Dr Apaak has exposed the government for denying its debt to WAEC.
Dr Clement Apaak, a Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament's Education Committee, has called out Deputy Education Minister Dr Ntim Fordjour for denying that the government owed the West African Examination Council GH21 million.
According to the lawmaker, instead of ensuring that the GH23 million debt owed to WAEC is paid, Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum sent his favorite Deputy, Fordjour, to lie that the government does not owe WAEC, and he (Apaak) was doing propaganda.
Dr. Apaak cited a statement made by the Education Committee's Ranking Member, Peter Notsu-Kotoe, who stated that WASSCE would be postponed if the government did not pay the GH23 million owed to WAEC.
According to the ranking, parliament met with WAEC to assess their readiness for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and WASSCE this year, and the results were astounding.
It is surprising that WAEC has yet to pay supervisors, invigilators, and script checkers for their work in the 2021 BECE. If you recall, the government promised to pay the registration fee for all BECE candidates so that WAEC would no longer charge for registration; however, our checks show that they (the government) have not paid even a single cedi for this year's BECE and WASSCE. The government owes WAEC a total of GH23 million for the conduct of last year's examination, and if the funds are not paid by the end of next week, there is a strong possibility that this year's WASSCE, which is scheduled to begin on August 1, 2022, will be postponed. WACE requires funds to print examination papers, transport them, and provide security. It is unfortunate, however, that the government has yet to release funds to them.
Also, the Vice Chairman of the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr Prince Hamid Armah has revealed that the government has instructed the Controller and Accountant General Department to make available an amount of ¢50M for the conduct of the West Africa Examinations Council Examinations (WASSCE).
Dr. Armah confirmed that indeed the government was in debt of the said amount to WAEC but the government was working hard towards settling this debt to see through that the 2022 exams is successful.
“It is important to note that last year 2021, WAEC presented a budget total of Gh¢128,000,000 towards the conduct of both the BECE and WASSCE. Out of this huge figure, government had paid Gh¢105,000,000, I mean that’s an absolutely huge amount out of the total budget they submitted.
“So yes there’s is an outstanding of GH¢23,000,000 for 2021. WAEC also presented a budget for 2022 WASSCE and they expect that some disbursement will be made but he has to understand that government cash-roll in terms of revenue generation is accrued on daily basis so we need to get the money and be able to distribute to the various sectors of the country. So they submitted and they expect that those monies will be made available so that the 1st August examination can occur,” he stressed.
“WAEC initially had requested for 6 million but government was committed to the proper distribution of education. He went ahead to assure the public that the controller accountant general had been instructed to make available 50 million Ghana Cedi”.
“So I will assure the public that government is very committed to ensuring that the 2022 examination is conducted and is conducted successfully”.
Dr. reacting to these comments posited that the government has been exposed badly for lying about its indebtedness to WAEC.
For him, it made no sense for the deputy education minister to deny the obvious truth.
He said Dr Fordjour, the Deputy Minister for Education has been further exposed for lying by the Vice Chairman of the Education Committee of Parliament, Dr Prince Hamid Armah, NPP MP for Kwesimintsim.
Dr Armah confirmed that indeed the government was in debt of the said amount to WAEC but then the government was working hard towards settling this debt to see through that the 2022 exams are successful.
“So yes there’s is an outstanding of Gh¢23,000,000 for 2021. WAEC also presented a budget for 2022 WASSCE and they expect that some disbursement will be made but he has to understand that government cash roll in terms of revenue generation is accrued on daily basis so we need to get the money and be able to distribute to the various sectors of the country. So they submitted and they expect that those monies will be made available so that the 1st August examination can occur,” Dr. Apaak recounted the statement of Dr Armah.
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