The National Association of Institutional Suppliers has said the Ministry of Education’s promise to settle all outstanding payments to suppliers, particularly for 2021-2022, remains unfulfilled.

According to the group, many of its members have not received any payments.

In a statement, the suppliers noted: “The Ministry's assertion that a total of GHS26 million has been disbursed to pay arrears owed to suppliers of uniforms, PE kits, and stationery is misleading”.

“ It must be noted that for the past seven years when the award of contracts for the supply of PE kits and stationery was moved from the school level to the ministry level, suppliers of the PE kits and stationery have remained anonymous and are not members of our association. Shockingly, not a single member of our association has been awarded a contract for the supply of PE kits and stationery for the past seven years. It, therefore, appears that a substantial portion of the GHS26 million has gone to their own cronies; the suppliers of PE kits and stationery”, it added.

The suppliers emphasised that the process of settling arrears appears to be characterised by “selective payments rather than a systematic and transparent approach”.

It indicated that this selective payment practice seems deliberate and complicates the tracking of payments made to members, while stressing that another worrying situation is “that according to the ministry’s records, some suppliers have been marked as paid when they have not actually received payment. Upon inquiry, it has been discovered that their invoices are missing”.

The suppliers further noted that this exacerbates the issue, leading to inaccurate claims of payment by the Ministry.

The suppliers, therefore, called on the ministry to urgently fulfil its “commitment to pay all outstanding arrears without further delay,” while urging the ministry to “implement a transparent and systematic payment process to enhance tracking of payments made to members”.