Contractors avoid gov’t Jobs

…Due to non-payment

While the general outcry in the country is lack of jobs and its attendant hardships, contractors in the country are said to be “running away” from contracts government has lined-up for execution.

The decision to shy away from the government contracts they revealed to this paper is borne out of the Mahama-led administration’s indebtedness and delay in payment of contracts executed previously.

As a result of this, The aL-hAJJ has gathered that, government contracts particularly at GETFund and the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are reported hanging without any contractor showing interest. The hardest hit are the various Regional Coordinating Councils where according to a source, are forced to put out advertisements of GETFund contracts on their various notice boards with no contractor showing interest.

Another source at one of the Ministries told The aL-hAJJ that, government contracts have become so unattractive that in instances where contractors have been informed of multi-million contracts, “they plainly tell you they are not interested because previous jobs they have done for government have not been paid for.

A renowned contractor, who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity, confirmed that his company has in recent times been bombarded with calls to come and bid for contracts, but “I’ve vowed not to touch any government contract until I’m paid monies owed me.”

“I’ll prefer to sit and not work than go and borrow money from the banks and micro finance companies at high interest rates to execute a government contract and when it is time for me to be paid I will be told there is no money. Already my banks are chasing me for not been able to pay back loans I took from them. My money is still locked with government so why should I burden myself and go in for another contract when I know they have not paid me previous works I’ve done for them?” a contractor rhetorically quizzed.

Another area of concern to the contractors this paper gathered is the exchange rate fluctuation. A supplier told of this paper how government ordered him to supply imported goods to one institution since last year October and yet has not been paid.

He said over the period, he has lost over 35% of his investment in the said transaction as a result of the Cedi depreciation.

Government contracts are said to be in several months of arrears with some contractors threatening to hit the streets for non-payment of works they have executed for the various state agencies.

The undue delay and contractors indebtedness has become so worrying that, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) was recently compelled to call on government to streamline the award of contracts from the ministries.

When The aL-hAJJ recently contacted the Administrator of Ghana Education Trust Fund, Mr Sam Garba, whose outfit came under severe bashing for delays in paying contractors, he could not help but express extreme indignation at the development.

A frustrated and hopeless Sam Garba stated “2013 was the worst year ever in the history of GETFund. Parliament approved GHC 730 million for us; the Ministry of Finance withdrew the money and gave us only GHC 180 million. You call the Finance Minister and he won’t mind you…. Never in the history of GETFund that it has been in arrears for over 10 months”, was the GETfund Administrator’s quick response to our enquiry.