The membership of the Ghana Highways Authority Retired Staff Association (GHARSA) has threatened to throng the headquarters of the Authority (GHA) in protest at the delay in the payment to Single Man Contractors (SMCs).
Their anger is premised on the purported release of GH¢700,000 by the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat for SMCs.
The SMCs are engaged by the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) and are responsible for the clearing of weeds along road shoulders throughout the country to make the roads visible.
They also desilt culverts and drains to help prevent overflows of running waters onto the roads helping to prolong their lifespan.
However, these contractors have not been paid for executed jobs since 2019, hence, the current position of the GHARSA.
The National Chairman of GHARSA, Okodumgya Nana Nanabanyin Ninsin-Imbeah II, has reminded the GHA that the said GH¢700,000 was meagre compared to the GH¢321,550,088.18 owed the SMCs.
In a reminder dated February 17, 2023, the GHARSA Chairman stated that the Association was not happy about the situation, especially when even the GH¢700,000 was alleged to have been used to pay an individual SMC at the expense of about 2,500 others.
He pleaded with the management of GHA to consider a proper payment plan to SMCs else the National Co-ordinating Committee of the association might not be able to check members when they decide to descend on Accra (GHA Headquarters) in demand of payment.
On February 15, 2023, the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat (GRFS) released GH¢1,000,000 and GH¢700,000 to the Ghana Highways Authority for its Mobile Maintenance Unit (MMU) operations and payment to SMCs respectively, according to Ing. Dr. Abbas M. Awolu, Board Secretary of the GRFS, who issued the transfer letter.
He is awaiting the payment report by the GHA for having received the funds, but GHARSA is not happy with the payment of only GH¢700,000 out of the total indebtedness of GH¢321.5 million which has been in arrears since 2019.
The Ghana Highway Authority Retired Staff Association also wants the GHA to find ways and means to, as a matter of urgency, clear all arrears of SMCs for works done from 2019 to date.
It also suggested that the GHA considers the payment of interest on delayed payments for work done by the SMCs the same way other contractors for road works enjoy to help alleviate the plight of the single man contractors.
