Minister Cited In Dubious Printing Contract

The government is said to be owing a colossal amount of ?50.3bn to printers.

Prominent among them are Unimax Macmillan Limited and EPP Books Limited, which are being owed ?14,402bn and ?6.731bn respectively.

Highly placed sources say the government also owes 98 other printers ?28.5bn adding that Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi, former Minister of Education, gave huge printing contracts to Unimax Macmillan to re-print 225,000 Integrated Science books at a unit price of ?106,000, approximately 18 US dollars per copy.

Further investigations conducted by the paper indicate that the Special Assistant to Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi, Mr. Ahmed Ayuba, was allegedly given a ?400m contract to print “Management in Living for Senior Secondary School (SSS)”, text books for SSS students.

His company EURAB Scholastic Press, printed 20,000 books at a unit price of ?20,000.

In the meantime, officials at the Ministry are urging the new Minister for Education, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, to conduct a value for money study into the jobs awarded to Unimax Macmillan and EPP Books to save the taxpayer some costs.

According to the paper, it is alleged that while in Zimbabwe, before entering into politics, Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi was writing science books for Unimax Macmillan.