GETFund pays over GH¢667m to 867 contractors

The Government has disbursed an amount GH¢667, 793,936.27 to pay for outstanding debt owed contractors under the Gha­na Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

The money released through the GET­Fund constitutes part payment of the total claims and certificates issued and raised as at the end of November this year.

A statement issued and signed by Mr Isaac Asiedu-Dei, the Public Relations Officer of the Fund, disclosed that release and payments were in fulfilment of a promise made by the Administrator of GETFund, Dr Richard Ampofo Boadu, on Tuesday, November 8, during a stakeholder engagement forum held in Accra.

The statement noted that at the forum, the administrator of the fund assured that processes were far advanced to pay claims covering 867 certified certificates on projects and supplies across the levels of education.

“The Administrator indicated how payments were going to be made via the mix of the funding sources; proceeds from Daakye Plc bond issuance and the gov­ernment releases through the Controller and the Accountant General Department (CAGD) to the coffers of the fund,” the statement said.

It said the processes for the payments actually began mid-October 2022 with the signing of novation agreements with contractors covering 867 claims ended in November 2022 with the accounts of all contractors duly credited.

Breakdown of Payments

1. The paid claims covered 271 for basic schools’ projects amounting to GH¢40,925,832.52.
2. The payments for second-cycle schools covered 351 certificates with a total sum of GH¢434,732,042.82.
3. A total of 242 tertiary institution claims were paid to the tune of GH¢188,845,374.61.
4. Other claims from the Ministry of Education paid, amounted to GH¢3,290,686.32.

It must be noted that the Daakye payments covered mainly emergency projects that were awarded between 2017 — 2022 and certificates were received and processed by 30 September 2022.

The tertiary claims covered about 92% of certificates on legacy projects inherited by the current administration, received and processed by 30 September 2022, by the Fund.

“GETFund would like to assure contractors that plans are in place to settle all outstanding certificates in an effort to complete stalled projects in our schools within the next three years”, a statement from the Fund mentioned.