We have not abandoned ‘E Blocks’- GETFund replies NDC

The Administrator of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), Mr Richard Boadu, has refuted claims by elements in the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the Community Day Schools, also known as E-Blocks, which were started by the NDC government before it left office in 2017 have been abandoned by the current government.

Speaking at a Meet the Press event at the Ministry of Information in Accra on Thursday, September 24, 2020, the GETFund boss presented a status report on the Fund, stating that a total of 124 contracts for the construction of the E Blocks were awarded between 2014 and 2016.

According to him, 23 of the E Blocks were to be constructed by the World Bank, with the Government of Ghana, through the GETFund, assuming responsibility for the remaining 101 contracts.

He further disclosed that when the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) was taking over in January 2017, 29 projects, comprising seven World Bank and 22 GETFund/Ministry of Education projects, were completed.

Subsequently, another 27 (comprising 14 World Bank and 13 GETFund/Ministry of Education projects) were completed between 2017-2019 under the current government.

This brings the total number of completed E Block projects to 56. Currently, 22 projects are yet to commence and 46 projects are at various levels of completion, he revealed, with a total of 11 currently between 80 and 99% complete.

Referring to this data, Mr Boadu insisted that it is not correct that government has abandoned these projects, and that since they are state assets and because governance is a continuum, it is incumbent on the government to pursue their completion, which it remains committed to.