Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has raised questions over the accuracy of the Auditor-General’s special audit report on Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure,
Manasseh alleged that the Auditor-General’s special audit report significantly understated the cost of fumigation services procured by various ministries.
In his latest investigative article, Manasseh highlighted that evidence gathered points to approximately GH¢780 million spent on COVID-19 fumigation expenditure and not GH¢96m.
According to Manasseh, the special audit was conducted in late 2022 at the request of the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
Manasseh’s investigation raises questions about the completeness of the Auditor-General’s accounting of COVID-19-related fumigation expenditure and the circumstances surrounding the reported discrepancy.
Excerpts from his investigative article publiched on pacgh.org read, “In the special audit, the Auditor-General revealed that Ghana sourced GH¢21.8 billion “from the Contingency Fund, the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Union (EU) and the sale of BOG-COVID-19 Bonds for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Fiscal Years to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme and implementation of the Ghana COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, as well as Budgetary Support.”
One of the audit objectives, as stated by the Auditor-General in its report, was to “ascertain whether the financial records fairly present the COVID-19 fund receipts and payments.”
This investigation, however, has revealed that the special audit failed to accurately present how much the government spent on the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigation focused on fumigation, a major government intervention in Ghana’s fight against COVID-19.
The audit significantly understated the cost of multiple fumigation exercises despite having information on the expenses incurred by the ministries that carried out the exercise.
The Auditor-General’s special audit stated the “cost of fumigation” as GHS 96 million ($8.7 million).
This investigation, which covered three ministries — Education, Transport and Local Government — revealed that Ghana spent at least GHS 780 million (about $70 million) on COVID-19 fumigation.
The Auditor-General’s figure represents only about 12% of the total expenditure on COVID-19 fumigation.
The expenditure could be higher, as other state agencies also carried out COVID-19 fumigation exercises. The police, prisons, and the military, as well as other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), also carried out COVID-19 fumigation and disinfection exercises.
Of the GHS 780 million COVID-19 fumigation expenditure this investigation uncovered, about GHS 775 million (99.4%) went to one company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
Prior to the COVID-19 fumigations, both the activity and the company that undertook it, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, had been indicted in major corruption and corruption-related probes.
Zoomlion had been flagged by multiple state agencies, including the Auditor-General. The World Bank, for instance, blacklisted Zoomlion Ghana Limited in the past for admitting to paying bribes.
The Auditor-General had described Zoomlion in 2019 as a “fraudulent drain on the country” after uncovering malfeasance in another shady, multi-year fumigation contract awarded to the company by the Ministry of Health.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Zoomlion already had multiple fumigation contracts covering all of Ghana, which the state paid for separately.
A December 2025 report submitted to cabinet by three ministers describes Zoomlion’s capture of the sanitation sector as a national “security risk.”
The cabinet report, signed by the Minister for Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson; the Minister for Local Government, Ahmed Ibrahim; and the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare-Addo, said:
“This discomfort seeps through as you read [Zoomlion’s] contract after contract in various spheres of the sanitation landscape, giving the impression of an autocratic monopoly that should not be accepted in a democratic state. As indicated, this poses a security risk to the country.”
Dated December 17, 2025, the “secret” report was submitted to the cabinet, which is chaired by President John Mahama. The president set up the inter-ministerial committee following previous investigations and a 2025 petition by this reporter”.
Manasseh Azure Awuni’s investigation raises questions about the Auditor-General’s reporting of Ghana’s COVID-19 fumigation expenditure, citing contracts from several ministries and agencies that were allegedly not captured in the special audit.
The Ministry of Education spent about GH¢316.1 million across three phases of school fumigation between June 2020 and March 2021. However, the Auditor-General reportedly captured only GH¢96.3 million, representing the second phase.
The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development reportedly spent approximately GH¢299 million on three market and public-space fumigation contracts awarded to Zoomlion. According to the investigation, none of this expenditure appeared in the Auditor-General’s special audit, despite the ministry having submitted the spending details.
The Ministry of Transport also reportedly paid Zoomlion GH¢159.9 million for fumigation between 2020 and 2022. This included GH¢31.98 million in both 2020 and 2021, followed by GH¢95.9 million in 2022. The ministry confirmed the figures but declined to release the contracts, citing commercial confidentiality.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Airports Company Limited reported spending GH¢4.6 million on COVID-19 fumigation and disinfection services between 2020 and 2022, awarded to four companies.
He further argued that Ghana’s fumigation exercises, for which hundreds of millions of cedis were spent, were not backed by science.
Manasseh noted that “the government of Ghana shut down all schools and educational facilities four days after the first COVID-19 case was recorded in the country. At the time, no school in Ghana had recorded a COVID-19 case. When schools were due to be opened, more than three months later, the president announced that all schools in the country would be fumigated before students returned”.
See the post below:
Auditor-General's special audit claims Ghana spent GHS 96m on COVID-19 fumigation. Evidence shows we spent GHS780m.
— Manasseh Azure Awuni (@Manasseh_Azure) September 15, 2026
Read the full story here: https://t.co/JfS0tgPiWj
@ghnow_ Road Minister angrily blast contractor over delays #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Roads and Highways Minister Hon. Governs Kwame Agbodza angrily confronts contractors, questioning their explanations over project delays. #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
