The Minister for Education, Dr Osei Yaw Adutwum, says he has nothing to hide regarding the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) 7.2B project and that his outfit is prepared to give further clarification to issues that anybody does not understand about the project.
In a rejoinder to The Chronicle, signed by his Press Secretary, Felix Baidoo, the minister said he never presented any fictitious report to the World Bank, as published by The Chronicle and that, he could not have done that and still obtain funding for a project that was not executed.
The following is the full reaction from the minister;
Recently, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the World Bank (WB) painstakingly responded to misleading media reports about the GALOP Project that the two institutions and other implementing agencies are working to improve teaching and learning experience at the basic level of education.
In two separate communications, the lead sponsor, WB and lead implementing Ministry, MoE, exhaustively addressed all the unfounded allegations and claims, factual inaccuracies, misleading interpretations and other concerns with the hope of bringing clarity and closure to the issue.
Unfortunately, however, it is now clearer than before that, those behind such character assassinating reports are deliberately embarking on a vicious smear campaign against the patriotic, selfless and hardworking Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, for reasons best known to themselves.
Otherwise, what could motivate them to continue publishing unfounded allegations and claims against the Honourable Minister and other officials, after the WB came out to clarify issues and vindicate the Honourable Minister and his team?
The latest our attention has been drawn to is a report titled “Did Adutwum Cook-up Report On $1.2M GALOP Project?” published within the media space.
The news report, which obviously seeks to indict the conscientious hardworking Honourable Minister says “it has emerged that the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum, presented what is suspected to be a fictitious report supposedly to convince the World Bank for the release of US$1.2 Million meant to execute the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) 7.2B, a project he and the Ministry never executed…”
Where and when did it emerge and who suspects that the Minister presented fictitious report to the World Bank to obtain funding for a project that was not executed?
Why are we doing this to ourselves as a people?
Are these people saying that they are more knowledgeable and wiser than the World Bank when it comes to project funding, implementation, monitoring and evaluation?
Why would the World Bank go ahead and release funds after discovering all these claims, and if they released the funds mistakenly before realising what these mischievous personalities are saying, why are they not recalling the funds and sanctioning us?
Ordinarily, we shall not be bothered about such unfounded allegations and deliberate misinformation however, we deem it expedient and highly imperative to detoxify the media landscape of such maliciously published toxins before they affect the perception of the general public.
The World Bank has intelligent and hardworking officials who painstakingly verify project reports before approving them for further deliberations and work. The GALOP went through such vigorous system and process before adoption. They have found nothing wrong with our report and have no ill-suspicions about the lead implementing Ministry and or their officials.
The bank has made that sufficiently clear. And, the Ministry’s communications outfit is prepared to give further clarification to issues that anybody does not understand about the project. The Honourable Minister and the Ministry have nothing to hide. This is why we question the intent of those behind such publications.
Chasing TANIT limited for refund
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has started moves to ensure that TANIT Ltd, an I T Company, which it contracted to provide digital teacher training content and platform in 2021 to refund an amount of eight hundred and fifty-nine thousand, one hundred and fifteen cedis, forty-six pesewas (GHC 859, 115.46).
In a letter dated 22nd June, 2022 the Ministry requested the IT Company to refund all payments made to them after it failed to meet the tenets of the contract signed between the two parties on 26th July, 2021.
In another letter dated 18th July, 2022 the Ministry reminded the company to refund all payments as they did not perform their obligation under the contract agreement, which was supposed to be completed within five months. The intervention money was available up till November 2021.
According to the Ministry, it received a letter from TANIT Ltd. dated 14th February, 2022 requesting the remaining payment of 85 per cent of the contract sum, amounting to four million, nine hundred and forty thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven cedis, seventy-two pesewas (GHC 4,940,827.72) as per the deliverable schedule in the contract.
Terms of contract
The Education Ministry, on the other hand, was expecting TANIT Ltd to have performed each of the five deliverables and submit a claim respectively for work done at each stage, as spelt out in the contract and report for verification before moving to the next stage.
Here are the five deliverables spelt out in the contract by the Ministry to TANIT Ltd;
- Submission of inception report by August 2021 attracting payment of 15 per cent of the contract sum which was met by TANIT Ltd.
- Design, construct and build a platform for the training of teachers online by September, 2021 attracting payment of 25 per cent.
- Develop and build curriculum design by October 2021 also attracting 20 per cent payment.
- Operationalise a dashboard, platform sign off and go live by November 2021 which also attracted payment of 20 per cent.
- Consultant to be required to stay on board for additional two months (December 2021 to January 2022) after the project goes live for quality assurance which attracted the remaining 20 per cent.
The bone of contention is the fact that TANIT Ltd did not submit monthly reports for the remaining four deliverables but rather lumped the four reports together and requested the payment of the remaining 85 per cent contract sum.
In addition, TANIT Ltd also failed to complete the project within the five-month period as prescribed by the contract.
Background
It must be noted that TANIT Ltd. submitted a lumped payment claim of the remaining 85 per cent on 14th February 2022 meanwhile, the contract which was signed on 26th July 2021 was supposed to be completed by January 2022.
It must be put on record that TANIT Ltd’s contract was not terminated as is being speculated but it rather expired, forcing the Education Ministry to seek support from another source for the successful execution of the project.
The Education Ministry is, therefore, informing the general public of its commitment to making good use of resources it received from the government for the provision of quality education to all Ghanaians irrespective of location.
Again, the Ministry did not cook up figures but gave actual training figures to merit the payment of the project fund from the World Bank.
