Curses have been rained on the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful for supposedly not being candid with expenses on the virtual concert.
The Ministry, as part of the launch of the COVID-19 Tracker App on Monday April 13, held a concert with the motive to provide entertainment to Ghanaians.
A major fallout of that concert has been allegations of musicians pocketing huge sums of money for their performances.
But the Ministry of Communications has been adamant no money was paid to any of the artiste despite a confession by one of them of receiving ‘transportation fee’ after his performance.
“The launch was held and I must thank the musicians who also performed for free to lift up the spirit of those of us in lockdown and educate the public through music as well,” Ursula Owusu noted during a briefing at the Ministry of Information.
Captain Smart has waded into the controversy, chiding the Ablekuma West MP for not being forthright with Ghanaians.
Captain Smart asserted without evidence that all the musicians who graced the stage were paid with least amount being GHC5000.
The Adom FM presenter invoked curses on any person who intends to capitalize on the pandemic to make selfish gains.
“Today, I want to tell you something. I’ve been asked to hold my bomb on this issue, but there’s only one thing I want to tell you. Never try to rich yourselves with coronavirus pandemic. Why is the minister lying to Ghanaians and the artistes also denying receiving the money? God will punish you, and your punishment won’t be mild, you’ll suffer extremely,” he fumed.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency, Richard Okyere-Fosu has said that the app has recorded huge patronage since its launch.
He told Citi FM on April 17 that over 34,000 downloads have been recorded.
“Currently as of last night [April 16, 2020], we’ve had 34,219 downloads and people are providing us with more information on symptoms of Coronavirus which will be passed on to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to follow up on”
“I want to use this medium to also appeal to Ghanaians that we need this information so we can assist the Ghana Health Service to get you the help that you need.