The Ministry of Education has denied allegations made by the Minority in Parliament that the government owes over six billion Ghana Cedis to organizations and individuals involved in the Free Senior High School policy.
The Minority caucus claimed that the government had failed to pay over GH₵300 million for the procurement of 1.3 million tablets under the “One Student, One Laptop” initiative. They also alleged that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is owed GH₵224 million.
Responding to these claims, Kwasi Kwarteng, spokesperson for the Education Ministry, dismissed the allegations as unfounded.
“Let me hasten to clarify that the said amount being owed by the Ministry of an excess of 6 billion Ghana Cedis, as claimed by the Minority in Parliament, is not accurate. The Ministry would have been more grateful if they had given more clarifications and details on where they had such figures from,” stated Kwarteng.
He emphasized that the Ministry’s records do not reflect the figures cited by the Minority.
“From our records, we do not have such representations even in terms of the outstanding arrears we owe our vendors, organizations, and individuals we work with,” Kwarteng explained.
Addressing the specific claim regarding the “One Student, One Laptop” initiative, Kwarteng clarified the payment process.
“If you look at the claims made by the Minority, reference is made to the government owing the supplier for the ‘One Student, One Tablet’ initiative. But, clearly, if you want to juxtapose that claim with the contract the government has with the supplier, at the end of the day, the distribution is in phases, so at every point, the government will pay based on performance,” he added.
