Furniture suppliers threaten court action

The Association of Furniture Suppliers of Brong Ahafo Region (AFS/BA) has threatened to institute legal action against the government to retrieve a total of GH¢4 million owed members of the association for the supply of furniture to basic and senior high schools (SHS) in the region.

According to the association, the Ministry of Education (MoE), through the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the Regional Office of the Architectural and Engineering Service Limited (AESL), contracted members of the association to supply furniture under the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) during the second and third quarter of 2011.

They said all the furniture had been duly supplied to the schools and certificates had been issued and sent to the GETFund through the MoE for payment for the past two years but to no avail.

The spokesperson and secretary of the association, Mr Sani Abdul-Aziz, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Sunyani, said they were in consultation with their lawyers and would by the close of this week, institute legal action to retrieve the money, since follow-up on the payment by their representatives on 12 occasions at the GETFund and MoE has yielded no results.

He said the association was compelled to take this action as the members were being chased by their creditors and the various banks that they went in for facilities to execute the project.

Mr Aziz said the furniture supplied by their members under the contract were in use now in the schools and wondered why the government had refused to honour its part of the contract.

By Samuel Duodu/Daily Graphic/Ghana