The Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has sharply escalated his campaign against the government, alleging “shifting figures, inflated prices and inconsistent explanations” regarding the cost of sanitary pads captured in the national budget.
Addressing the press in Parliament on Wednesday, the outspoken legislator said the Minority felt compelled to respond after the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education attempted to “defend the indefensible” following his initial revelations on the floor.
Mr. Assafuah stressed that the Minority’s concerns are not based on speculation but “grounded entirely in the government’s own numbers,” with every figure cited originating from the 2025 budget, the 2026 budget review, and the Ministry of Finance’s official publications.
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The MP highlighted a significant discrepancy using the government’s own documents, which indicated an allocation of GH¢292.4 million for sanitary pads, targeting $1.3$ million girls, with $6.6$ million pads reported as distributed.
He argued that using these specific figures, the implied cost per pack computes to GH¢44, which he noted is “nearly three times the GH¢15 market price publicly acknowledged by the Finance Ministry.”
Mr. Assafuah questioned why the government would pay significantly more than ordinary Ghanaian families for the same product, raising “serious value-for-money concerns.”
He further pointed out that the Deputy Minister for Education, Clement Apaak, later presented an entirely different set of figures that were not traceable in the budget.
The Deputy Minister’s account suggested procurement in two phases ($0.6$ million pads initially and another $5.6$ million later), bringing the total to $12.2$ million pads, with unit prices said to fall between GH¢19 and GH¢24.
“Even if these new figures are used, the cost still computes to about GH¢24 per pack, which remains unjustifiable based on the government’s own numbers,” Mr. Assafuah maintained.
The Old Tafo also revealed that a local manufacturer had submitted a tender quoting a price of GH¢20 per pack but was not shortlisted or given the opportunity to supply.
He described this as a deliberate sidelining of Ghanaian producers and questioned why bulk purchasing, which is supposed to reduce cost through economies of scale, had instead resulted in inflated unit prices.
“If a consumer can buy a pack for GH¢15 in a supermarket, there is no justification for government paying more when purchasing $12.2$ million units,” he insisted.
The Old Tafo estimated that economies of scale should have brought the price down to as low as GH¢10 per pack, which would have placed the entire procurement cost at about GH¢122 million.
This, he said, leaves a staggering GH¢170 million unaccounted for, asking pointedly, “Where that money went,” and describing the situation as “chobo governance.”
He also raised the “spectre of double contracting, double budgeting and possible wastage” by highlighting that the GH¢292.4 million allocation appears unchanged in both the 2025 and 2026 budgets, despite the Deputy Minister claiming millions of pads remain undistributed.
Expressing frustration, the MP stated that the Education Ministry’s ongoing refusal to release procurement documents, despite months of formal requests, only deepens public suspicion.
“Comparing the original budget, the budget review and the deputy minister’s fresh explanation reveals three different accounts of the same expenditure, none of which align with each other. Three different stories cannot all be true. Ghanaians deserve to know which one is real,” he insisted.
Mr. Assafuah reaffirmed that the Minority stands with millions of Ghanaians demanding clarity and accountability, stating the issue goes beyond politics and strikes at the heart of value-for-money considerations and safeguarding the taxpayer.