By Rosemary Wayo
Tamale, Aug 29, GNA – Dr James Klutse Avedzi, the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, said the abandoning of GETFund projects in the various educational institutions shows a lack of interest by the Government to ensure their early completion.
Thus, it was unfair to blame or question management of those schools for abandoned projects under the GETFund, which they did not control or funded from the institutional level, he said.
“This is as a result of misplaced priority on the part of government,” he said.
Dr Avedzi said in Tamale during the zonal sitting of the PAC with technical universities and colleges of education on the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report.
The PAC sitting was to scrutinise institutions in the five regions of the north on the report and check whether measures had been put in place to adhere to the audit recommendations for further action.
The institutions, probed during the sitting, told the PAC that their follow-ups on the abandoned projects indicated that the contractors left site because they were not paid.
Twelve projects at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, under the GETFund at various stages of completion, have been abandoned.
These include a students’ hall of residence, Rector’s residence and 10 staff accommodation units.
“The purpose of the GETFund is for infrastructure development. Government should focus on that rather than areas that are not the main plan of the Fund,” Dr Avedzi said.
“Procuring tablets for students when there are abandoned classroom projects is a misplaced priority,” he said, and that the institutions were not in the position to answer questions in such instances.
GNA