Akufo-Addo's government owes WAEC GH¢129.8 million

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The government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo owes the West African Examination Council (WAEC) an amount of GH¢129,839,220 as outstanding examination fees for 2022.

This outstanding fee for 2022 was captured in Parliament’s Education Committee’s Report (page 15).

From the document, the Committee reported that they found out that the Ministry owes the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) a large amount of money (GH¢129,839,220) for exam fees from 2022. This debt has caused big problems for WAEC because they cannot pay the people who marked exams or the suppliers who provided materials for the exams. The Ministry agrees they owe money, but they disagree on how much. They say they’ve already paid some of it and just need to check the accounts to see how much is left.

A representative from the Ministry of Finance explained that the Ministry doesn’t owe WAEC any arrears (unpaid debts). She said that the exam fees are part of the free SHS (Senior High School) budget, and when the Ministry releases funds for free SHS, the Ministry of Education is supposed to use some of that money to pay the exam fees.

The Committee wants the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and WAEC to meet and sort out their accounts to figure out exactly how much the Ministry owes WAEC.

The Committee observed that the Ministry owes WAEC an amount of GHC129,839,220 as outstanding examination fees for 2022. According to the Council, the debt has severely hampered the operations of the examination body as it has not been able to pay for the services rendered by examiners and creditors for the supplies of consumables for the conduct of the examination.

Although the Ministry admitted their indebtedness to the examination body, they disputed the quantum of the amount owed and stated that the Ministry had paid the amount in question and the only thing remaining is for a reconciliation to be done to ascertain the balances. The representative from the Ministry of Finance clarified the issue and maintained that as far as arrears are concerned, the Ministry does not owe WAEC.

She stated that a release for outstanding arrears was made to WAEC early this year indicating that the examination fees form part of the free SHS budget and when the Ministry releases funds to the Ministry of Education for Free SHS, the Ministry is expected to pay the examination fees out of it.

The Committee urged the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and WAEC to meet and reconcile the accounts to ascertain the actual indebtedness to the examination body.

See the attached documents below containing the paragraphs that specify the amount of money the government owes WAEC.