Cape Coast-Ghana, July 11, GNA – The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) has indicated that it was not responsible for any abandoned school project in the country.
According to the Fund, its duty ended at providing funding for the projects which it did diligently but did not award contracts or involved itself in procurement processes and project management.
Dr Richard Boadu, the Administrator of GETFund, speaking at the just-ended congress of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) in Cape Coast, explained that the Fund was originally designed to cater for one project at a time, especially at the university level.
However, the institutions, after receiving funding for a project, split it for multiple projects which resulted in the numerous uncompleted projects scattered across the country.
“So, what we do is, we give funds to tertiary institutions through Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and if for instance five million Ghana Cedis is given for a project and the money is split for three projects with the amount and if the contract sum is about 40 million Cedis, how many years do you think you can use to complete those projects?” he queried.
“But if you had used the five million for just one project, you would have completed it and gone on to another one,” he added.
Dr Boadu disclosed that about 90 per cent of the time, it was found out that most of the abandoned projects had been fully paid for, but the contractors had just failed to deliver.
“Most of the time, the MPs and DCEs come to my office, and they find out that the contractor has been paid long time ago, but he has decided not to continue with the project,” he said.
In situations like that, he said the power did not lie in the hands of GETFund to sack the contractor or terminate the contract but with the procuring agency.
“So, if a project is procured at the university, it is the university that has to terminate the contract and find a new contractor who has the capacity to continue.
“If it is at the basic school level, it is the district assembly, and if it is at the Secondary School level, it is either the Ministry of Education or the Regional Coordinating Council,” he explained.
Dr Boadu further averred that about 4,000 out of 8,000 GETFund projects had been completed since 2017 with between 3,800 and 4,000 projects ongoing.
“We have a plan to make sure that those projects are brought to completion,” he assured
“Have faith in GETFund to execute its mandate in providing infrastructure, quality education and other facilities to help build the education sector in the country,” he urged.
