The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has disclosed to Parliament that 80 million Ghana Cedis has been released by the Finance Ministry to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for the conduct of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

This comes after the Member of Parliament for Bole-Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana raised concerns on the floor of Parliament about the government’s indebtedness to the WAEC.

Initially, WAEC had received only GH₵2.3 million out of the required GH₵95.83 million, prompting the council to request at least 50% of the total amount to conduct the examination and additional funds to process and release the results.

The BECE is scheduled to take place from July 8 to July 15, 2024, across all centres in the country.

The Head of the Public Relations of WAEC, John Kapi, earlier in an interview with Graphic, expressed concerns that the examination might not take place as scheduled if the funds were not released in time.

He noted that even though some GH¢6 million had been processed through the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS), it was yet to be translated into real cash.

However, Frank Annoh-Dompreh assured Parliament that GH₵80 million has been released to WAEC.

He noted that he had followed up on the matter and received confirmation from the Minister of State, Abena Osei Asare, that the funds had been released.

“You raised an issue about the release to WAEC for the conduct of exams and the respected ranking member gave you copies. So myself and the Chief Whip, we followed up and spoke to the Minister of State, Abena Osei Asare, she got back to the Ministry and confirmed that indeed, they have made a significant release. We are told an amount of 80 million has been released.”

Citinewsroom