Perhaps more consequential is what the Ghana Audit Service itself subsequently acknowledged. According to correspondence obtained during Awuni’s investigation, the Local Government Ministry told him in September 2022 that documents he had requested were unavailable at the time because they had been submitted for auditing. The Ghana Audit Service later confirmed that the ministry’s fumigation expenditure had indeed been audited. Its explanation was that the absence of the Local Government expenditure from the relevant portion of the Auditor-General’s report did not mean it had not been audited. That response creates an important distinction. The issue is no longer simply whether auditors knew about the expenditure. According to the Audit Service’s own response, they did. The unresolved question is why expenditure known to the auditors was not reflected in the GH¢96.32 million figure in a way that allowed readers of the special audit to see the broader scale of government fumigation spending. Transport Ministry: another GH¢159.9 million reported Awuni’s investigation also reports that the Ministry of Transport paid Zoomlion approximately GH¢159.9 million for fumigation exercises undertaken in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The reported expenditure was approximately GH¢31.98 million in 2020, another GH¢31.98 million in 2021 and approximately GH¢95.9 million in 2022. The investigation says the ministry confirmed the figures but declined to release the underlying contracts, citing protection of commercially sensitive information. Because GhanaPunch has not independently reviewed those Transport Ministry contracts, these figures remain attributed to the original investigation. The reported increase in expenditure during 2022 nevertheless raises a legitimate value-for-money question, particularly given the changing stage of the pandemic at that time. At least GH¢780 million identified Combining expenditure identified across Education, Local Government and Transport, Awuni’s investigation places the total at at least GH¢780 million. The investigation says approximately GH¢775 million went to Zoomlion. The figure could potentially be higher because other public institutions, including security agencies and state entities, also conducted fumigation and disinfection exercises. The Ghana Airports Company Limited, for example, reportedly spent approximately GH¢4.6 million on fumigation and disinfection services involving other contractors at aviation facilities. This is why the distinction between GH¢96 million and at least GH¢780 million deserves an authoritative explanation. The discrepancy does not automatically mean GH¢684 million went missing, nor does it establish theft or corruption. It raises a different and more precise question: did the special audit present the government’s overall fumigation expenditure comprehensively enough for the public to understand what was actually spent? Ghana Audit Service rejects cover-up characterisation The Ghana Audit Service has not accepted the allegation that the discrepancy amounted to a cover-up. According to correspondence published in Awuni’s investigation, the Service confirmed auditing expenditure that did not appear in the fumigation figure highlighted in the special report. When Awuni asked for an explanation of what he characterised as a possible cover-up and deliberate understatement, the Audit Service responded that the statement appeared to constitute an allegation rather than a request for information. That response should be placed on record. At the same time, it does not fully answer the accounting question created by the different figures. Former Auditor-General raises concerns Former Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo also questioned the scope and circumstances of the special audit. According to Awuni’s investigation, Domelevo said an exercise of that nature should have accounted for the full expenditure of money raised for Ghana’s pandemic response. He also questioned the then Finance Minister’s role in requesting the audit because the Finance Ministry formed part of the government machinery whose handling of COVID-19 resources was being scrutinised. These are institutional questions rather than proof that the audit was manipulated. But they add to the need for a detailed explanation of how expenditure was classified and ultimately presented. Screenshot Beyond the Money: Was Mass Fumigation Scientifically Justified? The controversy does not end with accounting. It also raises a more fundamental question: was spending hundreds of millions of cedis on mass fumigation an effective COVID-19 intervention? Ghana’s programme included spraying schools, markets, streets and other public spaces. But World Health Organisation guidance published on 16 May 2020 advised against routine spraying or fogging of indoor environmental surfaces as a COVID-19 control strategy. WHO guidance also states that large-scale spraying or fumigation of outdoor areas such as streets and open marketplaces was not recommended for controlling COVID-19. Streets and sidewalks were not regarded as routes of infection, while outdoor chemical spraying could also cause health problems. This is particularly relevant because substantial Ghanaian fumigation expenditure continued after that guidance became available. Ghanaian scientists questioned the exercises Scientists interviewed by Awuni similarly questioned the scientific justification for fumigating locations that had remained closed for extended periods. The investigation quotes researchers from institutions involved in Ghana’s COVID-19 response questioning what meaningful viral contamination would remain in schools that had been closed for months. The former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye, also described Ghana’s infections during periods of the pandemic as largely cluster-based rather than uniformly distributed nationwide, according to the investigation. This does not mean cleaning and disinfection had no role in infection control. Rather, it raises the question of whether blanket nationwide fumigation, including spraying streets and large outdoor areas, was scientifically justified and represented value for money. A government official’s account creates another contradiction Another striking element of the investigation concerns comments attributed to then Deputy Local Government Minister O.B. Amoah. As questions emerged about the first nationwide exercise, Amoah reportedly told Kasapa FM that the spraying was not specifically intended to kill the coronavirus, describing it instead as an existing sanitation exercise that coincided with the pandemic. That account sits awkwardly beside government documents and subsequent contracts explicitly framed around COVID-19 requirements. The contradiction deserves clarification because the purpose for which public money was approved is central to assessing whether that expenditure represented value for money. Screenshot Fumigation Contracts Existed Before COVID-19 Documents reviewed by GhanaPunch also demonstrate that nationwide sanitation programmes involving private contractors existed years before the coronavirus reached Ghana. A 9 June 2015 Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development document reviewed by GhanaPunch sought the release of approximately GH¢98.02 million for a sanitation programme intended to address cholera. The document lists 11 companies assigned to different regions of Ghana, including Zoomlion Ghana Limited. That historical document is relevant because it establishes that large-scale government-funded fumigation and sanitation programmes were not created from scratch in response to COVID-19. Awuni’s investigation goes considerably further, reporting that Zoomlion already had standing fumigation arrangements covering metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies when additional COVID-19 contracts were awarded. If those arrangements covered substantially the same facilities and locations, the question becomes whether the additional contracts duplicated services government was already paying to receive. That is a matter requiring examination of the scope, frequency, deliverables and payment records of each agreement. The existence of multiple contracts alone is not sufficient to establish that government paid twice for identical work. Zoomlion’s previous World Bank sanction Zoomlion’s relationship with the state has faced scrutiny before. The World Bank debarred Zoomlion Ghana Limited for two years in 2013 after the company acknowledged misconduct associated with a World Bank-financed sanitation project in Liberia. The sanction related to bribes paid to facilitate contract execution and invoice processing. The debarment subsequently expired. For accuracy, therefore, Zoomlion should not be described as currently blacklisted by the World Bank on the basis of that historical sanction. Ken Ofori-Atta and the Separate SML Proceedings Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who requested the COVID-19 special audit in 2022, is separately facing criminal proceedings arising from the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited case. Those proceedings are not evidence of wrongdoing in relation to the COVID-19 fumigation expenditure and should not be conflated with the issues raised in this investigation. The Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged Ofori-Atta and other accused persons over the SML matter. The charges remain allegations and have not resulted in a conviction. As of the latest court reporting, prosecutors were still attempting to serve Ofori-Atta and another accused person in the United States, and the case had been adjourned to 22 September 2026. The Question Ghana’s Institutions Still Need to Answer The documents and figures examined in this story leave Ghana with several different questions. One concerns accounting: why did the special audit prominently identify GH¢96.32 million in fumigation expenditure when substantially larger fumigation costs were incurred across government? Another concerns procurement: why were multiple large contracts required, and did their scopes overlap with services government was already paying for? A third concerns science and value for money: what evidence justified mass fumigation when international guidance warned against large-scale spraying of streets and marketplaces as a COVID-19 control measure? Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today Post navigation Accra–Kumasi Expressway Underway: No Loans Needed
