We Had Not Been Paid Since 2018, Govt Owes Us GH¢ 12 Billion –Road Contractors Fire Back 

Thousands of members of Ghana Road Contractors Association of Ghana have come out publicly to defuse the mind of the general public that the government has paid billions of debt owed road contractors in the country.

According to the aggrieved road contractors, they cannot  fathom why the government of Ghana has decided to throw lies into the public domain that they had paid the contractors, a development which has made their wives, banks and relatives to be putting intense pressure on them which has landed many of them into trouble.

The road contractors made reference to a screaming headline in the Tuesday, December 20, 2022, edition of the Daily Graphic front page "GETFUND Pays Contractors GH¢667M... Amount covers debts as of November 2022--Administrator."

The Daily Graphic story, they pointed out, has misled their family members including financial institutions they are indebted to.

Speaking in an interview with journalists in Accra, 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 said the contractors have different areas, for which the GETFUND is a 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 the money paid to the contractors were 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 saying 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 us since 2017.
 
"The government is owing us over billions of Ghana cedis to pay to the road contractors. We the road constructors have not been touched at all when it comes to the payment,".

He disclosed that the total amount of money owed the contractors is GH¢ 2.9 billion, saying that this amount dates back to 2017.

He stressed that no payment has been done and that since 2018, government owes them millions of dollars

Mr Attatsi said the inability of government to settle these arrears was very worrying.

“Before the election, the government debt owed us was GH¢12B. We are expecting it to go up. Sometime ago it was announced that they had paid a huge amount of money to contractors.. 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 per cent owed the contractors was paid”.

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 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.