Deputy National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jay Hyde, has defended former National Lottery Authority (NLA) Director-General Samuel Awuku over criticism of the Authority’s “Good Causes” expenditures during his tenure.
Mr. Jay Hyde insists that funding school fees, youth programs, and social events is a far better use of resources than spending millions on bus branding projects, which leave little direct impact on ordinary people’s lives.
Writing on his social media page on Facebook, he said “supporting the payment of school fees and hosting social events is far better than simply putting public money into bus branding.” , making a reference to the NDC bus branding scandal.
He explained that while some critics have described the allocations as wasteful, the real measure of the Good Causes fund should be whether it is touching lives and making a difference in communities.
Hyde emphasized that sponsoring events, assisting with educational costs, and supporting social causes fall squarely within the spirit of the Good Causes mandate, which covers education, health, youth and sports, and arts and culture.
He argued that critics take too narrow a view of how such funds should be applied. To him, it is better for the NLA to invest in people directly than to waste money on projects that serve more as political vanity symbols than as tools of development. He cited the Bus Branding under the first Mahama administration as an example of a waste.
“The cause is good,” Hyde declared, adding that Awuku’s stewardship ensured the Good Causes fund was not just a line item on paper but a practical support system for education and community development.
