Auditor-General Orders GACL MD TO Refund GH299k Over Covid Contracts Cover-up
By Gifty Boateng
The Auditor-General has directed the Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Yvonne Nana Afriyie Opare, and her senior management team to personally refund GH¢200,000 to the state, following a penalty imposed by the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) for non-compliance with Ghana’s transparency laws.
The fine, levied in 2023, stemmed from GACL’s refusal to release details of its controversial COVID-19 testing contract with Frontiers Healthcare Services, despite a formal request filed by JoyNews under the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989).
The Commission ruled that the company’s justifications for withholding the information citing exemptions under Section 10 of the Act and claiming lack of custody of certain records were unfounded.
The 2024 Auditor-General’s report, seen by The New Republic, confirms that the penalty remains unpaid and recommends that the cost be borne by the individuals responsible, not the public purse. “We recommended that the amount of GH¢200,000.00 should be recovered directly from the Managing Director and the Management team of GACL,” the report states.
The directive follows growing concern over a pattern of public institutions using taxpayer funds to settle RTI-related fines. A recent investigation by Corruption Watch, a civil society initiative under CDD-Ghana, revealed that over 60 public and private institutions have been fined a cumulative GH¢5.6 million for breaching the RTI law, with many opting to pay from operational budgets rather than holding officials accountable.
The GACL case has become emblematic of institutional resistance to transparency. The RTIC, in a series of correspondences between February and September 2023, rejected GACL’s appeals and extensions, citing deliberate obstruction. The Commission ultimately ordered the release of the Frontiers contract, procurement summaries, and revenue figures related to COVID-19 testing at Kotoka International Airport.
When the documents were finally disclosed in October 2023 over a year after the initial request they revealed that Frontiers Healthcare had generated over $84 million from arrival testing and GHS 29 million from departure testing. The government’s share was significantly lower, raising further questions about the contract’s structure and oversight.
The episode has reignited scrutiny of procurement practices during the pandemic and the broader culture of opacity in state institutions. The Auditor-General’s insistence on personal liability marks a rare attempt to enforce accountability at the executive level, though it remains to be seen whether the directive will be implemented.
With the RTIC continuing to sanction non-compliant agencies including Parliament, the Judiciary, and the Ghana Police Service the GACL case may set a precedent for how future breaches of the RTI law are handled. For now, the spotlight remains firmly on the airport authority’s leadership and their handling of a contract that continues to raise more questions than answers.