Report by: Ishmael Barfi
The President of the Republic, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and his Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has been called upon yo intervene for the payment of over two years outstanding debts owed to National Association Of Institutional Suppliers by the Education Ministry.
According to the Association, the payment delay has seriously affected the finances of members.
Citing loans members took from Banks and as a result, all the houses they used as collaterals have been taken away to resettle their debts.
To that effect, given the Ministry of Education a deadline of March 4, 2024 which they will picket at the Ministry of Education to demand payments.
This came to light at a press conference held in Accra to express how frustrated they are due to the kind of treatment they are going through at the hands of Ministry of Education.
In an interview, the Public Relations Officer of the Association, Mr. Emmanuel Ayivor, called on President Akufo-Addo to urgently instruct the Education Minister to pay them their monies so that they can continue to be in the business and be able to pay their debts and also take care of their families.
The current economic hardship in the country according to him, is also affecting them saying, they can not pay their children school fees.
Mr. Ayivor revealed that, members went into contract with the government to sow school uniforms for the school children and be paid but, for the past two years, the Ministry of Education have decided not paid them.
“This is a worry to us. We have sat down with the Government but did not yield any positive result. The last meeting we had with the Minister for Education, he told us that we can even go out and demonstrate and he doesn’t care. Hon. Adu Twum told we the National Executives that”.
Furthermore, “What he told us is indeed a worry to us because, you have given us a work to do for two years. You are to pay us in three months time but you did not and when we complained, this is what you tell us”.
“Another challenge has to do with the fact that, as our monies have been locked and is even difficult to get the capital back to work with, we have realized that the government have bypass us and is talking to the school Headmasters and Headmistress that, uniforms that some of the members did not do, they should looked for new suppliers and signed contract with them”.
Mr. Ayivor averred that, any Headmaster or Headmistress that shows his or her face against what is going on is victimized.
He hinted that, another issue has to do with the price that the government is giving them which he said, is not good explaining that, government want to pay them Gh¢60.00 but when they turned down the offer, Government raised it to Gh¢65.00 which he stated cannot still take care of top and down dresses they wanted them to produce.
“Even, out of this amount, Government would deduct 4 percent tax from source and you will be left with less than Gh¢60.00. It is out of this same amount that you are going to pay your workers, utility bills, GRA and pay all your operating expenses”.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
