Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta Member of Parliament for Buem, Kofi Adams , has asked the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta , to release funds to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to enable them pay contractors.
According to him, the inability of GETFund to pay the contractors has resulted in abandoned projects all over the country.
Mr Adams explained that it came out from a meeting officials of the GETFund had with Parliament that the Ministry of Finance had failed to release their funds.
He noted that despite government using GETFUnd as collateral for loans, works continue to stall on educational projects.
He told TV3 in an interview that “Unfortunately, contractors who we thought would be paid out of this seven billion [facility] that was raised through this means are still complaining of not being paid and looking at from last time till now."
“If we will continue to have a situation where these very contractors are not returning to site because they feel that they are owed for works already done and certificates so presented."
“It is unfortunate because the thinking was that with that huge resources available now, we will be able to complete all these projects. But that it is not happening and the funds now have to be paying every other time for these very facility that has already been taken but we are not seeing the effect of this facility in the completion of projects. That is why I am particularly worried."
“The last time GETFund came to parliament it looks more like it was the Ministry of Finance that is not releasing the monies to them,” he said.
Last week, the Minority in parliament served notice that they would initiate a probe into a $1.5 billion security that was approved for the GETFund to undertake completion of critical educational facilities.
Parliament in 2018 approved the $1.5 billion loan for the GETFund to support the development of educational infrastructure.
This was amidst objections raised by the Minority.The National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmakers insisted that they could not back the loan agreement because they were unaware of the lender of the facility.Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, the then Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, said the minority members had been informed about the lender.He went ahead to announce to the House who the lender was – CAL Bank.“Mr Speaker, let us be honest with ourselves, other than that, we will be setting examples that we cannot continue […]
