Public Relations Officer for the Education Ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng has dismissed suggestions that the Ministry’s release of funds to cater for feeding of teacher trainees was a knee-jerk response to the directive by the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF).
Mr. Kwarteng said the Ministry had already initiated processes to release funds to Colleges of Education to cater for the feeding of teacher trainees before PRINCOF issued its statement.
Speaking on Top Story, Wednesday, he stated that the government only had to fast-track the processes to resolve the situation.
“Obviously, if you look at payment processes it is not an event and it is not possible for you to initiate a payment process from the Ministry of Finance to Controller for all these processes to happen in a day…Obviously, the process was already in the pipeline,” he told Evans Mensah in an interview.
He stressed that the release of the funds was not a mere coincidence to PRINCOF’s statement as purported.
He however admitted that the processes in the disbursement of the funds to the Colleges of Education delayed.
According to Mr. Kwarteng, the GH₵67m released is to settle the arrears for the 2020-2021 academic year.
“The entire academic year, we were to pay an amount of GH₵117,942, 652. Last year December, an amount of GH₵50m was made. That is in respect of the 2020-2021 academic year. So the balance left or the arrears was GH₵67,942,652 which is what has been released today. So it settles the arrears for the 2020-2021 academic year,” he added.
