A teachers group calling itself Innovative Teachers is currently in court to challenge the government’s one teacher one laptop initiative.
According to the group, they sense acts of corruption in the procurement of the laptops coupled with little or no due diligence done.
“KA Technologies has so far responded to our suit but we are yet to see anything from Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and the Attorney General,” he indicated.
The founder, Stephen Desu, stated this on Beyi W’ano segment on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, show, Wednesday.
“One cannot fathom but wonder why the state cannot procure laptops from known brands. What is the recognition of this KA Technologies who were offered the contract? What name does it establish as Apple and the rest?” he quizzed.
Despite admitting the initiative was a step in the right direction because teachers need the laptops, he argued the TM1 brand devices were not different from the RLG laptops procured under the erstwhile Mahama administration.
“It is a fantastic idea from the government because we need the laptops but we have issues with the brand and the company as well as the processes. It is no respect to the teacher union.
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“There was no consultation with the union but just a decision of leadership,” he lamented.
Mr Desu further alleged the contract is a deliberate attempt to satisfy the interest of a few people, adding that the company breaches major procurement processes stated in the law.
“We need to situate the laptop distribution in the context of the law so we wrote to PPA and as of now, we have been told the contract was offered through sole-sourcing instead of numerous companies coming on board. Issues about their market penetration and accessibility have also been raised,” he explained.
He further disputed statements by the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwesi Kwarteng that the group was not recognised.
“The constitution recognises freedom of association so we are enforcing what is in the constitution. We have registered at the Registrar General, Chief Labour Officer and have about 7,000 members nationwide so we are recognised by the law not the rule of men,” he argued.