The Buffer Stock Company has been told by Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, director general of the Ghana Education Service, that the Finance Ministry is taking steps to pay off any debt owing to them.
Due to the Buffer Stock Company's recent delays in delivering food supplies, senior high schools around the nation have lately encountered food crises.
The government's debt to the business that supplies food has been the major cause of the delay in the provision of food goods.
In an interview with Upfront on Thursday, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said that President Akufo-Addo has ordered the debt to be paid off.
"I didn't pay close attention to the Minister's presentation yesterday in Parliament, but I think he could have told them that the President has demanded that those debts be paid off within a certain amount of time,"should be paid off, and we have no doubt that the Ministry of Finance is making efforts to do so, the minister added.
He did, however, concede that the government might not be able to pay off the debt in full at once, but instead would have to make payments over time.
"Let me also point out that, in terms of those obligations, the government may not always be able to pay off debt in full, but what we do is that they pay to catch up," he continued. The vendors' perception of at least receiving payment in instalments from us and our consistency in doing so is what matters most, he continued.
In a speech to the legislature on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, said that the country's senior high schools are experiencing a food crisis because the government owes the Buffer Stock Company a sum of GH340 million.
Dr. Adutwum claims that despite the government's debt to the Buffer Stock Company, it is making efforts to make payments in order to end the food crisis.
"Mr. Speaker, as of July 20th, the Ministry of Education owed the National Food Buffer Stock Company GHC340, 296,866,08 pesewas in unpaid obligations. The government is making efforts to pay off this outstanding debt, he added.
He said that the government has already paid and disbursed GHC327,871,809.10 to the Buffer Stock Company this year.
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