The Minority in Parliament is urging the government to immediately settle approximately 6 billion cedis owed to various contractors and suppliers under the government’s Free Senior High School policy.
The group noted that the supplier of tablets for SHS students is currently owed over 300 million cedis.
The Minority acknowledged that replacing textbooks with tablets is a good idea, especially considering how often students misplace books but emphasised that this initiative should be implemented only when adequate resources are available.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament, Minority Spokesperson on Education, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe warned that many of these businesses could collapse if the government fails to fulfil its financial obligations.
He emphasised that the needed resources are currently unavailable for such initiatives.
“You have asked somebody to supply the tablets—about 1.3 million—to cover all students. You are not paying for it. Meanwhile, the man has gone for a loan, and it is at a cost of three hundred and thirty-seven million Ghana cedis, you have not paid the person. You have paid him less than 10% of the cost involved. If he had gone for a bank guarantee or whatever, how would the person pay? So, as a Minority, we are concerned that if we do this, we are killing businesses of individuals and companies in the country so there is a need for us to intervene on their behalf.”
Meanwhile, Mr Nortsu-Kotoe highlighted that the government still owes the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) 224 million cedis, despite having made some payments for the just-ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
He explained that under the Free SHS policy, students do not pay WASSCE fees, as the government covers all costs on their behalf.
Mr Nortsu-Kotoe pointed out that the WASSCE exams are scheduled to start in August, but the government has yet to release any funds to WAEC and owes them a total of 224 million cedis for 2023 and 2024.
“WAEC is unable to talk again because we had to talk for them before money was released for the BECE, and we should not be going that tangent. Whatever is due to an institution or an agency that is to perform a function on behalf of the government must receive resources early enough to plan ahead.”
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