Marine Drive Project stalls; over GH¢386k misapplied funds unrecovered

Work on the Marine Drive Project, an initiative to develop the 241-acre prime beach-front of Accra is “progressing slowly” as a result of lack of funds.

Meanwhile, an amount of GH¢386,296 misapplied funds taken from the coffers of Marine Drive Project for the celebration of the 2018 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) and 2018 Kundum Festival has not been recovered.

An amount of GH¢900.00 out of GH¢387,196.00 misapplied Marine Drive Project Funds is what has been recovered.

Catherine Afeku

“In contravention of Section 7 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), we noted that funds meant for the Marine Drive project amounting to GH¢387,196.00 were misapplied for the celebration of AFRIMA, Kundum Festival, and other activities,” the Auditor-General’s report for the period ending 31 December 2020, states.

According to the former Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the GH¢200,000 which was drawn from the Marine Drive fund for Kundum festival in 2018 was used to pay the artistes that performed at the festival.

She, however, noted that the money drawn from the Marine Drive Project fund was subsequently refunded.

The Marine Drive Tourism Project is the single largest tourism investment project to be initiated by the government of Ghana since Independence.