NPP man plans to garnishee Finance Ministry accounts to offset GETFund arrears

The New Patriotic Party activist who secured a court order directing government to pay all GETFund arrears is considering stringent action to get government to pay the money.

Richard Nyama told Joy News he and his lawyers are seriously considering a move to garnishee the Ministry of Finance Account at the Bank of Ghana until all statutory payments, including that of the GETFund are made.

An Accra High Court last week ordered the Finance Minister to, with immediate effect, pay all arrears owed the GETFund.

It follows a case brought before the court by Nyama challenging the decision by the Finance Ministry to withhold payment to the Fund for several months.

Over 400 million cedis is said to be owed the GETFund, a fund set up to support educational infrastructure across the country.

Several days after the court judgment, the minister has failed to make payment into the fund and has not shown any commitment to pay.

In an answer to a question posed by MP for Obuasi Kweku Kwarteng, about the delays in the payment of statutory funds, Seth Terkper said the money was simply not available.

MPs Common Fund, District Assembly Common Fund, NHIS, which are all statutory funds are all said to be in arrears with no clear commitment as to when payments would be made.

Seth Terkper said strikes by government workers and other unplanned expenses have made it impossible to pay the statutory funds.

While justifying the delay in the payment of the funds, the Minister said statutory fund arrears are nothing new.

He said even under the Kufuor regime, statutory funds were in arrears, some of which were later converted into debts.

Terkper said he is considering going back to cabinet to find ingenious ways to pay the monies even when it delays.

But the plaintiff who took the government to court in the GETfund saga insists he would explore all measures to force government to pay the money.

He said the Finance Minister has no right to expend monies that are originally meant to be disbursed to statutory funds, adding he is consulting with his legal team to take the appropriate steps.

Meanwhile, the MP for Obuasi Kweku Kwarteng has described as unfortunate answers given the Minister on the floor of Parliament.

He said at a time when government has made reckless payments to GYEEDA, SUBAH, and others, it is unacceptable for it to come and say there is no money to pay into the statutory funds.

Kwarteng said government must quickly find ways of paying the arrears or face the wrath of the public.