Government to procure free school uniforms from China
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Aug 11, Ghanadot - Authentic information reaching Ghanadot revealed that the
Government of Ghana is on its way to procure fabric for free
school uniforms from China.
This, many Ghanaians see as an attempt to fulfill to the
party’s 2008 elections promise of providing free school
uniforms to schools.
President Atta Mills
promised Ghanaians that he would supply free
uniforms to some deprived communities but insisted that the
uniform would be procured locally and sewn by tailors within
the localities.
Although the government gesture sounds good, the Federation
of Labour blamed the government for not
giving the contract to
local importers by citing lack of money.
The General Secretary of the federation, Abraham Koomson,
admitted that in a local radio interview that some local
importers are lobbying government to get the contract to
import the material from China.
If his suspicion is true, then the Mills administration
could be on its way of reneging on one of its first major
policy statements to Ghanaians.
Mr Koomson said he has followed up with a couple of meetings
with officials of the Ministry of Education including the
Deputy Minister Dr Joseph Annan.
However Mr Koomson said his visits to the
ministry showed
that government
was neck deep in the importation of the material for the
uniforms from China.
“From the way things are going, I know there have already
done it because they told me that they don’t have money and
some people have come out to pre-finance this [project],” he
added.
He said he once received an anonymous warning call from the
Education Ministry for speaking to the media about the
developments.
He says the federation would “leave everything to God,” as
it awaits an intervention from “nature.”
Meanwhile The Head of Public Relations at the Education
Ministry Paul Kofi Krampa has dismissed the allegations,
saying the ministry is still assessing the various proposals
on the contract before it.
Ghanadot
