The Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) has said it has not received any amount to the tune of GHS50million for the payment of feeding grants as stated by the Ministry of Education about a week ago.

Shortly after TTAG threatened to picket the Ministry on 28 December 2016 for the non-payment of the grant, the Ministry of Education released a statement saying a total of GHS 50,532,000 had been released for the payment of grants for public colleges of education across the country.

But TTAG in a statement copied to classfmonline.com dated 2 January 2017 said the Ministry’s claim was “deceptive, not trustworthy and unreliable and above all a cover up”.

According to TTAG, Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur made the same claim on 19 October, 2016 and yet that money was nowhere to be found.

TTAG also said the Ministry of Education’s press release does not answer the question regarding the whereabouts of the GHS50million it claims to have released for the payment of feeding grant arrears.

To that end, TTAG noted that the Ministry’s press statement “is only a cover up to divert the public’s attention from the truth, since after the release we [leaders of teacher trainees]…have done all the necessary checks from the appropriate quarters and the money has since not gotten to the colleges’ accounts”.

The association called on government to, as a matter of urgency, take the necessary steps to pay the grants.