Government Owes Road Contractors GH¢ 12 Billion
According to information available to Soireenew.com, the government has owed the road contractors in the country of total of GH¢ 12 billion cedis, which situation has landed many of road contractors in avoidance death.
Freeman Koryekpor 
It has emerged that government of Ghana under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has not paid the road contractors for their works done since in the year 2017.
According to information available to Soireenew.com, the government has owed the road contractors in the country of total of GH¢ 12 billion cedis, which situation has landed many of road contractors in avoidance death.
This statistic was revealed to this online news outlet on Tuesday December 20, 2022 after thousands of the members of Ghana Road Contractors Association of Ghana have came out publicly to defuse the mind of the general public that the government has paid billion debt owed road contractors in the country.
According to the aggrieved road contractors, they couldn't fathom why the government of Ghana has decided to throw lies to the public domain that they had paid the contractors, the development which has made their wives, banks and relatives to be putting intense pressure on them which has landed them into trouble.
The road contractors had made reference to Tuesday December 20, 2022 edition of the Daily Graphic front page screaming headline" More to complete stalled projects: GETFUND Pays Contractors GH¢667M... Amount covers debts as of November 2022-Administrator."
They pointed that out when the story broke, it has misled their families members including those who they are indebted to in the financial institutions and wives who were hard on them for the payment of their monies.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Accra to defuse the mind of the general public, the Vice Chairman of the Road Contractors Association of Ghana, Mr. Stephen Kwaku Attatsi stated that they were unhappy about the government of Ghana for making misleading publication through the Ghana Education Trust Fund(GetFund) GETFUND.
He argued that "This is outrageous and unacceptable and called on the general public to disregard the publication in the Daily Graphic.
He pointed out that the contractors have different areas, for which the GETFUND is mandatory fund which was established in the year 2000 under the former President Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings National National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration with Dr. Spio Ekow-Garbrah as the then Minister of Education, to provide finance to supplement the provision of the education at all levels by the central government while also supporting other areas of Ghanania educational set-up
He stated that the major payment problems in this country is the road construction sector, adding that these payments on the projects were done by the government through the GETFUND which covers the construction of toilet facilities and education infrastructure institutions.
Mr Attatsi explained that this money was paid to the contractors are just retention.
"But look at the proportion that the government has blew the whole story as if the government has paid all the debts owed the contractors. So we are that this payment in the media currently is not to the road sector and that a penny was not paid to the road fund to the contractors. Big No! We have never received any payment from the government. The government has not paid since 2017.
"The Government is owing us of over billions of cedis to pay to the road contractors. We the road constructors have not be touched at all when it comes to the payment of our monies government owed us," he explained.
He disclosed that total amount of money owed the contractors is GH¢ 2.9 Billion saying that this amount dates back to 2017.
He stressed that No payments since 2018, government owes us millions of dollars
Mr Attatsi said the inability of government to settle these arrears on the part of government is bad faith.
“ Before the elections government debt to us accrued to contractors was GH¢ 12B. We are expecting it to go up. Sometime ago it was announced that they paid to the contractors massively. In one category zero to GH¢ 500.00 was paid, GH¢ 500.00 to GH¢ 1M or above was paid but since then it was not full payment to contractors. Only 40 percent owed the contractors was paid”.
Mr Attatsi said “ For sometime now mobilization has not been made and so the contractors’ pre -financed and go to whatever financial house you go and they give you 60%. This is difficult for contractors so they are unable to finish the road if the money delays”.
He therefore appealed to the government to pay the arrears. ” Right now when you go to any financial house and you mention construction they don’t want to hear your name because you wont pay. Those days the banks chase after us to come for loans now they don't come.”
"We are urging the government to ensure the payment of arrears owed us the road contractors," he stressed.
He expressed worry over the Ministry of Roads’ high indebtedness of GH₵ 5.9 billion to contractors at the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat.
Vice Chairman of the Road Contractors Association of Ghana, Mr. Stephen Kwaku Attatsi
