The Minority in Parliament is calling for an investigation into an alleged GH¢68.5 million spent on photocopying past questions for WASSCE candidates in 2020 and 2021.
The Ministry of Education allegedly incurred a cost of GH¢33.6 million in 2020 and over GH¢34 million in 2021 for this purpose, both through single-source procurement.
Speaking to the media, Ashaiman Member of Parliament, Ernest Norgbey called for a comprehensive probe by the Special Prosecutor to address what the caucus considers a potential corrupt practice.
“We cannot countenance this, and this is fraud. If this is not corruption, what else will be corruption? A photocopy to cost GH¢78 per paper, GH¢59.10 per paper, totalling GH¢68.5 million, what are we doing? And so, we in the Minority are taking strong exception to this, and we are saying that the Special Prosecutor must look into this matter.”
The Minister of Education Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, disclosed on Monday, March 4, in Parliament that the government spent the money to photocopy past questions for SHS students to help them prepare adequately for the WASSCE.
Mr. Adutwum told Parliament that the government procured the past questions from Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of GH¢78.00 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of its efforts to help students ahead of the WASSCE.
“To help prepare the final year Senior High School students for the 2021 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Ministry has procured 446,954 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) questions from Messrs Kingdom Books and Stationery at a unit price of GH¢78.00. The procurement will be funded from the Free Senior High School Account.
“Mr. Speaker, in 2020, Government through its efforts to help students amidst COV1D-19 to prepare for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination procured 568,755 past questions for students to try their hands on before sitting for the actual exams.”
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